Next Concert: Saturday 27 October at St John’s Church, Sharow

Tickets will be available at the door (£10 with under-19s admitted free), for this unaccompanied concert which starts at 7.30 pm.

The concert features four beautiful motets by Francis Poulenc.

The Quatre Motets pour un temps de Noel  are of a gentle nature, both musically and thematically. They are light in texture and exude a sense of joyful serenity. Poulenc began these short motets for four-part mixed chorus in November 1951, completing them the following May. They reflect Poulenc’s love of religious paintings and architecture through subtle musical/visual imagery. The composer often studied religious art, and he kept a picture of a Romanesque cathedral bathed in sunlight on his mantelpiece. The first motet, O magnum mysterium (O great mystery), announces the coming of the Baby Jesus, and praises the Virgin Mary; it superimposes a crystalline soprano melody over the hushed accompaniment of the lower three voices. Quem vidistis pastores dicite (Shepherds, tell whom you saw), the second motet, takes its text from the Christmas Matins service. As a “choros Angelorum” (chorus of angels), the soprano, alto, and tenor play off the bass voice extensively in this painstaking word-by-word setting. A fortissimo unison on the word “Dicite” (tell!) heightens the theatricality of the scene.  Videntes stellam (Seeing a Star), the third motet, also makes extensive use of the upper three voices alone to create an airy, suitably celestial texture. The textual entrance of the Magi and their gifts of gold and myrrh ushers in a more complex chromatic texture. The final motet, Hodie, Christus natus est (Today, Christ is Born), is the most exuberant.

The programme will be:

• Bogoroditse Dyevo – Rachmaninov
• Dostoino est – Tchaikovsky
• Khvalite imya Gospodne – Tchaikovsky
• Four motets for the season of Christmas – Poulenc
• Interlude – played by Helen Proudley (piano)
• Super flumina Babylonis – Palestrina
• If ye love me – Tallis
• Hosanna to the Son of David – Gibbons
• Laudibus in Sanctis – Byrd

• Interval

• Locus iste – Bruckner
• God so loved the world – Stainer
• Beati quorum via – Stanford
• The Lamb – Tavener
• Interlude – played by Helen Proudley (piano)
• Shenandoah
• Linden Lea – Vaughan Williams
• Haste on my joys – Finzi
• My spirit sang all day – Finzi

The conductor is Sam Gardner.

 

 

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Past Concert – Eternal Voices -4 February 2017

We love singing in the resonant space at St John’s Sharow. In this concert we will be singing many old favourites: great music that has stood the test of time and space.

The programme will include:

Bruckner motets

• Locus iste
• Christus factus est
• Tota pulchra es
• Os justi

Russian masterpieces

• Bogoroditse Dyevo – Rachmaninov
• Dostoino est – Tchaikovsky

Tudor England

• O Clap Your Hands Together – Gibbons
• Hosanna to the Son of David – Gibbons
• Laudibus in Sanctis – Byrd

A hint of folk

• Londonderry air – Grainger
• Linden Lea – Vaughan Williams
• O waly, waly – Rutter
• Bushes and Briars – James

Spanning the centuries

• If ye love me – Tallis
• Cantate Domino  – Monteverdi
• My spirit sang all day – Finzi
• My soul, there is a country – Parry

The concert will be conducted by Sam Gardner and will start at 7.30 pm.

Past Concert: Serenade for Summer – Masham on 12 May 2018

 

The programme will include:

• O radiant dawn – James MacMillan
• The Lamb – John Tavener
• If ye love Me – Tallis
• O magnum mysterium – Victoria
• Ave verum – Byrd
• Sicut cervus – Palestrina
• Ipsa vivere – Tarik O’Regan
• My promise – Richard Allain
• God so loved the world – Stainer
• Locus iste – Bruckner
• Haste on my joys – Finzi
• My spirit sang all day – Finzi
• Abendlied – Rheinberger
• Shenandoah
• And so it goes – Billy Joel
• Blue Moon
• Summertime

The concert is to raise funds for the Marie Collins Foundation, which is based in Masham, but works across the UK to enable children who suffer sexual abuse and exploitation on-line to recover and live safe, fulfilling lives.

Past Concert: Sharow on 24 February 2018

We welcome back Tim Harper, Assistant Director of Music at Ripon Cathedral. As always, our concert includes both well-loved favourites and works heard less often. Tim accompanies the choir in some pieces and will also got the chance to show us how the organ performs in two solo interludes.

The programme will include:

• Praise our Lord, all ye gentiles – Byrd
• Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom – Tomkins
• Glorious and powerful God – Gibbons
• And I saw a new heaven – Bainton
• The Spirit of the Lord – Elgar
• For lo, I raise up – Stanford
• The Turtle Dove – Vaughan Williams
• Lay a Garland – Pearsall
• The Blue Bird – Stanford
• The Lord is my Shepherd – Howard Goodall
• If ye love me – Philip Wilby
• The Word made flesh – Philip Wilby
• Locus iste – Bruckner
• Abendlied – Rheinberger
• Cantique de Jean Racine – Faure

Past Concert – St John’s Church Sharow – 7 October 2017

Sharow Church has been beautifully reordered. It remains as the parish church, but now it also provides a great space for concerts and other performances. The second stage of development is now underway, providing better facilities and car parking. Money is still needed to pay for this and the Paulinus Singers will be helping to raise funds at this concert.

The programme is:

• Puer Nobis – Richard Rodney Bennett 
• O sacrum convivium – Tallis 
• O sacrum convivium – Gabriel Jackson 
• Ave Maria – Parsons 
• Ave verum – Byrd
• The Lamb – Tavener
• Song for Athene – Tavener 
• Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace – SS Wesley
• Justorum Animae – Stanford
• Beati Quorum Via – Stanford
• God so loved the world – Stainer
• If ye love me – Tallis
• When David heard – Tomkins
• Laudibus in sanctis – Byrd
• Hosanna to the Son of David – Gibbons

 

The concert begins at 7.30pm and is conducted by Sam Gardner. Tickets cost £10 for adults or £5 under 19. Available at the door.

Past Concert – Fauré Requiem – 20 May 2017

St Mark’s Church, Leeds Rd, Harrogate HG2 8AY

This is a very special concert to raise funds for the Neonatal Unit at Leeds General Infirmary. We think about the short life of a lost child and then we look outward to celebrate the effect of music on all our lives.

The programme will include:

• Fauré Requiem
• Over the rainbow
• Summertime
• Rejoice in the Lord alway – Purcell
• The Heavens are telling – from The Creation – Haydn
• Hallelujah from Messiah – Handel

Past Concert: Choir and Merry Organ – 8th October – Sharow Church

 

We enjoy rehearsing and performing in the beautifully reordered church at Sharow. Now the organ has been restored as well, and to celebrate it we welcomed Tim Harper, Assistant Director of Music at Ripon Cathedral. As always, our concert included both well-loved favourites and  works heard less often. Tim accompanied the choir in some pieces and will also got the chance to show us how the organ performs in two solo interludes.

The programme was:

• Jesu, joy of man’s desiring – J S Bach
• Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace – S S Wesley
• Abendlied – Rheinberger
• The Lord is my Shepherd – Howard Goodall
• If ye love me – Philip Wilby
• The Word made flesh – Philip Wilby
• Cantique de Jean Racine – Fauré
• God so loved the world – Stainer
• O nata lux – Tallis
• O radiant dawn – James MacMillan
• And I saw a new heaven – Bainton
• How lovely are thy dwellings – Brahms
• Zadok the Priest – Handel

The conductor was Sam Gardner.