A letter to Friends of Writtle Singers.

If you are not a member find out what advantages there are to membership here

We've just returned from a short tour to Zurich, and are now busy rehearsing for a our next concert.

Sat 14th May concert: On this occasion we've been invited to take part in the William Byrd Festival at the church of St Peter and St Paul in Stondon Massey, CM15 0LD. The concert is entitled 'William Byrd: Loyal Heart or Traitor?' and it will explore in words and music the composer’s life as a recusant Catholic, at odds with the law of the time proscribed by Queen Elizabeth I yet regarded by her as a master of his craft. Poor Parson Nobbs, the Rector of Stondon Massey, was required to present before the Archdeaconry Court a list of non-attenders. Byrd never crossed the threshold of the parish church and was fined time and again.

The evening will include Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices, composed for private and illegal worship for the Petre family and their friends at nearby Ingatestone Hall.

There will be one performance at 7.30pm. http://williambyrdfestival.blogspot.com/

As we're not organising this concert, we are unable to give complimentary tickets to Friends of Writtle Singers. However if you'd like to attend the event and want to buy tickets, again priced £12.50 (or £6 for under 16s), you can get them from the Church Office - Tel: 01277 821464, or email at:blackmorevicarage@btinternet.com

Sun 22nd May lunchtime 'Buffet in the Barn': We'd be delighted if you'd like to join us for our next social and fundraising event. We have been fortunate enough to secure the services of well known, local vegetarian chef Leon Lewis who will provide what we expect to be a wonderful meal for us (and tell us about it), and it's going to be in the lovely setting of the Barn at Elm Farm in West Hanningfield, CM2 8UE. We'd love you to join us, perhaps with family or friends, and for more details please contact Liz at liz.saward@btinternet.com

Donations to Writtle Singers from Amazon: If any of you buy things on line from Amazon from time to time, we've got an arrangement with the company that if people go into their site from the Writtle Singers' website (http://www.writtlesingers.org/), then they will donate a small proportion of the cost to us. This obviously helps with our funds, and all choir members are now trying to get into the habit of going shopping via our website, and it would be great if you could do the same to help swelll the choir's funds.

Donations to Writtle Singers from the Writtle Co-op: For any of you living in and around Writtle, it is possible to have a Community Card which can be used instead of a co-op card, and all purchases made with them lead to quarterly donations to the choir. If you'd like to know more, I can organise one for you, so just let me know.

Early note for the diary - 16th July: We hope that you'll be able to keep this evening clear in your diary, as it will be when we next perform in Writtle in a concert entitled 'Mixed Doubles'.

I hope that we will see you at one of these two events in May,
Nanette Wright
On behalf of Writtle Singers

Radiance

Music of Light – The Writtle Singers at All Saints' Church12.03.11

This satisfyingly ambitious programme was one of the Singers' best. It began with plainsong – a form older than the building in which we were listening – with the choir processing to the four corners of the nave. Here they gave an impressive performance, from memory, of the challenging twenty-first century motet O lux beata Trinitas, a setting of words by St Ambrose.James McMillan's Missa Brevis was the central work. Again, beautifully delivered, especially in the closing Agnus Dei, with its finely grained Miserere and its movingly humble Dona Nobis Pacem.There was Bach, too, Brewer and Bairstow, whose I Sat Down Under His Shadow had a lovely diminuendo at the end.Simon Harvey was at the organ – as soloist he gave Fireworks by Handel, and joined the Singers' inspirational director at the piano for a light-hearted duet from Fauré's Dolly Suite.Secular music to finish, though in the lovely Saint-Saens Calme des Nuits it was really only the words that were secular. Not so in the delicious luminescent lollipops - On the Sunny Side of the Street and I'm Beginning to See the Light - sung with the same passion, the same precision, as the Holst, the Wood or the Rutter.

Michael Gray

Quiz night

Many thanks to everyone who contrtibuted to last night's super quiz event.  Much fun was had.....

Writtle Christmas Market

Writtle Singers' glorious table of goodies all ready for the Writtle Christmas Market Tombola
















...and the sale is underway

Well done everyone for selling out and making a lovely profit for the Singers

Remember?

Here is Michael Gray's Review of our Gunpowder,Treason and Plot concert

GUNPOWDER TREASON AND PLOT
Writtle Singers at All Saints' Church
06.11.10

As the nation celebrated Diwali – festival of lights – and the thwarting of the 5/11 terrorist plot, Writtle Singers presented a typically thought-provoking programme of choral music centred around that first Guy Fawkes Night.
Hundreds of flames burned in the church, which boasts a real chandelier, and more candles lit the way from the lych gate.
The music, structured around the perfect 4 part mass of William Byrd, Catholic survivor and protégé of the Petre family, also included Dowland and Peter Philips – a song of rejoicing for the accession of James I.
The mass, first sung by the Petre household in Ingatestone Hall, was sensitively interpreted here by the Writtle Singers under Christine Gwynn; I particularly admired the Credo, the carefully crafted power of the Benedictus, and the final Agnus Dei, sung in darkness before the altar rail.
Other of Byrd's works included here were Rejoice, Rejoice, with a fine solo alto, and Why Do I Use My Paper, Ink and Pen, inspired by the martyrdom of Thomas Campion.
The historical background, including Fawkes's own verbatim confession, was read by Martyn Richards. He reminded us that we do well to reflect, as the barrage of explosives echoes around us, how quickly the fear of difference turns into oppression and terror …

Remember, remember...........

the sixth of November!!

GUNPOWDER, TREASON & PLOT

Do come and join Writtle Singers with Martyn Richards narrator

Saturday 6 November 7.30pm

All Saints’ Church, Writtle near Chelmsford CM1 3DT

In the later 1500s Essex was home to a leading branch of the recusant Catholic community, including composer William Byrd and the Petre family of Ingatestone, who maintained their faith in secrecy and at risk of death.

In November 1605 a group of young Catholic men responded to this persecution by plotting an explosion designed to kill the king and his family plus the entire nobility, senior clergy and judiciary of England.

Through music by Byrd and his contemporaries, both protestant and catholic - including de Monte, Philips, Dering and Dowland - and narration read by Martyn Richards we venture behind the scenes of 5.11......

Tickets:

£12 [£10 only if purchased before 6 Nov] ;

£5 full-time students [£3 only if purchased before 6 Nov]

free admission for children under 16.

· book online at www.writtlesingers.org
· purchase tickets in person at James Dace in Chelmsford,
· phone the box office on 01277 658183

Venue and other info at www.writtlesingers.org

Chelmsford Cathedral Friday lunchtime concerts - free!

From the cathedral website:
On Fridays from 12.30pm to 1.15pm there is a regular programme of lunchtime concerts in the Cathedral. These range in variety from organ recitals to chamber and school music concerts. The organ recitals are regularly on the first Friday of the month and full details of concerts can be found below.

Admission is free, but we welcome your contribution towards our expenses. Light refreshments are available in the Cathedral from 12 noon, or you are welcome to bring your own if you wish.

Autumn programme