On Saturday 19th March, the Barnby Choir held a very successful singing day at Wilmslow Methodist Church.
The musical director, Frances Cooke, led the choir through the rhythmical and lyrical piece by Coleridge-Taylor, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast. Frances was, as always, hugely inspiring and great fun to work with, helping the choir with techniques to improve their voices as well as an introduction to this lesser known piece of romantic music.
Regular Barnby Choir members were joined by singers from many other local choirs, attracted by the chance to work with Frances Cooke and the chance to get to know Hiawatha. Stephen Reynolds, the regular rehearsal pianist for the Barnby, accompanied the workshop and enhanced the experience with his accomplished and musical performance, making the humble piano of the Methodist church very plausibly represent a full symphony orchestra!
At lunchtime, volunteers from Wilmslow Wells for Africa served a delicious lunch of home made soups, fresh bread and home-made cakes. This was the first time the two organisations have collaborated in this way but it was a great success and we hope the start of more such joint ventures in the future.
The highlight of the day was a performance of the piece at the end of the afternoon. We were privileged to be joined by Tim Kennedy, who sang the beautiful tenor solo where Hiawatha declares his love for Minnehaha. His wonderful voice and moving interpretation inspired the choir to a great performance and participants went away at the end of the day uplifted and no doubt singing the wonderful tunes in their heads for the next few days!
The next concert for the Barnby Choir will be on Saturday 21st May at the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Bramhall. We will be performing music by Handel: Dixit Dominus and the Coronation Anthems (including the well-known Zadok the Priest). For more information about that concert, visit our website www.thebarnbychoir.org.uk or phone 01625 581321 to book tickets.
We are always happy to recruit new members for the choir. At the moment we are particularly looking for tenor and bass voices. If you are interested, phone our secretary on 01663 749493.
This is a member post by Helen Hall.
