We thoroughly enjoyed the summer concert, just over two weeks ago now, at the Princess Pavilion. A warm sunny evening (a little too hot for some) provided the backdrop for a varied programme of music laced together with a theme of peace and joy. In addition to the choir pieces there were solos from choir members – vocal, instrumental and poetical – as well as a singing trio and the delightful Carrick Consort recorder group.
After a well-deserved short summer break, rehearsals begin again tonight at 7.30pm at The Hub, Carnon Downs (in the hall next to the Methodist Chapel). Anyone interested in joining the choir is very welcome to come along on a Thursday evening to see what we get up to.
Thanks to our choir supporters Peter and John for the photos of the evening.
Despite the wind and greyness today, Stithians Ladies are full of the joys of summer and busy getting ready for our next concert. We are happy to say that our new Musical Director is settling in well, and we are delighted that Rico agreed to take us on. We have been busy rehearsing a range of new songs, including the lively medieval Sumer is icumen in, as well as more modern tunes and some old favourites. We will be at the Princess Pavilion in Falmouth on Monday 22 July, as part of their Summer Sounds programme, please come and join us for an entertaining evening.
Representatives from The royal British Legion attended our choir practice this Thursday and we presented them with a cheque for £400 from the funds raised at our recent Poppy Appeal concert ( see previous post ) Tempting though it was, they did not stay for our rehearsal! Like most choirs we are well into the preparations for our Christmas engagements, starting on December 2nd when sing at the Ponsonooth Christmas lights switch on.
Concert to support the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
To celebrate our involvement in the Poppy Appeal we were sartorially appropriate!
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The church of Our Lady of the Portal and St Piran was the venue for our Autumn concert where we were joined by the lovely gentlemen of City of Truro Male Choir.
Both choirs were in splendid voice and the appreciative audience was thoroughly enriched and entertained. The Stithians Ladies singing was enhanced by the beautiful playing of Karen on Baroque recorder and Sara on trumpet as well as the expert accompaniment if Maestro Rico. The compere, Aubin de Gruchy, gave a commentary appropriate to the occasion with gentleness and humour. There were lovely raffle prizes and an excellent sum was raised to contribute to the fine work of of the Royal British Legion.
Here we have The Three Sopranos stepping out to entertain on the occasion of our Charity concert which we shared with the lovely gentlemen of Loveny MVC.
It was a superb occasion and a sizeable sum was raised to support the work of Children’s Hospice Southwest.
The magical acoustics and atmosphere of All Saints Church, Falmouth were the setting for our Charity Concert last weekend. We were delighted to host the gentlemen of Mousehole Male Voice Choir who journeyed east to share a delightful evening of music and camaraderie whilst raising funds to support the Children’s Hospice Southwest. https://www.chsw.org.uk
MOUSEHOLE MALE VOICE CHOIR
The bold, bravura performances from the Mousehole Men were a perfect foil for the silvery tones and quirky humour of the Ladies, whilst a shared warmth of tone and resonance kept the listeners spell-bound.
THE THREE SOPRANOS modelling their new jewellery!
The audience was large and appreciative, delving deeply into their pockets to support the work of Children’s Hospice Southwest – we do not yet know the amount collected but we will be having a cheque presentation as soon as we can. Mary Murfin from the charity explained during the evening how important such collections are for this vital local resource.
Preparing to sing together.
As a finale to the concert the choirs joined together to sing the rousing Morte Christe, followed by thunderous applause, many congratulations and scrummy pasties!
⭐️A MAGIC EVENING INDEED!⭐️ watch this space for a possible repeat performance!
We celebrated International Women’s Day a couple of days later than the official date – we calculated that not many people would attend a concert on a Wednesday! But people certainly turned out in force to share some fine musical performances and some equally fine refreshments.
OUR WONDERFUL AND TALENTED GUESTS WERE …..
CELTIC CHORDS BARBERSHOP CHORUS‘CELLIST BECKY McGLADE WHO PLAYED “LADIES IN LAVENDER”SINGER ANNE PARKES
We have celebrated International Women’s Day in previous years but this was our first time in The Hub, Carnon Downs Methodist Chapel and it proved to be a lovely venue with excellent acoustics and facilities. We put up the purple decorations and balloons and enjoyed learning about the history of Women ‘s Day from our wonderful narrators Oriel and Sue.
There was a lovely friendly and inclusive feeling as we shared music, singing and, at the end of the evening, superb refreshments provided by the ladies. We were delighted to be supporting the work of Carnon Downs Memory Cafe and two of the organisers came to explain to the audience the nature of their work and how we were helping with the funding.
Here are a few more photos of the evening.
International Women’s Day is marked around the world on March 8th ( or thereabouts in our case! ) and we look forward to more celebrations in future years.
Friday September 2nd was another first for Stithians Ladies Choir. March saw us entering and winning the County Music Festival and now we produced a concert worthy of our award. Carnon Downs Methodist chapel held a large and very appreciative audience as we presented a varied and interesting programme of musical delights, the evening being expertly led by Rev. Liz Harris.
One of our ladies is a member of Carrick Consort, a recorder group who meet locally at Playing Place. They delighted us with a selection of music from a range of composers and eras which was enthusiastically received.
Our other guest, who is now a regular performer at our concerts ( although we last appeared together on 8th March 2020, just before the first lockdown! ) was the soprano Simone Hellier.
Photo from Simone’s latest CD
Once again she delighted us all with her stunning voice, artistic interpretations and her wonderful connection and musical partnership with pianist Rico Gerber – our very own accompanist.
The choir was really back on form, even though we are now fewer in number and three ladies were not able to be there, the sound was absolutely the Stithians Sound – so flexible when singing a broad variety of songs. We sang three brand new numbers – there may have been a few crossed fingers – but they were perfectly performed and the audience loved them.
As usual we rounded off the evening with scrumptious refreshments and a raffle and a large and very useful sum was raised for iSight Cornwall, the charity’s representative having told us all about the valuable work they do in the County. I believe they even gained a couple of new volunteers which made our efforts even more rewarding.
It was wonderful to be back sharing our love of music and laughter with so many people. Our next concert is on SATURDAY OCTOBER 8th 7.30 at ST PETROC’S, BODMIN as guests of Loveny Male Voice Choir. Maybe we will see you there?
STITHIANS LADIES CHOIR 