Our first concert of the season is on 11th November when Jenkins’ ‘The Armed Man’ seemed the obvious choice for the programme as it is a firm favourite of choir members and our audiences. We’re coupling it with Puccini’s Missa di Gloria which should make for a wonderful evening.
Make sure you put the date in your diary – tickets are available now. 🎶
Bel Canto are delighted to welcome pianist Malcolm Martineau to the concert in June in which he will join our resident accompanist, Jonathan Gooing, for the four-hand original version of the Liebeslieder Waltzer Op. 52 (Brahms).
Here is some information on Malcolm and his achievements.
Website: http://martineau.info/
Malcolm Martineau
From Wikipedia:
Malcolm Martineau (born 3 February 1960) is a Scottish pianist who is particularly noted as an accompanist.
Born in Edinburgh, and educated at George Watson’s College, Malcolm Martineau read Music at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. In 1981 he went on to study at the Royal College of Music and currently studies with Joyce Rathbone.
Malcolm Martineau has played in Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Vienna, Milan, Berlin, throughout the United Kingdom and in North America accompanying many of the world’s leading singers including Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Barbara Bonney, Susan Graham, Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Tom Krause, Dame Felicity Lott, Anne Sofie von Otter, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, Sarah Walker and Ainhoa Arteta.
Among many noted instrumentalists he accompanies clarinetist Emma Johnson. He has appeared at numerous festivals throughout the United Kingdom, has given many recitals for the BBC, and appeared at the Aix-en-Provence, Vienna, Edinburgh and Salzburg Festivals and in North and South America.
He accompanied the winners of the Lieder prize at the 1989 Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and at the 1990 Elly Ameling Award. He has accompanied at masterclasses at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh for Dame Joan Sutherland, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Suzanne Danco, Ileana Cotrubas and Kurt Equiluz. He presented his own series at St Johns Smith Square of the complete songs of Debussy and Poulenc and a major Britten series at Wigmore Hall (both broadcast by the BBC).
Recent recordings have included Schubert, Schumann and English song recitals with Bryn Terfel (for Deutsche Grammophon), Schubert and Strauss recitals with Simon Keenlyside (for EMI), recital records with Angela Gheorghiu (for Decca), Emma Johnson, Della Jones and Yvonne Kenny, the complete Faure songs with Sarah Walker and Tom Krause, the complete Britten Folk Songs for Hyperion, the complete Beethoven folksongs, and the song recital “Songs My Mother Taught Me”, together with Magdalena Kožená, for Deutsche Grammophon.
His awards include the Walther Gruner International Lieder Competition.
We are delighted to announce the June concert!
The programme is:
Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine
Brahms: Liebeslieder Waltzer Op. 52
with guest accompanist Malcolm Martineau
Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb
Poulenc: Stabat Mater
with Clare Wheat (Soprano)
A FREE pre-performance talk will be given at 6:45pm.
Saturday 22nd June 7:15pm
St Margaret’s Parish church, Swinton, South Yorkshire.
Tickets £8 01709 582026
Our next sectional day will be Sunday 28th April at St John’s School, Mexborough.
If you are thinking of joining the choir, this is a perfect opportunity to try us out! These days usually have a guest choir trainer, plus our Musical Director and Accompanist and are a great introduction to new members. Plus they are chance for the choir to socialise while working hard learning new repertoire.
The format of the day is:
2:30pm – 3:45pm Session 1
TEA BREAK
4pm – 5:15pm Session 2
DINNER BREAK
6pm – 7pm Session 3
TEA BREAK
7:15pm – 8:30pm Session 4
FINISH
Repertoire will be: Liebeslieder Waltzer Op. 52 (Brahms) & Stabat Mater (Poulenc).
Click this link to download this article in PDF format: Bel Canto Press Release Oct 2012
There is no rest for this South Yorkshire choir which has recently performed a successful G&S Gala in October.
Their next adventure is an equally enjoyable one, yet it will be the first time this work has been performed in South Yorkshire.
“The Manchester Carols is an inspired collaboration between composer Sasha Johnson Manning and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. A collection of 12 carols, linked with a gentle, entertaining narration, which reshape and modernise the Christmas story. Its creators wanted to write something that is relevant to and reflects modern society, and which acknowledges the fact that even though someone might not subscribe to the religion behind the Nativity story, they can still appreciate it as an inspiring, magical tale.
The carols are for everyone, believers or not.
Duffy uses the Christmas story as a metaphor for human experience, giving us up-close and personal insights into the central characters of the nativity – Mary, Joseph, a newborn baby, and a ‘golden youth’ (aka the Angel Gabriel).
As Duffy herself says: ‘I think the story is wonderful. There’s a lot we can take from it on a human level even if we don’t take the divine element.’
There are hints, too, of the darker, grittier side of the Nativity story – refugees, poverty, giving birth on the road; and, looking further forward, there are hints of Jesus’ fate on the cross. These carols were written in Manchester in 2007 and first performed by children from several Manchester schools at The Royal Northern College of Music (and again in 2008).
All of us who worked on them – librettist, composer, artist, conductor, teachers, musicians and singers – live and work in that great city. And so these are, and will forever be, The Manchester Carols”. – www.fabermusicstore.com (There are some sample tracks on that page too!)
Bel Canto Choir has been granted special permission from the composer to perform the piece with flute, piano and harp. They will be joined by the children from St John’s School, Mexborough.
7:15pm, Saturday 22nd December
St Margaret’s Parish Church, Swinton, South Yorkshire.
Tickets are £8 and available on 01709 582026.
Bel Canto Choir 
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