In this section you will find reports on our concerts, singing days, social events and other aspects of Barnby life in the past few years.
March 2024
Spring Concert
Our Spring concert was a tremendous success enjoyed by those performing and by our appreciative audience.
February 2024
Singing Day
The Singing Day was a tremendous success with almost 40 singers from near and far joining together to rehearse and perform the three pieces chosen and led by our good friend Keith Orrell.
December 2023
Seasonal events
Our performance of Bob Chilcott’s Christmas Oratorio was a first for The Barnby Choir and was thoroughly enjoyed by singers and audience alike. The beautiful harmonies and recurring phrases were woven together with help from our soloists Kamil Bien (tenor) and Hannah Bennett (mezzo-soprano) with Gabi Lipshen on flute.
May 2023
Summer concert and Review of the Year
For our summer concert we returned to St Bartholomew’s Church in Wilmslow with firstly, a selection of traditional church music and then, after the interval, some lighter and ‘fun’ items, including a very amusing version of The Teddy Bears’ picnic, complete with assorted bears! Accomplished solos from our versatile conductor Lloyd, on piano, and accompanist Tom, on organ, added to the variety and enjoyment.
March 2023
Spring concert and launch of Friends
Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Buckner’s Mass in D minor provided the substantial programme for our orchestral concert at St Michael’s Bramhall. It was a challenging and exhilarating evening, shared with the ever excellent musicians of Musica Nova, led by Jem Bradley, and our four outstanding soloists, Eleanor Garside, Rhiain Taylor, Matt Mears and Terence Ayebare.
February 2023
Singing Day
Our Singing Day on Saturday 11 February was a great success. Thanks to all those singers from across the region who joined us for the day to tackle Will Todd’s amazing Mass in Blue, and especially to our good friend and maestro Keith Orrell, Musical Director of the William Byrd Singers and the Liverpool Welsh Choral, and choral director of the Pennine Spring Music Festival, for his tremendous enthusiasm and expertise in leading the day. Also to Katherine Stonham, accompanist extraordinaire, who magnificently captured the mood of this exhilarating work.
December 2022
Seasonal events
This month saw our first full Christmas concert since 2019, an exciting programme featuring Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, by turns lyrical and dramatic, and the well-loved Ceremony of Carols by Britten. Plus of course the usual mix of carols old and new, with much lively audience participation! Thanks to our instrumentalists Tom Pieczora (piano), Louise Thomson (harp) and Andrew Vogler (percussion), and to the capacity audience at Wilmslow United Reformed Church for their enthusiastic support.
May 2022
Fundraising success, summer concert and anniversary dinner
A major fundraising effort in the spring, generously supported by many members, was topped by bass Gavin Mendham who, with his friend Ian Smallwood, completed a sponsored cycle from Wilmslow to John O’Groats, raising a total of £1,000 for the choir.
March 2022
Haydn’s Creation in Bramhall
Our spring concert was held on Saturday 26 March in St Michael’s Church, Bramhall, and featured Haydn’s Creation as the main work, in which we were accompanied by Musica Nova, leader Anne Bass, with Graham Eccles on organ. As this was our first full concert since our 75th anniversary, which fell in the 2020/21 Season (sadly abandoned owing to COVID), we treated this as our anniversary concert and began by performing the premiere of the anthem, Let the Music Sound!, a setting of words by our Chairman Dave Tonks especially composed by our conductor Lloyd Buck to celebrate our 75 years of singing. It was a wonderful occasion, with a large and enthusiastic audience, and we received many messages of congratulation.
February 2022
Farewell Stephen and welcome Tom
In February, we bade a fond farewell to Stephen Reynolds, our accompanist since 2000.
Stephen had a long and distinguished career after graduating from the Royal Manchester College of Music, where he gained ARMCM distinction in both solo performance and teaching.
December 2021
Christmas activities
Our first concert following the long break caused by COVID was held on Sunday 12 December at the United Reformed Church in Wilmslow, and included a wide variety of Christmas music, including the traditional carols for the audience to join in.
September 2021
Return to rehearsals post-COVID
Following the cancellation of our March and May 2020 concerts and our entire 2020/21 Season, including our 75th anniversary concert, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, we were very glad to be able to return to rehearsals in September 2021.