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Choir delights in Rochester

OCTOBER 25: The Croydon choir had an exhilarating sing at Rochester Cathedral on Saturday, October 20.  It staged an hour-long performance, divided into three sets, that delighted a strong and appreciative audience, composed of cathedral visitors and the choir’s ever-loyal followers.

The choir’s twelve numbers comprised a mix of religious and secular, from Gwahhoddiad and Morte Criste  to Bring Him Home and the haunting Seal Lullaby.

   

CMVC warms up at Rochester Cathedral

The concert featured  the debut appearance of music director Roger Pinsent, who joined the choir in September. Audience members commented that the hard work the choir has been devoting to singing technique and expression was already clear – and one added that the choir sounded “sexy”.

 

Roger watches as Stewart instructs the troops

Roger himself praised the choir’s “gutsy, musical and committed performance”.  It was, he added “a wonderful venue both visually and technically….and it was great to see a sizable and attentive audience”. And he applauded the “delightful accompaniment” of Nat Brawn, the choir’s new pianist.  

The concert included the choir’s first public performance of Dona Nobis Pacem, a canon for which it  divides into three and sings successive parts from separate locations.  The piece will be a key feature of the choir’s forthcoming First World War concert at St Francis, West Wickham, on Saturday November 10. 

The concert is one item in a weekend of commemoration which marks the hundredth anniversary of Armistice Day on November 11 1918.  The concert starts at 7.30pm and tickets, which are selling fast, cost just £10.

 

The choir lines up in Rochester Cathedral (JWT)