Valentine
Singers
Christine became musical director of the Valentine Singers
in January 1998, since when the choir has grown to a membership of 70
plus, has
toured in the UK and abroad, broadcast on TV and recorded a CD. Main
choral
works, including Bach St Matthew Passion, Beethoven Missa Solemnis,
Bernstein Chichester Psalms and Brahms
Requiem – to stray no further through the
alphabet –
form the core of the choir’s repertoire,
which
also includes a
wide variety of smaller scale pieces as well as extracts, occasionally
semi-staged, from music theatre. Recent tours include Lucca,
Pisa
and Florence (2006), Ely cathedral and surrounding area (2007) and
Kraków (2008). Visit
the Valentine Singers' website
Writtle
Singers
The Writtle
Singers
has an established history as a chamber choir based in the picturesque
village
of Writtle, near Chelmsford. Christine became the conductor in the
autumn of
1997, since when she has led the choir in concerts of music from
medieval times
to the present day. Motets, madrigals and part-songs feature in
programmes
alongside many somewhat larger choral works, such as JS Bach
Magnifcat, St John
Passion and Mass in B minor, Haydn Nelson Mass, Mozart Mass in C minor
(all performed with
orchestra), as well as some lighter and less traditional items! The
Singers have
broadcast twice for the BBC and are currently preparing a third CD, due
for release later
in 2008. They have undertaken 2 continental concert tours, to
Antwerp
and to
Prague and, in 2007, made a highly successful tour of Yorkshire singing
at both Bolton Abbey and York Minster. Visit
the Writtle Singers' website
Tuneful
Accord
Tuneful Accord is the name of the vocal ensemble formed
by Christine for the Through Changing Scenes
events. In fact, the first event, in 1993, was actually entitled
Tuneful Accord
(see the hymn
O praise ye the Lord, verse 2 if you’re wondering why) and
the group
subsequently pinched the name. It is a flexible ensemble, both
in terms
of numbers - usually somewhere between 12 and 18 - and in what we are
required to
perform - anything from plainsong to the Muppetts;
we have even
been known to Maypole dance (after a fashion) and to form a very
idiosyncratic
gallery band. Inevitably the group has been asked about singing at
other events; unsurprisingly, we have never been asked to
provide the band. To date, we
have sung for a couple of weddings and we gave our
first recital in September 2006 - in addition to 28 TCS
performances in over 20 different venues.
