Chester Music Society Youth Choir and Northern Spirit Singers
Review: All Saints' Church, Hoole Road, Sunday 2 May 2010 by Helen Highwater
An audience ranging from small children to grandparents had the privilege of hearing two excellent choirs on Bank Holiday Sunday 2 May at an afternoon concert hosted by Chester Music Society Youth Choir. The Youth Choir was joined by guests from Durham: one of the UK's leading choirs, Northern Spirit Singers.
Chester Music Society Youth Choir has been giving young people aged 9-18 from the Chester area a chance to sing since 1988. Their current conductor, Helena Thomas, is a former member of the choir as well as having been in the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.
Based in Durham and conducted by Andy King, Northern Spirit Singers has earned a reputation as one of the UK's best young adult choirs. As well as reaching the adult finals of the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year Competition, the choir has sung all over the UK, including as backing choir for soprano Lesley Garrett. This concert was part of a bank holiday tour to Chester and North Wales.
Northern Spirit Singers established the high standard of the concert, opening with a polished and spirited performance of Byrd's 'Alleluia', following that with two assured pieces by Mendelssohn, the double-choir 'Kyrie Eleison', and 'Frohlocket, ihr Voelker auf Erden'. The Youth Choir then sang the 'Agnus Dei' from Britten's 'Missa Brevis' with a lovely delicacy of touch and attention to detail, and showed a beautiful lyrical line in John Rutter's classic, 'The Lord Bless You and Keep You'. Northern Spirit's rendition of the well-known 'O Magnum Mysterium' by Morten Lauridsen captured the rapt attention of the audience, developing from the serenity of the simple opening lines to beautiful rich harmonies. The 'Nunc Dimittis' by Lutoslawski, was a stunning and unusual piece and really showed their ability to tackle very demanding music.
The Youth Choir then sang the first of two sets of excerpts from the song series 'Friday Afternoons' by Benjamin Britten. They made a beautiful sound, with lovely agility and lightness on their high notes and sensitively accompanied by pianist Janice Warren. The choir seemed to really enjoy these short and varied pieces. Their sense of humour and storytelling got a warm response from the audience. The first half ended with a gospel piece, 'It's Me, Oh Lord', conducted by Andy King and sung by both choirs together. The two choirs made an excellent and well-blended combined sound, having only met for the first time for a joint choral workshop earlier in the day.
The second half opened with Northern Spirit's exciting and beautifully controlled performance of 'With a Lily in Her Hand' by Eric Whitacre. They followed this with the Pearsall partsong, 'Light of My Soul', and Vaughan Williams' 'Linden Lea'. More excerpts from Friday Afternoons sung by the Youth Choir proved equally popular with the audience. The Youth Choir then sang AA Milne's poem 'Halfway Up the Stairs' (which you may remember from the Muppets!), with a very attractive unison sound and again a real sense of storytelling. They finished their set with an excellent performance of William Mathias's 'Calico Pie'. Northern Spirit showed off their language skills in their last set with pieces in Irish and Finnish. The lilting Irish love song 'Siul a Ruin' (sung in English and Irish) by Michael McGlynn showed their beauty of tone. Their final solo piece, 'Armottoman Osa' by Makaroff, was, we were told, about an unloved orphan. The choir gave a colourful performance of the piece, using a wonderful range of sound quality to bring an unfamiliar language to life for the audience. The concert ended with more joint performances. Conducted by Helena Thomas, both choirs sang a lively and well-controlled performance of the Kings Singers' arrangement of Beatles favourite, 'Penny Lane'. They then finished with a lyrical performance of 'A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square', conducted by Andy King. The encore for the concert was a lively and popular rendition of a Zulu song, 'O Re Mi', arranged by Mike Brewer. The choirs had learnt it in their workshop earlier in the day, and the words, which translate as 'We are dancing. Mother is dancing. Father is dancing.' seemed very apt for the energy of the performance.
This concert was a wonderful showcase for two fantastic choirs and their wonderful conductors, and the audience responded enthusiastically. The two choirs already had links though their conductors, who were contemporaries in the National Youth Choir and were both founding members of Northern Spirit Singers. Hopefully, seeing a choir of young adults with the skill and commitment that Northern Spirit Singers has will inspire the excellent young singers of Chester Music Society Youth Choir to continue singing once they are adults.
If you would like more information about singing with the Chester Music Society Youth Choir (for young people aged 9-18) or their junior choir, Preludes (for ages 7-11), please ring Wendy on 01244 300717. Both the Youth Choir and Preludes rehearse in the United Reformed Church on Hoole Road on Thursday evenings, and you can hear their summer concert at 7.30pm on July 10th at All Saints' Church, Hoole Road.
