Epsom Choral Society opens its centenary celebration 2022
From Epsom Choral Society
This year Epsom Choral Society celebrates its Centenary and is doing so in style!
Our first concert was on Saturday 19th March 2022 at St Martin’s Church, Epsom attended by The Mayor, Peter Donovan and his wife. For this concert, the audience was treated to Vivaldi’s Gloria, one of the most popular pieces from the Italian Baroque era, as well as three works which were all written for Epsom Choral Society – Cecilia McDowall’s I Know That My Redeemer Liveth, Jonathan Willcocks’ O Joyful Soul and Adrian Payne’s I Hid My Love.
The soloists were Lisa Swayne, soprano, Helen Semple, soprano and Carolyn Holt, alto, all top-class young professionals and the concert was conducted by Epsom Choral Society’s Musical Director Julian Collings.
Epsom Choral Society with Mayor Peter Donovan and his wife
Our other concerts in this Centenary year include Songs from the Shows in St Andrews Church, Cheam on 25th June 2022, Messiah at the Epsom Playhouse on Saturday 3rd December 2022 and our ever-popular Christmas Concert on Saturday 17th December.
Epsom Choral Society is Epsom’s longest established choir and has continued to sing throughout the pandemic. At first via Zoom, then rehearsing outside in a garden and even, thanks to the kindness of the Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, live-streaming a concert in a car park which was heard by over 5,000 local residents thanks to What’s On In My Town.
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Briefing notes:
- Epsom Choral Society has been singing for 100 years and has around 90 singers. It usually puts on at least four concerts each year which attract a loyal following. Epsom Choral Society is a friendly choir – they do not require auditions but do aim for high performance standards. Rehearsals are on Wednesday evenings under the baton of their Musical Director, Julian Collings. www.epsomchoral.org.uk
- Cecilia McDowall composed I Know That My Redeemer Liveth in 2009 for Epsom Choral Society as a tribute to Handel on the 250th anniversary of his death, with words taken from Messiah. It was first performed by Epsom Choral Society on 21st March 2009 at St Martin’s Church, Epsom.
- Jonathan Willcocks’ O Joyful Soul was premiered by Epsom Choral Society on 30th June 2018. It was commissioned in memory of Cecil Wiltshire who had sung with the choir for 67 years, funded from the generous legacy that he left the choir. The piece’s five movements were selected from religious and secular texts that encapsulated both his interests and his gentle and generous nature.
- Adrian Payne’s I Hid My Love received its world premiere by Epsom Choral Society on 15th June 2013 at St Martin’s Church, Epsom. It was performed again the following year at the European Choral Festival in Überlingen in Germany and the choir has sung it on tour in France and The Netherlands. Adrian has sung with the choir for 25 years.
Contact: Nina Kaye: publicity@epsomchoral.org.uk, 07778 406834
