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Mary Ward Singers:
We are a mixed voice (SATB – Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) choir, run as an evening class by the Mary Ward Centre. It is a taught course and the choir’s musical director is employed as the course tutor by Mary Ward Centre.
We are non-auditioning and while an ability to read music and to be able to sight-sing is an advantage this is not essential – a ‘good ear’ for music is important and you will improve your music reading week by week. Our conductor and tutor for the past fourteen years is Holger Aston. He spent a year in Hungary where he completed a masters degree at the Franz Liszt Academy, specialising in choral conducting with the renowned Hungarian conductor Peter Erdei.
Naoko Ayoama, our pianist, also played in a piano duet in our summer concert 2015 and plays flute with the London Euphonia Orchestra. We are a welcoming, friendly group who enjoy singing together in weekly rehearsals and public performances. The size of the choir varies but averages around 30 people. Some members have attended for several years while others are more recent joiners. Being a sociable group, we also adjourn to a local pub after the weekly rehearsals and arrange occasional meals out etc. Ali, one of our singers, describes her experience as follows: "I've been in the choir for around 10 years now. The music we do is eclectic, but really suited to us, a small group of varying musical abilities. Everyone can get better! We have a hugely musical conductor who chooses our repertoire well! Sometimes the music is obscure and it often means we have to learn other languages....as well as the music. We are a small choir, around 30 people, and I really like this. I've sung with bigger choirs in the past, doing much larger works, but I find this one more challenging, especially as we often sing aCapella. I have made lifetime friends, and we often meet for other events, walks, theatre, films etc. I keep coming because it's like having a weekly injection of loveliness. We are a choir full of vivid characters too numerous to mention, singing and performing beautiful music." Jo joined the Mary Ward Singers about 5 years ago. "I was in a choir when I was at school and really enjoyed it, so many years later I joined MWS. I chose Mary Ward as I had attended some courses there and liked the venue and relaxed atmosphere of the place. I found the choir a friendly and inclusive group: many people had been there a long time but new people join regularly. There is no audition, which I appreciated as it did not put me on the spot. I enjoy that some of the music challenges me but it is within my capabilities. I particularly like singing madrigals and the Scarlatti piece which we sang recently. I also enjoy singing music from other countries. I felt I have been able to improve my singing and musical understanding (which had been minimal) since being in the choir. I find the warm-ups very helpful as without them my voice can be more strained. I continue to come as I love singing, it lifts my mood. It helps my health both mentally and physically. Singing with a group is a bonus as the music made by the whole choir is so much more than one person. Hearing the music building and harmonising feels great to be part of." Pam was a member of the Mary Ward Singers for more years than she cares to remember. "I heard about the class – which then met on Thursdays, at 8 pm – from friends who were work colleagues. I was not then involved in singing, (though I had been in a choir once which would not accept female tenors). It was not my ambition to join another one but, having been lent a recording of one of the pieces that the choir was learning (Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonnelle) I decided to join. Other class members, who then included lawyers, librarians and teachers, enhanced the occasion and so I did a short sight singing course with the then conductor, David Graham, who gave us lovely things to sing. He told us that there was no such thing as perfect pitch, it was just memory! When we were trying to find another conductor, no one seemed right until Holger appeared, but by this time we could not sing in our usual Room 13 at MWS and we were singing in St George’s Church. For a long time classes could not be held in Room 13: we used rooms in Conway Hall, Bloomsbury Baptist Church and St George’s Church as places to meet. When Holger decided to go to Hungary for a year, we had another conductor and a most unpleasant venue in Dragon’s Court where we followed a very sweaty exercise session! Holger returned from his Master’s course and we thankfully resumed our singing in Room 13. Various choral works in numerous different languages (including Japanese) and modern pieces by composers such as Bob Chilcott have been much enjoyed. I have no doubt that singing is good for health, but now, ironically, after many years, I have had to give up the Mary Ward Singers, mainly for health reasons, though I still keep in touch with friends there who have enhanced my social life." |
Massed ranks of the basses this term!
Concerts
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Mary Ward Singers
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