Penistone Ladies sing in “The Concert Choir”

The Concert Choir is an exciting ad-hoc choral project dreamt up by our own MD Jane Hobson & Daniel Timmins. Thirteen of us from Penistone Ladies Choir signed up to join over 140 others from 28 different Yorkshire choirs, to learn and perform both Vivaldi’s Gloria and Faure’s Requiem. Having signed up a whole year ago, we went along to rehearsals, from February to May this year, usually either Sunday afternoons, or Wednesday evenings in The Methodist Church in Skelmanthorpe. The project culminated in two performances in the UK in Sheffield and Wakefield cathedrals and for a slightly smaller group, a trip to Malta to sing in 3 magnificent churches there.

    

Rehearsals were challenging, especially when they were increased to 3 hours long, but the camaraderie was fantastic, and we revelled in the chance to sing in those two great choral works. Some people were experienced singers, belonging to one choir or more, others did not sing in a choir at all, nor read music. It all went very quickly and almost as soon as you blinked, we only had a couple of rehearsals left before the performances.
It was magnificent to sing in Sheffield & Wakefield cathedrals, and we had sell-out audiences to sing to on both nights. We didn’t know exactly what it would sound like until the final rehearsal in Sheffield Cathedral, as we had never before been joined by the small orchestra, but the harp and trumpets in particular were fabulous. Such a full sound!
Eight of us had chosen to go on tour to Malta, four nights, three of them with concerts, with free time and sightseeing during the day. The sun shone and all went very smoothly. The last concert in the magnificent Mosta Dome will for sure remain with us all forever, with amazing acoustics, an audience of well over 300 and a standing ovation!

The whole project was a true “experience of a lifetime”. Bring on the next Concert Choir project!!