Soprano : Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson
Alto : Heather Jill Burns
Tenor : Austin Gunn
Bass : Andri Björn Róbertsson
Musical Director : Mark Anyan
£20 with Free Programme
Free for under – 18’s with a paying adult
£10 Full – time students & unwaged
Available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newcastle-choral-society
Card payments or cash on the door
Haydn’s Nelson Mass was followed by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass. Haydn’s foremost biographer and leading authority H C Robbins Landon has described the Nelson Mass as arguably the composer’s greatest single composition. Praise indeed when one considers the huge output of music in all genres that Haydn composed, most of which has become firmly established in the modern repertoire. Certainly the work is full of the energetic tunefulness and lyrical beauty one associates with Haydn, added to glorious and virtuosic solo writing alongside great chorus work, all accompanied by orchestration which benefits from the composer’s long experience of writing instrumental music.
Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass sets the text musically in a way that takes one from the vastness of the universe to the familiarity of Earth with the development of our self-awareness and life in civilised society. The composer sees this as a metaphor for a spiritual journey transcending conflict and dissonance. The music is constantly appealing, written for chorus and strings from which colourful and atmospheric effects are imaginatively drawn. It is a modern work, dating from 2018, providing a fine and contrasting companion to the Haydn.
Following on from the successful collaborative concert in June 2022, NCS are delighted to be joining the Newcastle Youth Choir once more for ‘A Christmas Concert’ in the Banqueting Suite of Newcastle Civic Centre at 19.00 on Saturday 02.12.2023 North Tyneside Youth Symphony Orchestra will also be performing
Featuring a combined performance of ‘The Night Before Christmas’ by Oliver Tarney a fun setting of the classic Christmas poem featuring bursts of well-known carols such as, God rest ye merry, gentlemen, O little town of Bethlehem, and We Wish you a Merry Christmas (well-suited to audience participation.)
Also featuring ‘On Christmas Night’ by Bob Chilcott and ‘Sleigh Ride’ by Leroy Anderson.
Tickets priced at £6 each or £20 for a family ticket (plusbooking fee). Email hello@newcastlesings.org, visit www.newcastlesings.org/nycp
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Musical Director Mark Anyan
Join our friendly choir as we celebrate 70 years of choral excellence, with three exciting concerts, culminating in our Anniversary Concert in 2024
Saturday 15 June 2024 7.30pm Newcastle Civic Centre
Mass in Blue with the composer Will Todd and his Trio
‘Driving jazz grooves and clear, strong, choral writing!’
Plus our newly commissioned piece by renowned composer Kristina Arakelyan, funded by Northumberland Freemasons
STEP ONE! Did you take it?
Musical Director Mark Anyan
We welcomed guest singers into the beautiful setting of All Saints and enjoyed the Vocal Technique session with Mary Hitch. Mary is a freelance vocal coach and singing teacher and is the Study Leader in Singing at The Glasshouse (formerly) Sage Gateshead’s Young Musicians Programme, in which she coaches the most talented young singers in the north-east.
NCS Accompanist Nick Butters Nick became the accompanist for Newcastle Choral Society in December 2021. He teaches and plays at the Centre for Advanced Training at the The Glasshouse and regularly accompanies the cellist, Deborah Thorne and soprano Mary Hitch, and the Wordsworth singers. Nick accompanied us at the Come and Sing.
Mark Anyan NCS Musical Director took over for the rest of the session as we worked through the sublime Faure Requiem. We enjoyed a well deserved break for drinks and cakes – lots of them, before finishing the afternoon with a Beatles classic ‘And I love her’
Lots of lovely comments from our guest singers as they headed home. We hope some will be able to try us out as potential members.
A MIDSUMMER CELEBRATION
Traditional and Contemporary Choral works
from Handel to Hagenberg, Boulanger to Beach including ‘Zadok the Priest’ and ‘I was Glad’.
Saturday 24th June at 19.30 in Trinity Church Gosforth
Soprano: Mary Hitch
Soprano: Katie Oswell
Piano: Nick Butters
Organ: Kris Thomsett
Musical Director: Mark Anyan
£12 with free programme Free to under 18s with a paying adult
(£6 for those in full time education or registered unemployed)
Available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newcastle-choral-society
Card payments or cash on the door
There will be a Pay bar in the interval – CASH ONLY please
Our midsummer concert consists of a wide variety of music drawn from different periods. Monteverdi, Vivaldi and Handel, Mozart, Fauré and Parry are included as well as Ola Gjeilo
Morten Lauridsen is currently one of America’s most performed composers,
whose Sure on this Shining Night provides us with the title for our programme.
We are also pleased to perform a number of works by female composers. Music written by women has often been unjustly neglected in the past but is now being given the attention it fully merits. Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger and Elaine Hagenberg provide a substantial contribution to our programme.
In addition to the United Kingdom we visit the USA, France, Italy, and Norway.
Quiet, contemplative music and rousing, joyful choruses provide great contrast and there are two items which, conforming with tradition, accompanied important sections of the recent coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, namely I Was Glad and Zadok the Priest.
We are sure you will find much to enjoy in this well-chosen programme.
FOR NOW Sing with Us – Two FREE sessions remaining:
Discover: what it is like to sing with NCS. We are coming to the end of a series of monthly open rehearsals. Only Two more remain so come along at 7.30pm on the following Mondays: 22 May and 12 June.
We started these sessions in February in great style, some participants choosing to come each week, in all sections.
Join in – it’s not too late to get a flavour of NCS as we prepare a selection of choral favourites for our Summer Concert. These include works by Handel, Mozart, Lauridsen and Hagenberg, the latter choice, a sure winner to bring a tear to the eye!
Sing with us in performance in the lovely setting of Trinity Church Gosforth on 24 June at 7.30pm!
Beyond that become a fully fledged member of NCS and enjoy a rewarding choral experience with exciting opportunities ahead! Whats not to like!
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NEW Sing with Us – FREE sessions:
Discover: what it is like to sing with NCS. We are running a series of monthly open rehearsals at 7.30pm on the following Mondays: 20 March,17 April, 22 May and 12 June.
We started these sessions in February in great style, some participants choosing to come each week. Hurrah for Sopranos and Altos but we would love to welcome Basses and Tenors!
Join in as we prepare a selection of choral favourites for our Summer Concert, including works by Handel, Mozart, Lauridsen and Hagenberg, the latter choice a sure winner to bring a tear to the eye!
Sing with us in performance in the lovely setting of Trinity Church Gosforth on 24 June at 7.30pm!
Beyond that become a fully fledged member of NCS and enjoy a rewarding choral experience with exciting opportunities ahead! Whats not to like!
Learn More