NEWS FROM THE CHAIR :  edition two, 2014-15 Season

Greetings , CMS Choir and especially to our new members .  Welcome to CMS Choir and enjoy your singing!

 

To you all - please remember your Section Voice Reps : they are “the eyes & ears” of the Choir, on hand hear you and to alert Committee to your issues and concerns. So do offer them your support and help, not least with the weekly raffle & refreshments (such a regular boost to Choir funds). Also, a big thank you to Esther Noot, the new Alto Two Voice Rep. Please see attached for an updated list of Choir Committee & Voice Reps).

Various Choir members have been unwell recently. I know they have all really appreciated your cards and good wishes and we wish them well for a speedy recovery back to full health…and to their singing!

Arrangements for our full-scale November concert “The War Requiem” are now well underway. The message goes out : please practise, practise, practise…remembering also those helpful online choral resources  eg. the John Fletcher practice  material www. johnfletchermusic.me.uk and other sites listed on the CMS Website. On a practical note, stewards and programme sellers are always needed for our concerts and new offers of help for these important tasks are also really  appreciated. I also invite every choir member to distribute (even a few) concert flyers as well as all the concert posters : to request an electronic flyer to send out to your friends and family: and to help us generally  to “ spread the word” and distribute publicity for 22 November as widely as possible. This publicity drive will also extend very soon to our  Christmas concerts on Weds 17 & Thurs 18 December . We need to recapture some of our popular audience appeal for these concerts and our guest presenter, Ian McMillan www.uktouring.org.uk/ian-mcmillan is just the person to  make this happen.

Tickets for the Nov. and Dec. concerts are now available online/and in person (with a £1 booking fee) from the Cathedral Box Office www.chestercathedral.com/events  as well as a from our Ticket Sec. Andy Payne.

There is a modified rehearsal schedule for the December concerts :Thurs Nov (Queens) , Thurs 4 Dec  & 11 Dec ( QPHS), and also the following evening, FRIDAY 12 Dec. 7.30 pm at the Cathedral for a full rehearsal.

Our Librarian, Rob Greaves, has asked me to remind you that, from immediate effect, you are now invited to “opt- in” in order to either hire or purchase vocal scores for future concerts. If no specific advance order for a score is made during the time period specified per concert, then, generally, no score will be available for that singer at the start of the concert rehearsal period.

Finally, an important  note for your  2015 diary: a half-day Commission Taster Workshop for all CMS Choir members taking place at St. Mary’s , Handbridge, Chester on Sat, 28 Feb . Tickets @ £10. “ Noah’s Fire”, an oratorio commissioned by our Choir will receive its first performance at our Cathedral concert in Nov. 2015. So the Workshop, led by composer, Phillip Cooke,  will be our first chance to explore this new, exciting work!

Also, spaces may still be available if you are interested in joining the CMS/ EPMS group attending the “Come and Sing : Mozart Requiem” Event with the CBSO in Birmingham on Sunday Jan. 26 2015. John Wishlade has the details.

Enjoy your singing.

Denise

Choir Chairman

PS. My commiserations for the current disruption to parking at Queens School….not to mention the endless roadworks in Chester!  Many congratulations to you all for overcoming the challenges presented to us!!!