Outstanding Concert
Those lucky enough to have heard The Sheldon Singers’ 30th Anniversary Concert last Saturday will surely agree that it was an absolutely outstanding occasion. The centrepiece was a riveting performance of The Armed Man: a Mass for Peace – Sir Karl Jenkins’ dramatic commentary on the savagery of war and the alternative pathway of peace. With current events across our unstable world, this intensely moving music makes a profound emotional impact, similar to Britten’s War Requiem 50 years ago.
First performed in 2000 as part of the Millennium celebrations, and specifically for the relocation of the Armouries Museum to Leeds, The Armed Man calls for a full symphony orchestra, chorus and soloists, including a Muezzin to sing the Muslim Call to Prayer. For the Sheldon Concert Julie De’Ath Lancaster used a pared-down orchestra of strings, flute/piccolo, 3 trumpets, percussion and organ.
Messiah at St Pauls
There are many people for whom Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without hearing Handel’s Messiah, and I am one of them. I was lucky enough to be amongst the large audience in St Paul’s Honiton on 21st December for a performance by The Sheldon Singers, with four excellent soloists and a full orchestra. Unusually for an amateur choir, the decision (a brave one) had been taken to perform the work in its entirety. Singing Messiah with small forces is not easy – the choir (only 28 singers) and the compact orchestra are very exposed – but as it turned out, they were right not to be daunted. If your previous experience of Messiah has been limited to the large scale, Huddersfield Choral Society-type offering, then I recommend you seek out a performance such as we heard at St Paul’s, and which is in fact what Handel intended.
Sounds of the Spirit
Quiet thought and contemplation should invest the character of music for Good Friday. The programme chosen by the Sheldon Singers for their Good Friday concert in St Paul’s Church in Honiton perfectly reflected that mood.
Wells Cathedral Concert
Thank you all so very much for such a splendid concert .......thanks to Mike Gent especially for organising the food, greeting, chairs and piano ....but not the weather. Julie
On Tour in Prague
Link to YOUTUBE - TV broadcast 28.9.15 The Sheldon Singers in Prague