Spring Concert in St James Church, Devizes - March 2011

This concert was the final concert conducted by Margaret Henry before her retirement. The choir sang Rutter's beautiful Requiem Mass and were accompanied by flute, oboe, ‘cello and organ.from the gallery.

The photogallery is below the Programme

Dr Pamela Kempton was a guest at this concert and she took over the Choir's direction in May 2011. Presentations were made to Margaret at the St. James Parish Hall in thanks for her service.

The Programme

Devizes Chamber Choir

Director — Margaret Henry

Organ — Tim Hutchings

John Rutter’s  REQUIEM and other Lenten Music

7.30 pm, Saturday 26th March 2011

St. James’ Church, Devizes

REQUIEM - John Rutter ( 1945 - )

1. Requiem Aeternam

2. Out of the deep

3. Pie Jesu

4. Sanctus

5. Agnus Dei

6. The Lord is my Shepherd

7. Lux Aeterna , Jane Hunt – Soprano, Gaynor Alford – Oboe, Tony Jones – Flute,

    Cully Wilcoxon – Cello

Requiem was first performed on 13 October 1985 at Lovers’ Lane United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas. Movements 1,2,4 and 7 were first performed on 14 March 1985 at Fremont Presbyterian Church, Sacramento, California. Both performances were conducted by the composer. The Lord is my shepherd was originally written in 1976 as a separate anthem.

INTERVAL

A Hymn to the Virgin – Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), Jane Francis, Enid Allinson, Ray Wright Jeremy Groom

Silver Reeds Clarinet Quartet

David Davies – Clarinet, Jim Barton – Clarinet/Alto Saxophone, Mark Wood – Clarinet, Dennis Gardener – Bass Clarinet

Four by Four Suite – Hanmer

Flower Duet from Delibes’ Lakmé

Ballet music Rosamunde No.2 – Schubert

Caprice for Clarinets – Grundman

March Charlie is my darling – Traditional

I will lift up mine eyes – Michael Head, Jane Hunt – Soprano

The Song of the Leaves of Life and Water of Life – from Vaughan Williams’ Pilgrims Progress

Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis – Peter Cook (1939 - )

Acknowledgements

Tonight the choir are delighted to add three instrumentalists to their forces for the performance of the Requiem. Gaynor Alford, Cully Wilcoxon and Tony Jones are all local professional players. We also welcome the return of Jane Hunt as our Soprano soloist, and look forward to her contribution to the programme.

Performing their first concert with us, we warmly welcome the 4 Silver Reeds who are professional players from Trowbridge. We are, of course, glad to have Tim Hutchings with us again, and we also thank Tony Jones for his sterling service as rehearsal accompanist.

Devizes Chamber Choir is a member of "Making Music", the National Federation of Music Societies, which represents and supports ama-teur and semi-professional music groups of all genres throughout the United Kingdom.

Music scores are hired from Wiltshire Performing Arts Library.

The choir is always ready to welcome new members. It meets regularly for rehearsals on Tuesday evenings at Sheep Street Baptist Church, Devizes. If you would like more information, please con-tact the choir secretary, Carole Jones on 01380-840338, or look at the website.

This concert sadly marks the retirement of Margaret Henry as Musical Director of the Choir. Margaret has transformed the Choir during her seven years with us, and it has been an inspiration to rehearse and perform under her baton. She has combined an insistence on high musical standards with the provision of wit and enjoyment, and we wish her all the best in her retirement