Harrow Choral Society Autumn Concert

Harrow Choral Society is looking forward to its Autumn Concert, the first of the new season, when charismatic Music Director Sam Evans will conduct the choir in a tuneful programme entitled “Songs from the British Isles”.

“I often feel I’ve had the benefit of a singing lesson as well as a rehearsal,” said choir Chair Margaret Davies, “and a very enjoyable one, with much fun and laughter!”

But there is more to fine singing than effective voice production. Sam believes that a singer’s communication with their audience is essential in bringing any performance to life.
“He really inspires us to improve our performance”, said choir member Tessa Timmis. “Sam gives us the confidence to produce our best sound while actively connecting with the audience and the feedback from recent concerts has been very positive.”

At the Autumn Concert the choir plans to lead its audience on a musical tour of the British Isles through songs from all four nations. Scotland is well-represented in two folksong arrangements by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ca’the Yowes to the Knowes and Alister McAlpine’s Lament as well as Beethoven’s jaunty setting of Robert Burns’s Auld Lang Syne. There’s also an arrangement of Westering Home, a song written just after the First World War by Hugh S. Robertson which has since been adopted as the slow march of the Royal Navy.
Two well-loved traditional songs are sure to touch the audience with their poignant lyrics and haunting melodies: an arrangement of The Ash Grove by contemporary composer Jeremy Rawson takes us to Wales, while Ireland is represented by the bitter-sweet Danny Boy.
Completing the tour, we travel to England with Gustav Holst’s I Love My Love and In Praise of Neptune, a hymn written by the English renaissance poet Thomas Campion in a setting by Edward German. In a more modern idiom American jazz pianist and composer George Shearing has given a fresh feel to some of Shakespeare’s most famous poems and lyrics in his Songs and Sonnets. Shearing’s lively and original settings promise to be exciting and enjoyable for choir and audience alike. The choir will be accompanied on piano and organ by Paul Ayres.

“Songs of the British Isles” starts at 5.30 pm and the concert is of one hour’s duration, making it a very family-friendly event. Tickets are £12 and £2 for under 18s and can be obtained online at www.harrowchoral.org.uk, by email at boxoffice@harrowchoral.org.uk or by telephoning 07794 253463