SINGERS DIRECT: News

Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" in the Royal Albert Hall

Claire, Susanna, Debbie and Michael will soon begin building up their vocal chords in anticipation of a mammoth performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony, to take place in the Royal Albert Hall in May 2011. The "Thousand" will be made up of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vivace Chorus, the London Symphony Chorus, the London Chorus, the Romsey Choral Society, Tiffin Boys' Choir and the other soloists: Elisabeth Meister, Helen Neeves, Adrian Thompson and Robert Poulton. Jeremy Backhouse, a good friend of Singers Direct will be wielding the baton. .

Jeremy follows in Christopher's footsteps

Jeremy is to travel to Madrid in February to sing the Evangelist in the St Matthew Passion for Adrian Davis and the Madrid Bach Choir. Christopher has also sung for Adrian in the Spanish capital, in a memorable Messiah which you can read about in the news archive section (link to the left of this screen) under the title Christopher Foster and Messiah: 43 Not Out. We hope Jeremy will have a less eventful evening!

Inigo enters the annals

Helen's son Inigo and her second daughter Lily (7) enjoyed his first Christmas enormously. He is clearly as good humoured as his mother! Her third child, Helen finds that pregnancy has given an added richness to her voice and that it is growing as rapidly as her family. Good for the career Helen, but don't take it too far...

Michael's recordings of French organists' songs to be released

After many years... nearly a decade!... of Michael's involvement in this enterprise, three of his recordings are about to be issued by Naxos. Each disc concerns one of the chosen, yet overshadowed, French composers who chose to live their lives as Parisian organists, hence the titles of each disc. The recordings are to be released initially on-line...

Left: Charles-Marie Widor, who will grace the cover of Michael's book that the CDs will help illustrate.

Verdi wins more plaudits

Claire, Susanna and Michael were delighted with a recent review for their recent performance of the Verdi Requiem with the combined choirs of Portsmouth Choral Union and the Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir in Portsmouth's Guildhall on October 31st. Mike Allen for The Portsmouth News was clearly enthused...

Workshop debut brings a smile

Susanna was invited by conductor David Gibson and the Croydon Philharmonic Choir to provide vocal coaching for a Saturday workshop they held in the early autumn. This was Susanna's debut in the field, but the choir were generous in both their support and subsequent comments. Needing particular help with French pronunciation before tackling a programme of Faure, they were tickled by some of the tongue twisters Susanna had looked out for them...

Singers Direct: the next generation

Congratulations to both Helen and her husband Daniel on the birth of their son Inigo on 28th July, and Jeremy and his wife Sarah on the arrival of Matilda Jane (see left) on 5th November. Both children should be lulled by terrific lullabies, and grow up knowing every warm-up exercise in the book!

Deborah helps choral societies improve their sound

How well is your choir singing? Do you believe it could sing better? Is your choral society producing a focussed quality sound or is the chorus's unfocussed tone not delivering its full potential?