Folk at the Barn

Well, you can't say that Cantilena is stuck in a routine! For many years we have performed our summer programme in the Abbey Kitchen at Glastonbury Abbey. While this is a beautiful venue there are severe restrictions on audience numbers and the acoustic can make our voice reverberate inside the tall chimney rather alarmingly.

So, this year we have changed our venue to the fascinating Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury. We have also entered into a collaboration with local folk musicians Rough Round the Edges to offer our audience and entertaining mix of madrigals, part-songs and local folk music.

The evening should be great fun and, at £10.00 a ticket, a bargain as well!

Here are the details:

Date: 9 July 2011
Location: Somerset Rural Life Museum
Time: 7.00 pm
Tickets: £10.00 obtainable from the RLM 01458 831197

Cantilena Comes to Shepton

Spring Concert 2011


In Cantilena our passion is bringing good music to Mid-Somerset. True, we do keep ourselves out of Wells, where music is more of a mainstream force. But for Glastonbury, Street, Somerton and Langport we have been one of the main providers of Classical choral music for many years.


Now we are performing our annual main event - the Spring Concert at St Michael's Church, Shepton Mallet. We are looking forward to stretching our wings in this way.

All the details are here - don't miss this for a different Cantilena Experience!

Passionate Affair

Handel Gets There First

In the world of Music the name "Passion" has become synonymous with J S Bach. as though there was no such thing until he wrote his famous works.

This isn't actually the case and this term we are bringing to the Glastonbury listening public a very special treat.

This is the Passion written by Handel in about 1716. He used a text written by Barthold Heinrich Brockes in 1712. Others also set this text, including Telemann.

The format is substantially the same as that later adopted by Bach, with choruses, a story-telling evangelist, chorales, arias and crowd scenes played by the choir.

It is said that J S Bach was so impressed with the music that he copied it out in full and it is clear that many elements of Handel's work have crept into Bach's St John Passion.

We are looking forward to being able to bring this long-neglected work before audiences.

The concert will be at 7.30 pm on 9 April 2011 at St Mary's Church, Glastonbury. Tickets £10.00 from 01458 224486, the Glastonbury Music Shop or on the door.

See you there!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brockes_Passion

Cantilena Ushers in Christmas....

When we chose 11th December 2010 as the date for our autumn concert at St Mary's, Glastonbury, we did have some concerns about the clash with the carol concert at Wells Cathedral and the Frost Fair concert at St John's Glastonbury. Glastonbury was heaving that evening with revellers from the fair; would St Mary's be heaving too?

We needn't have worried! For our first concert at St Mary's in eight years and also the first under the baton of Tony Bevan in about the same time, we had a nearly capacity audience.

The Orchestra put together for the occasion produced a truly musical interpretation and there was palpable excitement in the church.

We were pretty strict about sticking to the Advent theme with readings from Rowan Williams,  Isiah & "Cider with Rosie". The audience joined in with Advent carols with considerable enthusiasm. And Bach's beautiful "Wachet Auf" brought the evening to a most satisfying close.

We'd offered to showcase St Margaret's Hospice , and their representative, Sue Medlicott explained to the audience the importance of the work the Hospice does, believing that every human life has a value and should be lived to the full, even it its last moments. Contributions from audience members topped £250.00.

And let's not forget the mince pies from Burns the Bread! Delicious smells of mulled wine lured audience members into the adjacent church hall and they attacked the heaped plates of mince pies, washing them down with the wine.

It's so rewarding to be able to combine the pleasure of singing beautiful music with supporting a very good cause. In fact, I think that people who chose St John's or Wells Cathedral over us were missing out!

Weather or not

We are so glad that in other parts of the country the weather couldn't deter contributors to Heart Research UK's "Sing for your Heart" event. Unfortunately for Cantilena, yet another heavy fall of snow put a stop to our event which was planned for the 21st December 2010 at the Rural Life Museum.

Many members of the choir live in rural locations and being cut off is not unusual for them. "regrettable, but understandable" was how one choir member put it.

Never mind, hopefully in 2011 we will be able to combine our desire to sing carols where they should be sung - in the streets and taverns - with raising money for a good cause!

Watch this space!

Sing for your Heart

**Tuesday 21 December**

At the Somerset Rural Life Museum

Glatonbury Cantilena Choir Sing their Hearts Out for Charity

A local choir, is bringing some musical festive cheer to the Childrens Craft Fair at the Somerset Rural Life Museum next week, by holding a Christmas concert to raise money for national charity Heart Research UK’s annual fundraiser, ‘Sing for your Heart’.

The choir will be getting children and parents in a festive mood by performing traditional Christmas carols in the Abbey Barn at the Somerset Rural Life Museum on 21 December at 12pm  and 2pm. All money raised for the charity will help to fund research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease.

 Secretary of Glastonbury Cantilena Choir, Julia Barrett says: “This will be our first year raising money for Heart Research UK. We hope our choir will fill the Childrens Craft Fair with song and put smiles on the faces of all the families. We are all looking forward to raising money for the charity during the festive period.”

Barbara Harpham, National Director of Heart Research UK says: “It’s wonderful that the Glastonbury Cantilena Choir have chosen to raise money for us this year. Without people like them, we could not continue our pioneering research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease.

An Advent Feast from Cantilena

Christmas comes to St Mary's

Saturday 11^th December 2010 sees Cantilena Choir returning to St Mary’s Church for a feast of advent music.

Also returning to the choir as its new Musical Director is Tony Bevan. Tony was Musical Director between 1988 and 2000. He’s put together an exciting programme of music for Advent, featuring Bach’s famous Cantata “Wachet Auf” - “Sleepers Awake”. The programme also includes a beautiful Magnificat by Pergolesi, recalling the Visitation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary. There will also be advent carols and readings to put everyone in the mood.

And to help the party go with a swing, there'll be mulled wine and mine pies during the interval.

We welcome the Cantilena Orchestra and soloists Soprano Rachel Bevan, Tenor Edward Ross and Bass Robert Clark.

We are supporting St Magaret's Hospice as part of this event.

For any other information please call 01749 841617 or email cantilena@hotmail.co.uk

New Look

New Year, New Style

Autumn 2010 sees Cantilena with an all new set up. We welcome our new Musical Director, Tony Bevan. Tony formerly led the choir from 1988 to 2000, grooming the choir into  locally recognised exponents of early music. He didn't neglect other works; the choir performed such great classics as Bach's St John and St Matthew Passions, the beautiful Faure Requiem and the stunning Stabat Mater by Poulenc.

After he left the choir to spend more time with his growing family, we were led by a series of talented musicians from Wells Cathedral. While they all brought much to us in terms of musical training and interesting works, they were none of them able to stay longer than two years. This made the development of a repertoire and a consistent approach to ensemble singing difficult. We hope that we can develop these areas with Tony as our leader.

We have also moved our regular rehearsal venue from St John's Glastonbury to St Mary's Glastonbury as we were outgrowing the available space at St John's. We are also using St Mary's for our autumn 2010 concert. The layout of this venue allows us more space for orchestral players.

This is an exciting time for the choir. Watch this blog and our facebook page for more news!

If Music be the Food of Love

Cantilena Revs up for Summer

After our great success in the spring we're feeling really enthusiastic about our next concert. Like many groups, I guess, we've developed some traditions. For a long time now our summer concert has been one to relax into and enjoy. It's usually more informal in every way.

We dress informally and present a more light-hearted grouping of madrigals and part-songs, interspersed with readings.

As part of the ticket price we provide some wine and a buffet supper. This gives a very social atmosphere to the event and allows us to meet with our audience.

This year the concert will contain some pieces concerning food - from the more serious "O Sacrum Convivium" to a jolly arrangement of the "Teddy Bears' Picnic". We are holding it at the Abbot's Kitchen in Glastonbury Abbey. This is a fascinating venue set in the tranquil grounds of the Abbey and its location allows us all to relax outside afterwards, assuming fine weather.

So we'd like to invite you to hear us. The concert starts at 7.00 pm and costs £10.00 which includes your buffet and a glass of wine.

Call 01458 224486 or go into the Glastonbury Music Shop to book tickets. They are strictly limited so make sure you get there soon.

Want to know more?

Speak to Julia Barrett (Secretary) on cantilena@meadclose70.freeserve.co.uk

Laudate Dominum

Spring concert, St John’s Church, Glastonbury,
Saturday 27th March 2010

Cantilena Choir and Orchestra under their conductor, Oliver Walker, gave their well-attended spring concert in St John’s Church, Glastonbury.

The first half of the programme was devoted to sacred works by Mozart. First came his little known short Mass in C, K259. After an uncertain start we heard a creditable account of this attractive work. The four soloists were drawn from the choir. The soprano, Becky Quiney is a former pupil at Wells Cathedral School and is now in her first year at Bristol University. In her first solo she appeared understandably nervous but gained in confidence as the evening progressed. The male alto, Jonathan Woodhouse, tenor, Edward Coton, and baritone, Andrew Mahon are Wells Cathedral choristers and they made a solid contribution to the performance.

The “Laudate Dominum” from the Solemn Vespers, K339 which followed flowed easefully with the soprano getting into her lyrical stride. The discrete organ accompanist was Jonathan Vaughn.

The “Ave Verum”, K618, probably Mozart’s most popular sacred piece, moved along gracefully and without sentimentality. Perhaps a touch of rubato here and there might not have been amiss.

The Te Deum, K341 ended the first half with a flourish. The final fugue was brought off with clarity and vigour.

The main work of the evening was Gabriel Faure’s well-loved Requiem. This was delivered with warmth and sensitivity. Despite a momentary loss of pitch in the “Sanctus” there were many ravishing moments throughout the work. Although the “Pie Jesu” movement is frequently assigned to a boy treble the composer had a preference for a soprano. He would certainly have not been disappointed by Becky Quiney’s lovely rendering which displayed apt simplicity. For your reviewer the high point of the evening was the “Libera Me” with its baritone solo, performed to perfection by Andrew Mahon. His expressive legato and dramatic sensitivity were most impressive. The haunting “In Paradisum” brought the evening to a serene close. The small orchestra, led by Tony Bevan, gave firm support in this work and produced some really warm tone from the strings.

Throughout the evening the choir performed with conviction. In spite of their lack of numbers the male sections held their own, especially the tenors. Oliver Walker conducted with clarity and musicality. He is to leave the area later in the year and the choir will be sorry to lose him.

Brendan Sadler