A Saturday evening concert in Sunderland Minster, starting at 7.30 p.m., conducted by David Murray.

Tickets £14.00 for Nave (£8 concessions for full-time students and on income related benefits) or £8.00 (Gallery – limited view). Accompanied under 16s free. Tickets are available from members of the Society, at the door, or on-line from http://www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778 – 1837) was of the same generation as Beethoven and was one of the most gifted and well-regarded musicians of his day, especially respected as a pianist-composer.

Born in Pressburg (Bratislava) he became a pupil of Mozart in Vienna and made a successful tour of Europe as a teenage Wunderkind including visits to Edinburgh and London. In 1804 Joseph Haydn recommended him for the new post of Konzertmeister at the court of Prince Esterhazy, where he stayed for seven years. After more travelling he became Kapellmeister at Stuttgart in 1816, moving to Weimar in 1819.

Although the bulk of Hummel’s compositions involved the piano in some way, his sacred music is also well regarded. His Mass in B flat major is one of five masses written when he was with the Esterhazy court and was first performed in 1810. The vocal forces are exclusively choral and Hummel shows his mastery of unfolding polyphony in the ‘Amen’ fugue at the end of the Gloria. But in this mass Hummel’s style also reveals an appealing tunefulness, especially evident in the Benedictus.

As well as the Hummel ‘Mass in B flat’ the programme will feature other individual pieces in a variety of styles including : Ave verum – Mozart, Panis Angelicus – César Franck, Cantique de Jean Racine – Faure, Divertimento in D Major K 13 – Allegro: Andante: Presto, The Lord is my Shepherd – Schubert, The Lord is my Shepherd – Goodall, All things bright and beautiful – Rutter.

A Saturday morning event in Fulwell Methodist Church from 10.00 a.m. till 12 m.d.

Why not join the Society in a social event which comes with a raffle and stalls, while enjoying the tea/coffee, scones and a chat.

A Saturday evening performance in Sunderland Minster, at 7.30 p.m., conducted by David Murray.

Tickets £14.00 for Nave (£8 concessions for full-time students and on income related benefits) or £8.00 (Gallery – limited view). Accompanied under 16s free. Tickets are available from members of the Society, at the door, or on-line from http://www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Soloists: Sally Harrison – soprano and Alexander Robin Baker – baritone.

A Sea Symphony is a piece for orchestra and chorus by Ralph Vaughan Williams, written between 1903 and 1909. Vaughan Williams’ first and longest symphony, it was first performed at the Leeds Festival in 1910, with the composer conducting. The symphony’s maturity belies the composer’s relative youth when it was written (he was 30 when he first began sketching it). One of the first symphonies in which a choir is used throughout the work and is an integral part of the musical texture, A Sea Symphony helped set the stage for a new era of symphonic and choral music in Britain during the first half of the 20th century.

Six Songs from ‘A Shropshire Lad’ by George Butterworth is based on the collection of poems by A.E.Housman. This newly arranged orchestration by P.Brookes is wonderfully evocative and one is left with a real sense of the tragic and futile losses in every sense resulting from the horrors of the first world war.

Bishopwearmouth Young Singers, and guest soloists, are offering a programme of Christmas delights at a concert in Ewesley Road Methodist Church, Chester Road, Sunderland on Friday December 18th 2015 at 7.30 p.m.

No tickets are required but if you would like to make a donation that will be appreciated. The concert will be followed by refreshments and a raffle. We hope that you can join us for this festive occasion.

A Saturday morning event in Fulwell Methodist Church from 10.00 a.m. till 12 m.d.

Why not join the Society in a social event which comes with a raffle and stalls, while enjoying the tea/coffee, scones and a chat.

A Saturday evening concert in Sunderland Minster, starting at 7.30 p.m., conducted by David Murray.

Tickets £14.00 for Nave (£8 concessions for full-time students and on income related benefits) or £8.00 (Gallery – limited view). Accompanied under 16s free. Tickets are available from members of the Society, at the door, or on-line from http://www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Soloists :- Anne Marie Owens, Laurie Ashworth and Adrian Powter.    Narrator :- David Timson.

Side by Side by Sondheim is a musical revue featuring the songs of the Broadway and film composer Stephen Sondheim. Its title is derived from the song “Side by Side by Side” from Company. The musical had its origins when David Kernan was asked by Cleo Lane and her husband John Dankworth to put together a revue as a benefit for The Stables, a theatre they owned in Wavendon. Kernan contacted director Ned Sherrin and suggested that they do a review of Sondheim material. The producer Cameron Mackintosh saw the benefit revue, which featured Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie, Kernan, and Ned Sherrin as the narrator, and agreed to produce it.

The music is in the form of a revue, with various sections tied together by being from a particular Sondheim musical, or having a common theme, and all tied together by the Narrator. He explains what show the songs are from, and in some cases provides background on why a song was written.

A Saturday morning event in Fulwell Methodist Church, from 10.00 a.m. till 12.00 m.d.

Why not join the Society in a social event which comes with a raffle and stalls, whilst enjoying the tea/coffee, scones and a chat.

A Saturday evening concert, starting at 7.30 p.m, in Sunderland Minster, conducted by David Murray, in association with Bishopwearmouth Young Singers.

Tickets £15.00 for Nave (£8 concessions for full-time students and on  income related benefits) or £8.00 (Gallery – limited view). Accompanied under 16s free.  Tickets are available from members of the Society, at the door, or on-line from http://www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Our Christmas concert features Handel’s ‘Messiah’ Part 1 (the Christmas section) and ‘A Christmas Carol’ – music by David Murray and libretto by Tony Rudham – a seasonal musical for children and adult choir.

It was devised by David and his friend Tony for primary school children, back in the 1970s. More recently David has added parts that involve an adult choir and so this piece will be a combined concert by the main Society with Bishopwearmouth Young Singers.

The Christmas section of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ will need no introduction and will complete a performance for all tastes.

Hall One at The Sage, Gateshead

Sunday June 14^th 2015 at 7.30. p.m.

Verdi comes to the North East….

Orchestra North East

Bishopwearmouth Choral Society

Ryton Choral Society

Soloists: Claire Rutter (Soprano), Deborah Humble (Mezzo-soprano), James Edwards (Tenor), Michael Druiett (Bass).

Conductor: David Murray.

A Concert of music by Giuseppe Verdi:

• Overture: The Force of Destiny.
• Messa da Requiem.

Leading North East musicians are to bring Giuseppe Verdi’s spectacular and dramatic Messa da Requiem to Hall One. The operatic style of the Requiem has always both excited and moved audiences, and the overture has that same vivid and emotional style. Orchestra North East, the two choral societies and David Murray each have a strong reputation for giving first-rate performances in their concerts and as many will remember, their acclaimed performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in 2013 in Hall One was one of the highlights of that summer season. Now the same forces, joined by a team of rising young singers, re-unite to give what they intend to be an equally memorable performance of Verdi’s choral masterpiece.

Tickets: Adults £18; Students (16+) £8; under 16 £4 but FREE with paying Adult.

From Sage Box Office: 0191 443 4661

This will replace the originally planned BCS concert on June 20th 2015.

A Saturday morning event in Fulwell Methodist Church from 10.00 a.m. till 12 m.d.

Why not join the Society in a social event which comes with a raffle and stalls, while enjoying the tea/coffee, scones and a chat.