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Our St Matthew Passion in Lichfield Cathedral
Conductor Adrian Lucas, Choir and Orchestra turn to applaud Paul Spicer at the end of the performance
So many thanks to all who came and packed the Cathedral for this memorable performance.
Adrian Lucas stepped up magnificently yet calmly to conduct for Paul Spicer who was unwell.
As Prof David Saint commented...
"Adrian Lucas stepped in at two day’s notice and deserves the highest compliments for making it all work so wonderfully"
"I heard that powerful story told through the medium of Bach’s sublime music as though for the first time, so engrossing and compelling was the performance”
Prof David Saint.
To read all the review click here
“..delivered with a sincerity and confidence befitting of any professional ensemble. The whole delivery was well-paced with slick transitions between movements. The chorus sections were delivered with almost faultless German pronunciation, and an exemplary attention to detail. The choir achieved huge variety, from the quietest pianissimo, to a passionately dramatic fortissimo” *****
David Barton
To read all the review click here
"Bach wows the Midlands…..a stately, respectful reading of the work...Crucial to this was the Evangelist of Thomas Hobbs, who told the story without affectation but with a great deal of drama... all the tenderness and anguish of the Passion, forming an ideal partnership with Henry Waddington’s noble, dignified Christus”. ****
Melanie Eskenazi
To read all the review click here
“ a superlative performance by Birmingham Bach Choir, the entire concert ... distinguished in every way. Every one of these intelligent, thoughtful supporting forces contributed outstandingly to the result. Here was the kind of performance one dreams of. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.*****
Roderic Dunnett
To read all the review click here
Photos from the performance and rehearsal (Photos: Phil Barnes)
Soloists: Thomas Hobbs, Henry Waddington, Sophie Bevan, Lawrence Zazzo & Stephan Loges
Orchestra: Musical & Amicable Society
Choristers: The Ripieno Choir
Choir: Birmingham Bach Choir
Choir Soloists: Philip Bellshaw, Barbara Hathaway, Corinna Gregory, Clement Schoefer, Jonathan Spencer & Graham Stroud
WHAT A FANTASTIC LINE UP FOR THE ST MATTHEW!
Hear Thomas Hobbs (Evangelist) on BBCWM
Elise Evans interviewed tenor Thomas Hobbs about his Evangelist role in the St Matthew Passion (before the performance took place)
Listen here
Come & Sing! Event April 2024
Our 2023 Come & Sing of Dvorak’s Stabat Mater was a tremendous success.
"A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon” and “Birmingham Bach Choir are fantastic"
(Kath Stanczyszyn, BBCWM)
Come & Sing with Us! 2024
Saturday 27 April 2 - 6 pm
Puccini: Messa di Gloria
The United Reformed Church at Wylde Green B73 5SW
Handing out music, the impressive raffle prizes, warm up exercises, our soloists, getting to know people around us, amazing homemade cakes, and having a good sing. (2023 event)
Radiant Choral Masterpieces Concert
Thank you to all who came and enjoyed this celebration of choral masterpieces.
Three fabulous works were performed together with two organ pieces played brilliantly by Martyn Rawles
Programme: JS Bach: Fürchte dich nicht, D Scarlatti: Stabat Mater & Liszt: Missa Choralis
Organ solo pieces: Bach’s Concerto in A Minor (transcribed from Vivaldi) & Chorale Prelude: Schmücke
dich BMV654
Read the reviews ………….
"Paul Spicer’s Birmingham Bach Choir is certainly one of Birmingham’s gems….such as treat…….blown away by Paul and the Bach Choir’s thrilling performance”
(Roderic Dunnett)
To read Roderic’s full review click here
"..a splendid concert by the Birmingham Bach Choir, appropriately billed as containing radiant choral masterpieces… Set for double chorus (Bach) there are plenty of vocal challenges, which were well met by the choir, with both halves of the choir complimenting each other perfectly, coming together beautifully for the three-part fugue chorale…”
(Martyn Parfect)
"There was an excellent swell of sounds throughout (Scarlatti) and conductor Paul Spicer elicited a clarity of individual parts emerging through quite a dense texture. The choir switched well from the baroque style into a much more expansive religious setting (for the Liszt)…... lovely moments – the explosive opening of the Sanctus and good dramatic contrasts in the Credo spring to mind"
(Keith Horsfall)
To read Martyn & Keith’s full reviews click here
9 new singers in 6 months !
James, Carole, Lisa, Charlotte, Benedict, Sandy (+ 3 not in this photo)
3 x glorious basses, 3 x sopranos, 2 x altos, and hurrah 1 x tenor!
Read all about them here.
Want to join them?
Broughton Pianos to the Rescue!
This September rehearsals started in our new venue but there was no piano!
Our huge thanks to Broughton Pianos who came to our rescue with a superb Danneman 115 Upright starting a 3-year collaboration with us.
The piano, delivery, & Sales Director Thomas Taffe (Broughton Pianos) with our accompanist Martyn Rawles at the start of our first autumn rehearsal
Broughton Pianos based in Belbroughton, Worcestershire, started as a family business 39 years ago, and has grown to become one of the largest showrooms in the UK.
For more details
Beautiful Brahms was performed in Bridgnorth and Birmingham to very appreciative audiences
Bridgnorth was a lovely evening despite the challenges of sultry heat and sunshine momentarily blinding some of the singers !
At the CBSO Centre on a cooler less humid day all performers felt more comfortable!
Both concerts were a great success.
Thank you to our audiences for their warm welcomes and appreciation, and our superb pianist John Thwaites, who all helped make it so.
Review of CBSO Centre Concert:
“…the lyricism, complex harmonic structure and sudden changes amid wide-ranging dynamics being expertly handled by the choir."
(Keith Horsfall)
Click here to read all this review
"An enthusiast audience very much hope that the Bach Choir will return to S Mary’s again to thrill us with the glorious sound of voices in harmony
"..a rare and thrilling choral experience..”
(John Turnock)
To read all John’s review click here
"Beautiful Brahms….4****”
(David Gray and Paul Gray)
At last a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Liturgy of St John Chrysostom in our life time
What a wonderful concert!
This concert of Rachmaninoff’s rarely performed work was a very moving occasion made particularly special by the enthusiasm and appreciation of the splendid audience who packed St Paul’s church from all corners of the region to hear this extraordinary work, and gave the performance a standing ovation.
As Martyn Parfect reflected (see review below) When first performed in 1910, the Moscow Synodal School said that this work was not suitable for church use “……absolutely wonderful, even too beautiful, but with such music it would be difficult to pray; it is not church music.” Well, they were wrong: it is suitable, and St Paul’s Church was the best place to hear it.
The soloists were much praised: Graham Stroud (choir tenor member) sang both tenor and baritone cantor parts (due to the sudden illness of the baritone William Robinson) and Corinna Gregory (choir soprano member).
What the reviewers said:
"….among the finest in the country is undoubtedly the Birmingham Bach Choir: confident, assured, riveting, exciting. In setting before his audience a work of staggering beauty and intensity, which scarcely any of them will have encountered before. But also in putting his choir through its paces in a work whose challenge was in itself a tribute from him to its members, an expression of confidence in his singers. What a success. What a treat. And what an achievement. “
"I had to join a long queue of people outside, also eager to hear a rare performance – maybe the first one in Birmingham - and St Paul’s church was packed when I took my seat.
It is a tough ask for a choir to perform such a lengthy unaccompanied work, but this fine ensemble was clearly able to carry it off with aplomb, evident even from the very first Amen."
.."As always, the choir’s blend of voices under the direction of Paul Spicer was lovely to hear with both the tenors and sopranos in particular excelling in some explosive moments. The work calls for sudden dynamic changes and these were handled convincingly throughout."
Our sincere thanks to ....
The Grimmitt Trust, The Saintbury Trust, The S&D Lloyd Trust, The John Feeney Charitable Trust, The Roughley Trust and the W.E. Dunn Trust who have all supported us recently.
We are very grateful to Broughton Pianos for their collaboration & support
We also acknowledge with thanks the work of professional photographers Adrian Burrows, Frank Wood, Rob Gillespie and Phil Barnes whose photographs appear on this website.
SAVE THE DATES
Saturday 27 April
Come & Sing!
Wylde Green URC Church
B73 5SW
Saturday 29 June 7pm
Summer Concert
St Mary’s Church, Warwick
&
Saturday 6 July 7pm
St Alban’s Church, Birmingham
Keep in contact
Registered Charity Number: 1194569