LYTHAM
ST ANNES CHORAL SOCIETY
click here to read the July newsletter from Gerontius.net which contains a number of items of interest to singers and choirs
2008 CONCERT DATES
1st November |
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VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Toward The Unknown Region
Three Organ Preludes on Welsh Hymns
Six studies in English Folk Songs (with Suzanne Midgley, clarinet)
HAYDN
Creation Mass
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13th December
BACH
Magnificat
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Fantasia on Christmas Carols
Carols for Choir and Audience
25th April 2009
MENDELSSOHN
St Paul |
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MUSIC SCORES FOR HIRE
Haydn Paukenmesse (100 copies) Haydn Nelson Mass (100 copies) Faure Requiem (100 copies)
Please email for details. |
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NEW ADVERTISERS WELCOME
If you would like to advertise in any or all of our three Programmes for the season please contact: Olga Depledge via our Secretary, Eddie Taylor
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This Page was updated 18/07/2008 |
Lytham Vocal Society
Programme from 1928
Click here to see larger pictures
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During the pre-war days of 1935 a young woman (a GPO telephonist) and her husband would cycle the 5 miles or so from Warton to Lytham to rehearse Elgar's King Olaf. This woman was Kathleen Ferrier who later often returned to sing solo with the choir before exploding onto the world stage as perhaps the most famous contralto of all time.
Welcome to Our Website!
Our Chairman Alva Marsden
We are delighted you have visited our website and trust you will find our website interesting and informative. As you can see, our Choral Society has a long and rich musical history and this year, we marked our Centenary with a special Concert in May at The Grand Theatre in Blackpool where we performed the Verdi Requiem with four of our President Barbara's distinguished pupils, Amanda Roocroft, Jane Irwin, Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts and Wyn Pencarreg. This was a very special and memorable evening for Lytham St Annes Choral Society and a fitting way to celebrate our Centenary.
Verdi Requiem rehearsal at The Grand Theatre, Blackpool
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Our Choral Society Today We like to think of ourselves as a large group of friends who share a love of choral music. We currently number about 100 members and we perform three regular concerts each year but also perform extra events such as occasional services at local churches and evensong at Cartmel Priory.
We have an active social side. In recent seasons these have included parties after each concert, wine-tasting, barbecues and outings. Naturally singing does dry the throat and some of us feel the urgent need to seek medical help immediately after rehearsals at a local hostelry.
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The Lytham St Annes Choral Society acknowledges with thanks the generous support of The Bluespot Knee Clinic |
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Our Annual Barbeque was held on the 28th June 2008 at the home of George and Barbara Mason with Musical 'turns' and other entertainment was its usual great success. More photos can be seen on the Member's Page
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Our Annual Dinner, 2008 was held in the Atrium at the Dalmeny Hotel, St Annes and the guest speaker was Marjorie Pennington, Chairman of Fylde Arts and Blackpool Symphony Orchestra. Marjorie founded and has run the Grundy Mid-day concerts in Blackpool, she also organises Fylde Arts recitals at the Assembly rooms. Marjorie was Andrew Barratt's predecessor as Head of Music at Queen Mary School and was a member of our choir as a soprano. She was also deputy conductor and sang as one of our soloists on one occasion.
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Musical Director Andrew Barratt
Andrew Barratt, our present Musical Director, has conducted widely in this area, being involved with various choirs and operatic societies. He has conducted our choral society in over 60 concerts since 1977.
In our centenary season, Andrew will have been our Musical Director for thirty years and we would like to thank him for his inspirational leadership over this period in which the choir has performed more than 60 works, many of them for the first time.
MUSICAL DIRECTORS 1907 - 2006
1907-1946 S H Broughton 1946 1948 H Whitaker 1948-1949 W A Earnshaw 1949-1957 G A Armstrong 1957-1976 Harry Wrigley 1977 - Andrew Barratt
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A Brief History of Our Choral Society It is a commonly held view that the Choral Society was founded in 1907 although the society possesses a programme for a concert of the Lytham Choral Union dated Monday March 30th 1891 when a performance of Haydn's Creation was given in the Baths Assembly Rooms in Lytham.
Annual concerts were given in April of each year usually at the Pier Pavillion, Lytham. Concerts from the first world war period include The flag of St George, The Revenge, The Banner of St George.
During the 1920's works such as Messiah, Elijah, Creation and Hiawatha's Wedding Feast began to make regular appearances. On December 5th 1929, "The first subscription Concert" of the Lytham Vocal Union comprised a performance of Judas Maccabaeus.
During the pre- war days of 1935 a young woman (a GPO telephonist) and her husband would cycle the 5 miles from Warton to Lytham or so to rehearse Elgar's King Olaf. This woman was Kathleen Ferrier who later often returned to sing solo with the choir before exploding onto world stage as perhaps the most famous contralto of all time.
Other soloists with the choir have included Jennifer Vyvyan, Owen Brannigan, Janet Baker, Robert Tear, Barbara Robotham, Andrew Murgatroyd and Amanda Roocroft.
Over almost 100 years, the society has had just 6 musical directors, four of them accounting for all but 3 years out of almost a century of choral music making.
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