"Sprig of Thyme - An English Idyll"

incorporating

"The Sprig of Thyme"
by John Rutter

and supporting items by
Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Sullivan and Stanford

With our new Music Director - Nick Austin

Venue: Aylesbury Methodist Church,
Buckingham Street, Aylesbury HP20 2NQ

Tickets: Adults £12 in advance or £13 on the door. Children / students £5

Tickets available in advance from choir members,
or using the Booking Form

Coronation Anthems - Handel
(including 'Zadok the Priest')

Sparrow Mass - Mozart

Lauda Sion - Mendelssohn

Music Director - Nick Austin

Further information to follow in due course

Our 2018 Programme will include:

April - 'A Night At The Opera' - a selection of opera choruses

November - Brahms 'German Requiem'

Aylesbury Festival Choir presented a delightful programme of something familiar and something new for its concert on 28th November 2015 at Aylesbury Methodist Church.
The choir’s smart appearance and professional stage presentation, led to the expectation of a great performance and the audience was not disappointed.
Under conductor James Davey the concert opened with Fauré’s Requiem accompanied by organ (Daniel Moult) and harp (Jenny Broome).  This Requiem is different from others in that the emphasis is on requiem (rest) and this tenderness and calm came across really well throughout the work.   For those not familiar with the text it was helpful to have the English translation in the programme although the choir’s diction was very clear. The singers also responded well to the conductor’s requests for changes in dynamic.
The choice of harp for the accompaniment was inspired particularly in the Sanctus where it danced quietly beneath the chorus providing some very special moments. The soloists, Sara Brimer Davey (soprano) and Will Dawes (Baritone) were excellent and the soprano did full justice to the beautiful Pie Jesu solo. Congratulations to the Tenor section who did their best to provide a strong entry to the Agnus Dei despite being only 6 in number.
After the interval Thame Children’s Choir and Aylesbury Festival Ensemble joined the platform for Rutter’s Mass of the Children, a work for both adult and children’s choirs.   The adults sang the traditional Mass in Latin with the children singing the sub-theme in English.  The young singers were amazing!  Trained by Duncan Aspden and Alison Green they knew the work well and gave a confident and accomplished performance.  Giving only the briefest glance at their books, otherwise watching the conductor all the time and never missing an entry.   For such young children they did not appear to be at all fazed by the occasion and their behaviour was impeccable.
The two soloists blended particularly well in the Domine Deus duet and the final Dona Nobis Pacem with both choirs, soloists and ensemble all taking part to make an impressive end to a very enjoyable concert.
Barbara Fell

Sorry there is no review for this concert

CONCERT IN MEMORY OF

DAVID AYLETT

Founder and former Conductor of
Aylesbury Festival Choir

A mixed programme of choral and instrumental music

Venue: Aylesbury Methodist Church,
Buckingham Street, Aylesbury HP20 2NQ

(Proceeds to the Lymphoma Association and
Stoke Mandeville Cancer Care & Haematology Unit)

To read the tribute, which is a celebration of David's life, please click here.

Sorry there is no review for this concert

Aylesbury Festival Choir supported by an orchestra

THE CREATION
by
Franz Joseph Haydn

Soprano - Alice Gribbin
Mezzo-Soprano - Joanna Bywater
Tenor - Alex Pidgen
Bass - Gabriel Gottlieb

Director of Music - James Davey

Venue: St Mary's Church, Aylesbury, HP20 2JJ

In common with the rest of the country, Buckinghamshire has been commemorating the centenary of the start of the First World War. Numerous community groups have been taking part and, as one of the main emphases has been engaging young people, schools have been learning about the war, visiting the Western Front, producing art, music and poetry reflecting the conflict and researching family members who took part.
The foyer of the Waterside Theatre on Saturday November 29th housed an exhibition of some of the excellent work done by Buckinghamshire schools, which was also featured in the magazine Aylesbury Vale Remembers. My only criticism is the haste with which this exhibition was removed by the end of the concert - many of us had little opportunity to see it all.
The concert itself was on a huge scale and featured two choirs – Aylesbury Festival Choir and Aylesbury Choral Society, the 60 piece Oxford Festival Orchestra, with a large percussion section, recruited from across Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and five soloists conducted by James Davey, together with the Aylesbury Youth Orchestra conducted by Tom Horn.
The opening work, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant us Peace) was written in 1936 when the First World War was still fresh in people’s memories and fears were mounting that there would be a repeat performance. The text is taken from various sources including the Latin mass, poetry by Walt Whitman and a speech given in opposition to the Crimean War. As befits the subject it is a powerful piece with little of the folksy lyricism of Vaughan Williams’ more familiar music but it was well performed and received.
The main forces then took a break and Aylesbury Youth Orchestra performed two short and well loved pieces of music - Walton’s Crown Imperial and Elgar’s Nimrod. The playing was excellent throughout and Nimrod was particularly moving.
The main event came after the interval with a wonderful performance of Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. Aylesbury Festival Choir performed this work two years ago at the Methodist Church, which being a considerably smaller venue necessitated a “lite” version. Nevertheless it was a memorable evening and the opportunity to hear it with full forces was not to be missed.
Like Dona Nobis Pacem, The Armed Man uses various sources for its texts but ranges even wider, from the medieval L’Homme Armé, via the Call to Prayer, beautifully sung by Imam Amran Ellahi, poetry by Kipling, a piece describing the bombing of Hiroshima, an extract from the Mahabharata to a verse from Revelations.
This was a fantastic performance that had the full house riveted from start to finish and congratulations are due to all who took part.
Joss O’Kelly

Members and non-members were invited to join this fabulous 'Workshop of various OPERA CHORUSES', led by our President Piers Maxim. We were delighted to have Piers back with us and with how well it was supported.

We used the book 'Opera Choruses edited by John Rutter' and sang (in three different languages):

Waltz Scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
March of the Torreadors from Bizet's Carmen
March of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi's Nabucco
Chorus of enchanted Islanders from Handel's Alcina
Anvil Chorus from Verdi's Il Trovatore
Bridal Chorus from Wagner's Lohengrin

Our thanks to Thelma King, as always, for her superb piano accompaniment.

Aylesbury Festival Choir was in fine voice for a terrific concert on Saturday April 20 at the Methodist Church.

The evening began with a sweetly sung Panis Angelicus by César Franck and continued with the same composer’s Prelude, Fugue and variation for Harmonium and Piano. The pianist was AFC regular Thelma King, while on the harmonium was Anne Page, a musician at the forefront of the revival of this beautiful instrument. Both played superbly in this and the main work of the evening, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. Since the demise of the Civic Centre, AFC have been performing in a space that does not allow for an orchestra as well, but on this occasion it didn’t matter as the original was scored for piano (well, OK, two pianos) and harmonium so there wasn’t the lurking feeling that we were missing something.

Neither little, nor especially solemn, the Petite Messe is a work that abounds in great tunes, many of which are reminiscent of Rossini’s usual occupation as an operatic composer.

Joining the choir and instrumentalists was possibly the best line-up of soloists in recent years: soprano Catherine Pope, alto Anaïs Heghoyan, tenor Tom Lowe and bass Jimmy Holliday, the latter making a welcome return visit.

They sang in various combinations in virtually every section, as well as providing solos, all of which were deservedly well received. The showstopper was Tom Lowe’s highly operatic Domine Deus, which sounded like an aria in which the hero is about to ride off and rescue his girl from the clutches of the villain!

Aylesbury Festival Choir rose to the occasion with an impressive performance throughout, under the baton of Musical Director James Davey.
Joss O’Kelly

A CELEBRATION OF ENGLISH MUSIC

Aylesbury Festival Choir returned to the Methodist Church on Saturday November 24 for a Celebration of English Music.
The programme, conducted as ever by Musical Director James Davey, was inspired by this year’s Diamond Jubilee and comprised rousing music associated with royal occasions along with quieter pieces by English composers including our very own David Aylett.
The concert was bookended by two of Handel’s well known Coronation Anthems, opening with The King Shall Rejoice and ending with Zadok the Priest. Aylesbury Festival Choir rose to the occasion with spirited performances of both of these well loved works.
William Walton is another composer associated with royalty and we heard two stirring pieces, Crown Imperial, written for the coronation of George VI, and Orb and Sceptre, which he wrote for our present Queen’s coronation. Walton was also well known for his film scores, including that for the film Henry V, and contrast was provided by a short piece from the film, the gentle Touch her Soft Lips and Part.
Jerusalem by Hubert Parry is arguably the National Anthem we should have and provided another opportunity for the choir to let rip. This was followed by a beautifully sung rendition of Blest Pair of Sirens, Parry’s hymn to music that featured at the recent Royal Wedding.
An instrumental interlude in the form of Finzi’s Bagatelles for clarinet and piano introduced a pastoral mood and this was continued by a fine piece by David Aylett - a thoughtful setting of Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, which celebrated not royalty but the humble and forgotten lives of ordinary people.
Musical accompaniment for the evening was provided by regular pianist Thelma King, organist Matthew Burgess and Paul Vowles on clarinet, all three of whom added to the enjoyment of the evening.
Joss O’Kelly

AFC WORKSHOP WITH BOB CHILCOTT

In May 2102 the choir organised a workshop with acclaimed choral conductor and composer Bob Chilcott -"a contemporary hero of British Choral Music". Also attended by singers from other choirs, this was a very rewarding experience and a chance to sample some of Bob’s varied and accessible music including The Lily and the Rose, pieces from Furusato and the Salisbury Motets.

Chairman Pat Aylett commented “We had to wait two years to book Bob but it was certainly worth it. We’ve already had requests for another workshop with him!”

THE ARMED MAN

Aylesbury Festival Choir, under their conductor James Davey, excelled at their latest concert on Saturday April 28 at the Methodist Church.

The first half comprised Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, ably sung by baritone Lawrence Broomfield, and interspersed with the same composer’s charming Six Studies on English Folk Songs for Cello and Piano.

The second was a bold choice: The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins, written only 12 years ago but now amongst the best-selling classical albums. To some extent this Mass for Peace follows the structure of other masses - it has a Kyrie, a Sanctus, an Agnus Dei etc, but it is much wider in scope, taking its title from a medieval song and including texts both from other cultures, including a horrifying extract from the Mahabharata, and from writers as diverse as Thomas Malory and Rudyard Kipling. The message throughout is that, to quote Baldrick, “War's a horrid thing”.

Accompanied by an excellent ensemble of percussion, trumpets, organ, flute and cello, the choir sang virtually every section, excepting only two fine solos from treble Aengus Lynch, and the Call to Prayers from an unseen singer. They not only coped with the wide range of musical styles and shock tactics such as the screams at the end of The Trumpet’s Loud Clangour, but fully committed to it, and the result was most impressive and much appreciated by the audience.

Joss O’Kelly

There was a real Christmas spirit for this concert much of which was caused by the Festive Faces photography session which was held before the concert.
This annual concert was again held at Aylesbury High School on Wednesday 14th December. Aylesbury Festival Choir, conducted by James Davey led the community singing and contributed three separate items to the programme. Our MC for the evening was Alan Hamilton, a member of AFC, and a very good job he did.
Bedgrove Junior School Choir under the leadership of Becky Sim gave us four very different carols and they delighted us with their enthusiastic singing. The school hand bell ringers led by headmaster Graham Norris, go from strength to strength and they provided an entertaining section of the programme. We were fortunate to have our rehearsal pianist, Thelma King, to accompany many of the carols. Caduceus Brass accom-panied the audience carols as well as performing an amusing solo item based on ‘The Nutcracker Suite’.
Our thanks to Danny Higgins, (www.dannyhigginsphotography.com) for the photograph.
Jean Tuer