Chairman’s report
AGM 9 March 2006

Hello everybody

I don’t want to take too much of your time tonight; but I think I should review very briefly one or two highlights from the choir’s past year, say some well-merited ‘thank yous’, and look forward briefly to what we have planned ahead.

I’m glad to say that after another successful year, the Society is thriving and in vigorous health. Membership continues to rise, our concerts are becoming popular to the point of straining the capacity of our venues, our musical and artistic standards improve all the time, and as I expect Liz will explain, we are on a very solid financial footing too.

Our core activity is, of course, rehearsing and performing choral music, and I think we have had an outstandingly successful year from that point of view.

Repertoire

In Spring 2005 we performed, if you remember,
Fauré’s Requiem and Cantique de Jean Racine; six Bruckner Motets (which we sang unaccompanied); and the work we had commissioned from our previous accompanist and assistant conductor Philip Godfrey - I Waited Patiently for the Lord, which was dedicated to the memory of our late chairman Michael Haines. In all a quite challenging repertoire which we performed with great confidence to a packed church; and of course this was also the basis of our concert tour to Southern Bohemia in May last year.

Then in the summer we enjoyed  Mendelssohn’s Lauda Zion, a great sing, together with a ‘choral classic’ -  Poulenc’s Gloria, again with significant success.

But the crowning point of the past year was surely our winter concert this January, in the imposing surroundings of Southwark Cathedral, performing of course Will May’s significantly difficult All over the Earth, together with Benjamin Britten’s Saint Nicholas and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.

I think the size and success of this occasion took the choir to a new level and has given us confidence, perhaps, to continue tackling new challenges in terms of the scale of our concerts and the difficulty of the music we can take on.

And of course we were honoured to have had the opportunity to work with Will May as he developed All over the Earth. I’d like to formally express our gratitude to Making Music, Spnm and the Performing Rights Foundation for making the commission economically possible through the 'Adopt A Composer' scheme as well as for the introduction to Will – not to mention the continuing excitement of  seeing whether we would master the work in time for the performance!

Tour to Southern Bohemia

I’ve already mentioned the tour to S Bohemia last May. It attracted a record 46 people, and judging by the feedback we received I think everyone who went found it highly enjoyable. This tour introduced two innovations - our first use of air travel and the introduction of an opportunity for members to choose to extend their stay in Prague (or touring the countryside) for a few days after the formal tour had completed. I think we plan to continue both of these in future tours. The only blight on the tour, possibly, was the fact that after all her hard work planning and preparing the tour, Catriona (and her husband Chris) were unable to travel with us after Chris had broken his leg.

Catriona and Liz are now both busy talking to tour companies and planning the tour for 2007, with some exciting destinations in prospect, which it is aimed to present to you all before the end of this term. Catriona, just make sure you go on this one!

Bring & Sing events

In addition to these mainstream events, we held a pleasant ‘new members’ social evening last term, and a successful and very enjoyable ‘bring and sing’ workshop on Handel’s Messiah – oh, and have I mentioned we have another Bring and Sing coming up, this time Brahm’s Requiem, on 1 April?

While looking forward, our plans are for what I hope will prove to be equally enjoyable forthcoming concerts: in the summer, on 8 July, Dvorak: Mass in D; Kodaly - Missa Brevis. For the winter another ‘big’ concert - Handel’s Messiah  in the recently re-opened Union Chapel, one of London’s most prominent arts venues right on our own doorstep, and hopefully a chance to forge links there for the future. 2 December 2006. Then in the Spring of next year we are performing Mozart’s Requiem and his Solemn Vespers. For Summer 2007 a programme of nineteenth and twentieth century English Music: Works by Vaughan Williams, Stanford, Parry, Howells, Finzi, Ireland and Tavener.

 To conclude, I’d like to thank Michael and Rufus for their for the leadership, inspiration and professionalism. And I want to record appreciation on your behalf, as well as my sincere personal thanks, to Sarah, Jeremy, Martin, and Anil who are stepping down from the committee; indeed not just to them but to all the committee members,  Liz, Christopher, Alex, Gillian, Frances and Catriona, for helping to make the committee so effective, imaginative and forward-looking and the Society such an enjoyable choir to sing in. Can I also take this opportunity to thank once again Iris Nash, raffle supremo and chair lady extraordinaire, all those who have helped with refreshments here and at concerts, everyone who produced stewards, and indeed everyone in the choir who has helped contribute both to our success and to our enjoyment of each rehearsal as well as each performance.

I hope you feel as I do that we have had a thoroughly enjoyable year, and I look forward to another rewarding and successful season.

Thanks

 John Leslie