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Ryton Choral Society
Ryton Choral Society is a mixed voice adult choir of about 60
members. We meet on Tuesday nights in school term-time at Ryton
Comprehensive School, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. Warm up starts at 6.50,
ready to sing at 7.00. We have a short mid-rehearsal break (at the
conductor’s discretion) for orange juice, weekly raffle and a chat.
Rehearsals finish at 9.00.
There are no formal
auditions.
Fees
Members pay £25 per term and are encouraged to pay by Standing Order
(12 x £6 giving a saving of £3). Members can also save by making one
payment of £72 for the whole year. This fee includes about 10 rehearsal
sessions per term and the performance and the hire of music. Occasionally members
are asked to buy their own music if for some reason hiring of a particular
piece is very difficult.
Performances
The choir normally sings 3 concerts per year
- at Ryton Comprehensive School at Christmas
and in the summer and a major venue away from Ryton in the spring. In
recent years the spring concert has been at the King’s Hall, University of
Newcastle upon Tyne.
We usually attract
audiences in the region of 150-200 and charge in the region of £6–£12 for
admission.
We regularly sing carols
at Christmas in and around the village of Ryton – and sometimes further
afield if requested.
Repertoire
Our repertoire is largely classical – both sacred and secular. We
also sing contemporary music – usually at our summer concert. You can see
the wide variety of music we have sung by going to the
history page of this site.
In the 2005-06 season we
sang ‘Messiah’ at Christmas (for the 13th time!), performed a
Bach concert at Easter that featured ‘Magnificat’ and ‘Eine Feste Burg’
while our summer concert was a world premiere as we sang ‘The Leap of the
Heart’ – a song cycle commissioned by the Society from the composer
Felicity Laurence.
Musical Directors
The Society is privileged to have secured the services of
David Murray
and Eileen Bown to direct their music.
David conducts and leads the choir while Eileen is accompanist and
supporting conductor. In the early stages of learning new work the choir
will often split into two parts, one section being taught by David the
other by Eileen.
David and Eileen are
widely acknowledged as the foremost choral trainers n the North East and
are often used by such organisations as
20,000
Voices and
Making Music to lead workshops and master-classes.
The choir always performs
with musicians of the highest calibre. When an orchestra is required
David is able to attract the services of many Northern Sinfonia players.
Soloists too are of the highest calibre – in recent years the choir has
been joined by Alison Pearce and English National Opera principal singers
Graeme Danby and Mark le Brocq. It is hoped that mezzo Anne Marie Owens
will sing with us in summer 2007.
Friends of Ryton
Choral Society
Please follow the link to
Friends of Ryton
Choral Society to discover how you could help support the choir.
The choir in 1992 |
