Latest News

January 2009

Review of our Distant Horizons concert
New music by Christopher Brown
Our next season
A view from the choir
New book by choir member
Summer weddings
New Cambridge Songs

For these and other stories read the NCS Newsletter (a PDF of 332KB)

In September, we held another 'Come and Sing', where the public are invited to join with us in exploring items from the repertoire under expert guidance. This year it was held in Clare College chapel and the director was our president Tim Brown. The music consisted of Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Settings and John Rutter's Feel the Spirit, a setting of well-known spirituals. This occasion was a great success, and the standard of choral singing was high, enhanced by some fine solo singing from NCS member Katy Edgcombe (mezzo). Among his many amusing and piquant observations, Tim Brown repeatedly remarked on how lucky we are in the UK to be taught to sight-read music fluently, an ability he finds sadly lacking on his many trips around the world as a guest choral conductor.

In November we gave what was one of our most impressive concerts to date. In the glorious acoustic of Trinity College chapel, Cambridge, we performed Bach's Magnificat in the E flat version, with the additional Christmas interpolations in the edition by Neil Jenkins. Several choir members from the soprano, alto, tenor and bass sections took the solo arias and duets in this piece, and our chairman Frank Hopkirk played one of the recorder obbligati. After the interval, a very different work was heard: our musical director Chris Brown's Christmas Cantata, subtitled 'a meditation at the crib', based on the little-known medieval poem Stabat Mater Speciosa combined with settings of four early English carols. We were ably accompanied by a semi-professional orchestra who also gave a magnificent account of Bach's orchestra suite in C, and perhaps the star of the evening was the soprano soloist Mary Bevan. We are grateful to the large numbers of you who turned out in support, and we can only apologise for the low temperatures in the chapel!

Christmas 2008 was marked by two concerts of varied music under the title 'Christmas is Coming', held at Fulbourn Parish Church and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Seasonal pieces by composers including Bach, Berlioz, Reger, Francis Poulenc, John Tavener and Tim Brown were combined with traditional carols and spirituals to form a festive programme much appreciated by full audiences in both venues.

Future Concerts:

Further information on our future plans is in the Newsletter (see above), or click on concerts. Alternatively, read the NCS Calendar (a PDF of 582KB).

Are you interested in sponsoring or promoting any of our Concerts?

In the past we have been very fortunate to enjoy financial support from a number of sources. Performing Handel’s Messiah this year in two venues was another major undertaking. Even if there had been a full house for each of the two performances we would have been left with a net loss, such is the cost of professional soloists and orchestral players. So we looked for a small syndicate of sponsors, each willing to donate or underwrite a sum in the region of £250-£350 (in exchange for priority booking and a pre-concert reception for themselves and their guests).

If you are interested in helping with future concerts on a more regular basis, our Chairman, Frank Hopkirk, would be pleased to hear from you on chairman@newcambridgesingers.org.uk

New Music Fund – New Cambridge Songs

We welcome contributions from anyone interested in promoting new music and have a New Music Fund for this purpose. Donations can be for use over a wide front or for specific works. Please contact the secretary, treasurer, musical director (see contact us) or any choir member you may know personally if you would like to donate to this fund.

Even better, you could join our new shareholder scheme, New Cambridge Songs, which enables you to sponsor a particular piece if song 'shares' are still available, or you could let us decide on the piece for you. Read about the scheme here (in PDF format).

Like to Sing?

We are always looking for experienced singers, particularly those with good sight reading ability, so if you would like to join us, or know others who might be encouraged, please do get in touch with our musical director, Chris Brown, or our membership secretary, Philippa Harris (see contact us).

Email list

Would you like to receive the newsletter by email? If so please email supporters@newcambridgesingers.org.uk to be put on to our electronic mailing list. This list will be used purely for keeping you informed of NCS concerts and developments. We intend to add a guest book to the website shortly.