Forthcoming Concerts & Events
Our Next Concert:SOLD OUT WASSAIL!Sunday December 11th 2011 4.00 pm
Once again we celebrate Christmas in the elegant Edwardian surroundings of the Moot Hall. Enjoy a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie, along with our programme of festive music which will include a chance to sing some favourite carols. We will be joined by a brass quintet and the choir of St George's Infants School, Colchester Tickets £7 (£3 Under 18s) *** Buy tickets online now *** OR from Manns Music, Colchester or Choir members
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Future Concerts:
Saturday March 17th 2012
7.30pm St Botolph's Church, Colchester
LISZT & MOZART
We welcome the return of Ashley Grote(Organ) and the Colchester Sinfonia to perform with us two contrsting settings of the Mass. Mozart's celebratory, sparkling "Coronation" Mass no 1 in C major (K317) was first performed in 1779, two years before the 23-year-old composer began his most successful period as a freelance composer in Vienna. Liszt's Missa Choralis was written in Rome in 1865, a period when both in his life and his music he had turned away from the flamboyance which characterised his youth. It has been described as "essentially the simple expression of a profound emotion". His Prelude and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H (1885) is a wonderfully dramatic solo piece for organ, sometimes heard in the composer's transcription for piano.
Saturday June 23rd 2012
7.30pm Dedham Church
HANDEL'S ACIS & GALATEA
with Colchester Sinfonia
Join us in the heart of the lovely Constable country to enjoy this delightful pastoral showing the great Handel at his best. This promises to be a perfect way to spend a summer's evening!
Reviews for Previous Concerts:
The Creation - Haydn
Saturday 28th November 2009
'Stunning performance - Choral Society on top form. Terrific visiting soloists. I wish the performance had been recorded so I could listen to it again'.
'Wonderful performance - the sound was great. More chorus next time please, they are my favourite bit!'
Beethoven -
Missa Solemnis
Saturday November 25th 2006 7.30pm
Review by Jackie Wallace for the Essex County Standard.
This immensely powerful mass setting by Beethoven, with its full-on emotional intensity and complex scoring, is not a task for the faint-hearted, and Colchester Choral Society and Sinfonia together with four first rate soloists, set their sights high to achieve a totally convincing performance under the inspiring direction of lan Ray.
From the confidently-stated opening bars of the Kyrie, an impressive level of energy and enthusiasm was maintained throughout with sustained pleas from the chorus overlaid by urgent solo interjections for mercy. The magnificent pace and momentum of the Gloria produced a whirlwind of excited praise, interspersed with pockets of lyrical relief from the soloists, and culminating in a well-controlled fugue with nicely punched-out entries from the choir.
An equally overwhelming degree of impassioned sincerity infused the Credo. A notably fervent Et Incamatus, and a most poignant Crucifixus featured wonderful contributions from the soloists and the choir dealt admirably with the fiendishly difficult fugal setting of Et Vitam Venturi.
These unrelenting affirmations of faith then yielded to a moving Sanctus and a truly sublime Benedictus.
The soloists. Sally Silver, Elizabeth Sikora, Justin Lavender and Keel Watson worked beautifully as a finely blended and balanced quartet to create a truly reverential atmosphere, which was enhanced by an exquisitely expressive violin solo from Jessie Ridley, and an extremely sensitive orchestral accompaniment.
Keel Watson's sombre supplication for mercy opened the Agnus Dei and was taken up by his fellow soloists. The choir then successfully transformed the mood to one of joyful expectation, and brought the work to a hopeful conclusion.
The long-lasting applause from a capacity audience said it all - a stirring performance.