2018 Spring Concert
Saturday 28th April 2018 7.30pm
The Spring Concert at St Helier Methodist Centre featured, amongst others, Jonathan Willcocks as the conductor
The programme can be downloaded here and here.
A video of the start of the Dvorak Mass, the Kyrie Elieson, can be downloaded here
A video of part of the Credo and the Sanctus can be downloaded here
'Overture from ‘The Magic Flute’
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
St. Cecilia Orchestra
Un aura amorosa (from ‘Cosi fan tutte’)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ben Smith
Tenor Soloist
St. Cecilia Orchestra
Alma grande e nobil core
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Rosanna Cooper
Alto Soloist
St. Cecilia Orchestra
In Praise of Singing
Jonathan Willcocks
Text: Henry Longfellow, Walt Whitman, The Psalms of David
Jersey Festival Choir
with Josephine Goddard, Soprano Soloist (who had been the Runner-
St. Cecilia Orchestra
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Mass in D major
Antonin Dvorak
Jersey Festival Choir
Josephine Goddard
Rosanna Cooper
Ben Smith
Theo Platt
St. Cecilia Orchestra
The concert itself went very well with lots of positive comments.
A choir member said, “For me, it was a joy to sing …. alongside the orchestra and the soloists”
A member of the audience commented “The programme was interesting and varied.
The soloists were very good and blended well with the choir where necessary.
The choir rose to the challenge of Willcocks' own piece which was an intriguing interpretation of the texts.
In the Dvorak the choir’s Latin pronunciation was ‘ spot on ‘ and tricky entries were negotiated well. There was sometimes some imbalance in volume between the parts, not helped by the choir being rather overwhelmed by the brass.
Their words could always be heard but only with real concentration , and accompaniment just of strings , organ and maybe woodwind might have been preferable -
Philip Le Brocq, our President, acclaims the soloists alongside the conductor Jonathan Willcocks and our Musical Director William Millow
Gifts were presented to people who had played a notable part in the organisation of the concert. Here, our former Musical Director, Sue De Gruchy receives a bunch of flowers for helping to organise the orchestra (amongst other things)
Review: Jersey Festival Choir Concert, Saturday 28th April 2018
In Jersey we are spoilt for creative and cultural activities on a Saturday Night, but those who chose to attend the annual Jersey Festival Choir concert at the St Helier Methodist Church on Saturday 28thApril would have been in for a real musical delight and surprise! Dvorak is well-
With the Jersey Festival Choir, conducted by the exceptionally dynamic composer and conductor Jonathan Willcocks and accompanied by the St Cecilia Orchestra, the evening was varied, invigorating and musically very enjoyable.
The free programme was beautifully produced and satisfyingly informative. With an Hors d’Oeuvres of Mozart to whet our appetites, we revelled in the ever-
They set the scene for a really uplifting and challenging choral work composed by our conductor, appropriately called “In Praise of Singing!” This work, commissioned in 2014 for the Really Big Chorus, comprises three settings of poems by Walt Whitman, Longfellow and selected Psalms. The harmonies are certainly challenging for the choir and very unfamiliar to the audience, but ranging from gently soothing to ferociously celebratory. Especially delicious were some haunting oboe and cello solos, with the solo singers weaving enticingly in and out of the chorus. The careful preparation by William Millow the resident conductor of the Choir, had enabled its members to come to a growing understanding and enjoyment of a difficult piece The Main Course of the evening was the Dvorak, delivered with passion and persuasion under the baton of Jonathan Willcocks. It was probably unknown to many of the audience but its combination of the familiar Latin text of the Mass, and blasts of romantic soul-
An anonymous reviewer.