Forthcoming events
Latest........
After a really successful concert with our old friends at St. Mary's Church Alveley on 2nd March the groups next concert will be at Wall Heath Evangelical Free Church on Saturday 16th March. It's a fund-raising event for the church (which means we'll be paid in slices of home-made cake and squash - which could prove expensive - do they know how much cake Les can eat??). Tickets can be bought on the door or, in advance, from Matt on 01384 567800. It'll be a really light hearted programme and tickets are selling well - and there is only 100 of them - so get yours quickly.
Older news.....
After a bit of a break, where the players have been very busy with other projects, the group are meeting up to perform concerts in June and July.
On Friday 20th July the group are performing an evening concert at St. John's Church, Kidderminster Road, Bromsgrove as part of the summer festival organised by the Orchstra of St. John. This promises to be a fantastic evening - the orchestra's website advertises our performances as "..the sublime to the ridiculous.." - all done with the best possible taste of course. Tickets are available directly from the orchestra website.
Prior to this the group are delighted to be the guests of the English Association of Male Voice Choirs, this time under the stewardship of the Warley Male Voice Choir. The concert is at Dudley Town Hall on Saturday 30th June. Tickets are available at the Box Office.
The group are very busy at the start of 2012, reheasing in all formats for concerts in March, April and May.
Friends of the group near to West Bromwich should pop along to St. Peters Church, Whitehall Road, Greets Green on Saturday 3rd March for a special matinee performance of all 3 formats that the group operate in. The quintet, 10 piece and 16 piece groups will all be performing works to get your feet tapping (and maybe your ears buzzing!) - we'd love to see you there. This concert is to raise funds for the church who've been kind enough to let us rehearse there in recent months.
The group are also performing in the same formats on Saturday 17th March at St. James Church, Wollaston. On the programme will be Bach's Passacaglia in C Minor, Walton's Prelude and Spitfire Fugue and Music from the film Independence Day along with a number of other up tempo and fun pieces to raise a smile on these (still) dark evenings.
Finally in March the quintet are performing as the guests of our old friends The Gentleman Songsters at Dudley Town Hall on Saturday March 24th. We have worked with the choir many times over the years and these concerts always prove to be some of the most fun in any season so come along if you can.
Older News
We are performing at the Adrian Boult Hall in Birmingham on the 15th October, as the special guests of the Birmingham Icknield Male Voice Choir - one of the finest MVC's in the country. We're supporting the choir at their annual concert so please pop down for an evening of entertainment that'll leave you shouting for more. Click here to read all about our hosts for the evening.
New tuba
Phil has bought himself a new tuba to commemorate the start of a new era in his playing, that of NOT being attached to a brass band. For the tuba officianados amongst us it's a 5/4 EEb 2040/5 by Melton in Germany. For the rest of the population it's very shiney in silver and real gold plating!
Have horn, will travel!
Our Horn player Tim Stidwill has been doing a bit of Solo work away from the group. Firstly at Birmingham's Adrian Boult Hall Tim wowed the audience and critics alike in a performance of Konzerstuck for Four Horns and Orchestra, leading the horn quartet . The Birmingham Post and Mail reviewer commented "So Sunday's
afternoon's account from the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra and its horn
quartet comprising Tim Stidwill, Phil Dawes, Claire Dawes and Chris Collet
was certainly something to anticipate, and expectations were fulfilled
triumphantly" Click here to read the full review.
On May 22nd Tim performed at Leamington Hall Town Hall in Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Leamington Chamber Orchestra. Phil was very excited about this piece until he saw the comma between 'Tenor and 'Horn'. Once again Tim's playing dazzled the audience. Hopefully a full review will be sent to us to publish here.
Worcester Cathedral
On June 4th the quintet played to a packed Worcester Cathedral as part of concert supported by the English Association of Male Voice Choirs. Providing musical support for massed choir items and a solo spot in each half, our programme finished with trombonist Les Whitehouse featuring in 'The Saint's Hallelujah' - a real tour de force for trombone (and a real lung buster for tuba!) A standing ovation was met by our well rehearsed 'mexican wave' bow. You had to be there.....
Festival of Voice
Our next concert sees the group at Malvern's Forum Theatre on February 6th supporting the BBC Appeal for the Noah's Ark Trust. Also appearing will be male voice choirs from Malvern, Hereford and Worcester and well known Malvern Soprano Sue Black.
Tickets are available at the box office, online or by calling 01684 892277
