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Harrogate
Male Voice Choir
Founded 1969
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Ripley Castle 700 & 40
Concert - 23 April 2009
The concert at Ripley Castle celebrated the 40th year of the
Harrogate Male Voice Choir and the 700th year of the Ingleby family at
Ripley Castle. And what a venue it was, with comfortable seats,
beautiful surroundings and excellent acoustics, as well as the generous
hospitality of Sir Thomas and Lady Ingleby.
The concert consisted of a wide selection of choral pieces,
interspersed with solos and humorous monologues.
The choir was accompanied by Avril Leeming at the piano. Good
accompanists are few and far between, but Avril Leeming is certainly
one of the few and complemented the superb singing perfectly.
The musical director Bernard White had complete control over the choir,
and every eye was on him all the time. This allowed him to bring out
every nuance in the music to perfection. The balance was very good, all
parts being heard equally, and the tuning was spot on.
There were two solos: Bring Him Home from Les Miserables, sung
beautifully by Len Caine, and The Barber of Turin, sung by Peter
Leeming. Both were very testing songs well executed. The monologues,
adding a bit of humour, were given by Mike Boland, John Ellen and
Malcolm Roberts.
The MC, John Corrin, introduced the various sections and entertained us
with many jokes.
The concert was attended by the choir's president Simon Theakston, as
well as Sir Thomas and Lady Ingleby.
(from the Harroget Advertiser)
Annual Concert - 12 May 2007
Norman Williams Coun
Geoff Webber Bernard
White
Jane Reeve & Jack Kent
Jane Reeve Pat Webber Avril Leeming Kay
Bromhead
Harrogate Male Voice Choir gave an excellent programme under the
direction of Musical Director Bernard White. The concert was attended
by Harrogate's Mayor and Mayoress at the time Coun Geoff
Webber and Mrs Pat Webber.
This popular choir has performed 12 public concerts in the last year
and for the first time recorded this concert for a CD.
The choir gave us a memorable musical evening. The master of
ceremonies, Ian Ibbotson, introduced the choir, its piano accompanist
Avril Leeming, the soprano guest soloist Jane Reeve and her accompanist
Kay Bromhead.
The programme comprised many attractive songs, including an amusing
duet
(Jane Reeve and Jack Kent) and rousing numbers from Wagner and Gounod.
We also heard Welsh hymns, some love songs and a spiritual,
The highlight of the evening was the performance of the Holy City
featuring the choir and Jane Reeve.
This was a very impressive concert in front of a most appreciative and
full audience.
(From the Harrogate Advertiser)
Annual Concert - 6 May 2006
The 2006 Annual Concert was held at Harrogate Baptist Church on
Saturday 6 May. This proved to be an ideal venue with its excellent
acoustics, which enabled the choir to be fully appreciated by an
enthusiastic capacity audience, helping to make the evening a
resounding success.
The choir gave an excellent performance, singing a varied selection
from their repertoire, including a number of items which will be sung
by the massed choirs at the Royal Albert Hall in November.
The choir was delighted to welcome as their guest soloist Jane Reeve,
who sings with Treble Clef female vocal ensemble and with St Peter’s
Church Choir. Jane gave a most delightful performance which received
resounding applause. In the first half she sang ‘The man I love’, ‘Fly
home little heart’, ‘Till there was you’. This was followed after the
interval with ‘I could have danced all night’, and the amusing Victoria
Wood song ‘Freda and Barry’. For these numbers she was accompanied by
Kay Bromhead on piano. However for many in the choir and audience
alike, the highlight of the evening came when Jane joined the choir to
sing the solo part in ‘The Holy City’.
Not to be outdone the choir’s soloist Mike Boland shone in his
rendition of ‘Polly Perkins’, suitably attired as the ‘broken hearted
milkman’!!
John Corrin compered the concert providing interesting details on the
music and many humorous asides.
Musical Director Bernard White conducted the choir while Avril Leeming
provided the piano accompaniment in her usual highly professional
manner.
Annual Concert - 30 April 2005
The 30th Annual Concert of the Harrogate Male Voice Choir was
held at a
new venue, Trinity Methodist Church this year, and was enthusiastically
received by a large audience including the Mayor of Harrogate
Councillor Margaret-Ann de Courcy-Bailey and her Consort.
The choir led by its Musical Director Bernard White and
accompanied by
Avril Leeming performed a varied programme of music ranging from a
tribute to Ivor Novello, Paul Simon's ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’,
Puccini's ‘Nessun Dorma’, Lloyd Webber's ‘Memory’, Wagner's ‘Roman War
Song’ and Isaac Watts' famous hymn ‘Morte Christe’ and many others.
In between numbers performed by the choir the audience were
entertained
by some exciting soloists who all won Young Musician of the Year 2004
titles awarded by the Harrogate and Knaresborough Rotarians.
These were Olivia Hanks (Violin) Emily Larwood (Cornet) and Jonathan
Wheeler (Percussion). Their performances delighted the audience and
provided an excellent contrast to the choir both in style of music and
age of participant.
Ian Ibbotson in his role as compere kept the audience informed
and
amused and provided a limerick for each of the soloists. He
rather had the tables turned on him when Olivia Hanks produced one on
his performance.
The evening concluded with thanks being offered to all the
contributors
during the evening including Friends, Organisers, Advertisers and the
members of Trinity Methodist Church for refreshments and the use of
their facilities. The Mayor of Harrogate, Margaret-Ann de
Courcy-Bailey then handed out gratuities to the Musical Director,
Accompanist and the soloists, offered congratulations to all of the
performers and expressed her delight at being able yet again to witness
the wonderful depth of musical talent which we have in the Harrogate
area.
