It would seem that far from being Forbidden to him, Chris is now a regular and welcome visitor at Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall. His trip in April for Orff's Carmina Burana will be for his third performance with the International Festival Chorus, in a concert to mark its 10th Anniversary. Chris was there for its first concert, almost certainly the first performance of Messiah in English in China, and returned two years ago to sing the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. The IFC is now a major cultural institution in a city whose interest in Western music and is growing apace; its importance was duly recognised by the award of an OBE to its conductor, Nicholas Smith, in 2011.

From a review of Verdi's Requiem in Winchester on 19th November: "The quartet of soloists was led by Claire Rutter, a last minute replacement for an indisposed Claire Seaton. Here was some truly fabulous singing: Claire Rutter has a brilliant, diamond-like tonal quality and she combines it with a passionate lyricism. She was well-matched with mezzo-soprano Susanna Spicer, who had power, tonal depth and some gleaming top notes. The blend of these two voices in the Recordare was quite magical. Tenor Andrew Mackenzie-Wicks and bass Michael Bundy provided the necessary male support. The tenor had ringing top notes with a full Italian operatic tone and an appropriate sob in his voice for the Ingemisco while the bass had gravitas and depth to his tone and conveyed a sense of awe and terror. A stunning quartet of solo singers."

GA MacFarren is not the most well known of composers, but his work Robin Hood, recorded by Andrew and a fine team of singers conducted by Ron Corp, has just been given the thumbs up by David Mellor on his Classic FM programme. The recording is available from Amazon, and the American Record Guide sums the piece up beautifully...

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On 5 November, Helen stepped in at very short notice for a performance of Messiah in Peterborough Cathedral, unusually accompanied by the Black Dyke Band. The performance was conducted by Andrew Reid, and marked the 50th anniversary of the Black Dyke's arrangement of the piece, which Helen greatly enjoyed. Messiah has also been performed in jazz and soul versions - what a tribute to this pillar of the repertoire that all genres fancy 'giving it a go'.

Michael's long-awaited and magnificent book on the melodies of the great Parisian organists, the accompanying CDs of which are detailed variously below or in the archive section, is finally available from Amazon or direct from the author. Full details can be found on his new website: www.michaelrbundy.co.uk, where much, MUCH more can be found besides...it is well worth a visit, if only to see wonderfully comic photographs such as this one!

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Claire featured on SaintFM on Sunday 23 October, in connection with her forthcoming recital in Chelmsford (Friday 28th October). If you missed the broadcast, which sadly doesn't enjoy a listen again facility, you may yet be in time to catch the recital itself: 12.30pm in the Cathedral, with Claire accompanied by Robert Hunter on the piano. The repertoire will include Wagner's Wesendonk Lieder and Wesendonk Sonata, and Britten's On This Island.

Jeremy has become a father again, his wife Sarah having given birth to a second daughter, Phoebe May, on 14th October - a sister for Matilda. Many congratulations to them both, and much love from all of us at Singers Direct.

On 27 September Helen joined the London Concert Choir and City of London Sinfonia for Haydn's Paukenmesse and Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Conducted by Mark Forkgen, the concert was previously performed in Augsberg in the Basilica in July, where it went down equally well with an enthusiastic audience.

Singers Direct members frequently get involved in charitable events, but Susanna's latest was a slightly more time and energy consuming project than most. Over the last few weeks she has been walking the whole length of Offa's Dyke (c180 miles) on her own, for the Hereford Hospice, raising over £3,500 in the process. She finished at Chepstow on October 5th but it is not too late to sponsor her! Simply go to www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com, and find her page by putting Susanna Spicer into the Find a Friend box. A worthy cause and a brave, if foolhardy effort!

Deborah is to visit Hong Kong this autumn, to work with the Hong Kong Bach Choir on the Schnittke Requiem, and work with the intriguingly named group Katterwaul... we await reports of what they get up to in due course.

Michael, in his capacity as a BBC Singer, enjoyed several solo appearances in the 2011 Proms, including giving a very striking rendition of Percy Grainger's wonderfully dramatic ballad Shallow Brown, for baritone and chorus. Unfortunately it was unacknowledged both in the programme and on Radio 3. Shame on you Auntie!

Photo: Robert Garbolinski
Claire, Susanna, Deborah and Michael gave their all to a packed Albert Hall for conductor Jeremy Backhouse's performance of Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand on Sunday May 15th. The audience was thrilled by the depth, wealth and power of sound produced by all the performers, who numbered nearly 700, and the Chairman of the Vivace Chorus, which was promoting the concert, summed up the soloists' contribution as "exquisite".
From L to R: Claire, Elisabeth Meister, Susanna and Deborah before the performance

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Claire, Susanna, Andrew and bass Adam Green (standing in for an indisposed Christopher) gained praise in the Birmingham Post for their contribution to the Birmingham Bach Choir's concert of Haydn and Beethoven in April. "unobtrusively excellent, their voices blending well together...", the reviewer gave the concert 4 stars. The Post also complimented Susanna for a B Minor Mass a fortnight later: "the only genuine feel for words came with Susanna Spicer's Agnus Dei"...maybe the writer would have felt differently had the entire line up been of Singers Direct members on that occasion too, rather than Susanna being the sole representative on the platform?!

Reviews for Deborah, Andrew and Michael's performance of Messiah in Lichfield brought very enthusiastic responses from conductor and reviewer alike.

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Michael's third disc in his series (see archive) is now out and available for purchase. All three discs are now available through him directly at mrb@clara.net, or via record shops or the net.

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This time the call came at 4.30pm for a 7pm start, but Susanna was nevertheless able to rescue a performance of Bach's B Minor Mass in Pershore Abbey on 16th October, to the delight of veteran Three Choirs' conductor Donald Hunt. He subsequently wrote to her: "Thank you so much for saving the show on Saturday. It was wonderful to work with you again, and I thought your singing was sensational - and with no rehearsal! I have honestly never heard the Agnus Dei sung better...". Susanna has a little more notice for her next performance of the work, with the City of Birmingham Choir in April 2011 (see diary).

A recent concert with the St Alban's Choral Society under George Vass got very nice reviews for Christopher in the Herts Advertiser. The paper's critic wrote of Christopher's contribution to Elgar's anthem Great is the Lord: "The rich baritone voice of Christopher Foster added a suitably Elgarian quality to the performance and provided an oasis of calm reflection in the Andante section", and in Durufle's Requiem that he "conveyed a quiet intensity in his St Michael moment in the Domine Jesu Christe and the fire needed for his short Day of Wrath interjection in the Libera Me... the soloists played their part superbly." Praise indeed. Susanna hopes she will gain similar praise for her forthcoming performance of the Requiem in Hereford Cathedral in November.

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...

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