{"id":196,"date":"2013-08-08T19:24:30","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T19:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owenm.co.uk\/TMSWebsite\/wordpress\/?page_id=196"},"modified":"2023-12-16T12:38:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T12:38:21","slug":"2010-2012","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.themaidstonesingers.org.uk\/?page_id=196","title":{"rendered":"2010 – 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas Concert 2012<\/h3>\n
\"St<\/a>

St Martin’s Church, Maidstone December 2012<\/p><\/div>\n

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Carols for CLIC Sargent in Maidstone<\/h3>\n

Members of The Maidstone Singers took part in a nationwide ‘Carols for CLIC’ fundraising event in December to help raise money for CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading childrens’ cancer charity.<\/p>\n

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‘Angeli della Musica’<\/h3>\n

The Maidstone Singers Tour of Italy – April 2012<\/h4>\n

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The Maidstone Singers gave three concerts on their tour of Solento in the ‘heel’ of Italy in April this year, firstly in the beautiful Basilica Cattedrale in the seaside town of Otranto and then, togther with the university choir, Il Coro polifonico dell’Universita del Solento, in the Chiesa del Rosario in Lecce. The tour ended in the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta in the white-walled hilltop town of Ostuni. The Singers’ repertoire of mainly English and American sacred music, both ancient and modern, was supplemented by a number of pieces by Italian and other composers. The tour featured the choir’s first performance of Eric Whitacre’s emotional tour de force, ‘When David heard’, which looks set to become a regular item for the choir. Their harmonious, professional a capella singing led to their hosts describing them as having ‘the voices of angels’, a fitting accolade for a choir that goes from strength to strength. Maidstone can feel rightly proud of its musical ambassadors to Europe.<\/p>\n

Of course, no tour is entirely hard work and the choir took their opportunities to relax and enjoy this beautiful part of the world and the friendly welcome of all those who sang with them and who came to the concerts. The Puglian countryside and its beautiful sandy beaches are still largely untouched by tourism compared to much of Italy and its food is second to none. Its Baroque architecture in towns like Lecce and Martina Franca is perhaps the best in Europe. We would all welcome the opportunity to return in the future.<\/p>\n

\"'Rehearsal?<\/a>

‘Rehearsal? What rehearsal?’ As members of the ladies’ sections relax on the beach!<\/p><\/div>\n

Michael Marriott<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Carols with the Maidstone Singers 2011<\/h3>\n

At the Bearsted Farmers’ Market<\/h4>\n

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The Maidstone Singers’ Autumn Concert 2011<\/h3>\n

The Maidstone Singers with
\nThe Eindhoven Vocal Ensemble and
\nThe Jupiter Brass Ensemble<\/h4>\n
Our joint Autumn concert with the Eindhoven Vocal Ensemble took place on Saturday 22nd October at All Saints Church, Maidstone and comprised the following works under the joint musical directorship of Ruud Huijbregts and Jeffrey Vaughan Martin:<\/div>\n
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Chichester Psalms – Bernstein
\nAgnus Dei – Barber
\nA Little Jazz Mass – Chilcott
\nMarlborough Canticles – Goodall
\nGloria – Rutter<\/p>\n

This challenging programme demonstrated to the full the many and varied talents of both choirs and of the brass ensemble as they filled All Saints with a varied selection of music designed to cater to all tastes. Those pieces sung jointly by the two choirs provided powerful evidence of the outstanding results of an on-going collaboration which will no doubt continue to delight audiences in Maidstone and Eindhoven.<\/p>\n

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Many comments of appreciation have been received subsequently from members of the audience, including for example:<\/p>\n

We want to send our congratulations on an absolutely brilliant concert at All Saints on Saturday Evening. It was a splendidly chosen programme and very well sung by everybody. Indeed, we both agreed that it was one of the best choral concerts that we’d ever been to – so, well done to everybody.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Polish-ed performance! – our tour of Poland in April 2011<\/h3>\n

The Maidstone Singers were delighted by the warmth of the reception they received on their tour of Poland in April this year, both from the enthusiastic audiences and from the two host choirs. Performances in Krakow and Przemysl were met by standing ovations from lovers of choral music who attended the four concerts.<\/p>\n

In Krakow a joint performance with the excellent Parafraza Chamber Choir, was held in the Church of St Peter and St Paul. Comprising a range of music with a religious theme in the period before Easter, it included appropriately Gorecki\u2019s \u2018TotusTuus\u2019 as well as a performance of Bob Chilcott\u2019s \u2018Little Jazz Mass\u2019 with instrumental accompaniment.<\/p>\n

A video of us performing Little Jazz Mass:<\/p>\n