Witchert Chorale and Golgotha Kantorei in Berlin – 11th to 13th October 2024

Friday – The Journey Begins
After weeks of planning and a flurry of WhatsApp messages, the Witchert Choir was finally on its way to Berlin for our much-anticipated weekend with the Golgotha Kantorei. Some of us flew, while others took the train. As the Ryanair group faced the joys of Stansted Airport (overpriced coffee, anyone?), the Eurostar crew was already halfway to Brussels. In the end, the plane may have won the race, but Berlin had one last challenge waiting for us—Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit! With parts of the city’s transport network shut down, we found ourselves decoding complicated maps and unfamiliar streets to reach the church.
Despite the hurdles, we all arrived on time for our first meeting with Golgotha Kantorei. Warm greetings and gift exchanges were followed by a lovely spread of food and drink. Familiar faces were reunited, and the evening got off to a smooth start with David stepping in to direct rehearsals in Ben’s absence. Our German hosts welcomed us into their homes for a good night’s rest after a long day.

Saturday – Rehearsals and Concert Day
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, giving us a chance to explore Berlin after breakfast. By midday, we were at Herz-Jesu-Kirche for our full rehearsal with the orchestra and soloists. What a space! The 19th-century church was vast and breathtaking, with intricate religious artwork, a towering dome, and a glowing golden altar. Ben, now with us, led a productive rehearsal of Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes with both choirs, and after a quick lunch break, it was Witchert’s turn to rehearse in the resonant acoustic. David got creative with the space, spreading us out for Miserere mei, testing how the sound would carry in the large church.

As concert time approached, we changed into our performance attire and took our places. The audience began to arrive, filling the grand space with a hum of anticipation. Golgotha started the program with a beautiful Schubert Sanctus, followed by stunning organ performances of Liszt and Monteverdi by Roman Lemberg.

Then it was our turn! Kicking off with Miserere mei, we quickly found our footing and delivered strong renditions of Byrd’s Agnus Dei and Stainer’s God So Loved the World. The Gershwin was fascinating, but we truly soared with Brahms’ In Stiller Nacht. The English pieces by Rutter and Sullivan were warmly received, and our Beatles closer, Can’t Buy Me Love, earned us rousing applause from the audience.
After a short interval, both choirs united for Purcell’s Hear My Prayer, before diving into Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes. It was a full-throttle performance, with tight focus on every dynamic and word. Ben’s conducting held everything together, and the strings and soloists elevated the work to something special. The audience’s applause between each movement gave us some much-needed breathers! By the time we reached the triumphant Magnificat, we felt a keen sense of accomplishment. The concert wrapped up beautifully with a joint rendition of Mozart’s Ave Maria.

The Festival of Lights
With the concert behind us, it was time to explore Berlin’s Festival of Lights, celebrating 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. We started at the iconic Fernsehturm (TV Tower), its façade glowing with stunning light animations. As we navigated through the night-time crowds, we took in the illuminated landmarks of the city and vibrant park projections.
With all the walking, hunger was building and we made our way back to Golgotha church for a late night pizza feast. Assisted by beer, wine, and lively conversation, we chatted with our hosts and soloists about the day’s performance. Claire-Lise broke out her ukulele, and soon, a spontaneous sing-along erupted with improvised harmonies. Golgotha responded by turning off the lights and serenading us with some of their favourite songs. Midnight passed and it was time to go back to our hosts to get some sleep. Apparently some people stayed at the church until three in the morning!

Sunday – Farewell to Berlin
Sunday morning was more relaxed, allowing us to enjoy some downtime with our hosts. For lunch, we gathered at Café am Neuen See in Berlin’s Tiergarten park. It was a picturesque setting for our final meal together, and conversations flowed easily over the clinking of glasses and the laughter of new friends. But all good things must come to an end. After heartfelt goodbyes and promises of future reunions, it was time for Witchert to head home. For those flying back to the UK, the return journey was smooth and uneventful, but we all carried with us the sense that this weekend had been something special—a wonderful mix of music, friendship, and culture. And one thing was clear: we’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 29th June 2024
It was a lovely summers day – sunny but not too warm, and St Mary’s Church in the historic heart of Long Crendon provided the perfect place for our ‘Perfect Peace’ summer concert. The dress theme for the concert was ‘Green and Pink’, giving choir members the sartorial chance to be suitably floral.

The afternoon rehearsal allowed the choir to tune into the church acoustic and for David to run through the set programme. Some slightly ‘Heath Robinson’ technology adjustments were needed to allow Richard to be able to see David conducting around the corner of the venerable church organ. The tea urn eventually boiled to provide much appreciated refreshments, served with delicious home-made cakes.

The audience started arriving quite early from 7pm, which was a promising sign. In fact, more chairs had to be put out as the church filled up. The anticipation of starting the concert quickly settled into a confident rendition of Victoria’s ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ and Stanford’s achingly sad ‘Peace, Come Away’. The sublime canon of ‘Miserere Mei’ by Henry Purcell suited the choir very well indeed. Moving on with pieces by Byrd, Bach and Mendelssohn, the choir choir signed off the first half of the programme with two suprisingly fast and energetic movements from Mozart’s Solemn Vespers. Never have conductor beats been watched so closely.

The sizeable audience meant that the church committee had significant demand for their offerings of sparkling wine and nibbles during the interval. It also gave a leisurely time for everyone to chat and recharge before the second half.

The simple melodic beauty of the Rutter piece set the tone for the second half. The audience clearly enjoyed the folk song style of Dvorak’s ‘Songs of Nature’. Brahm’s ‘In Stiller Nacht’ was suitably ‘expressivo’. The Poulenc was very French. The theme of nature and gardens continued with ‘The Bee’ and ‘Daffodils’. Brittens ‘Flower Songs’ were deftly performed, before hurtling towards a showy finale with the ‘Ballad of Green Broome’

The enjoyment of another successful concert was followed by a social gathering at the nearby Eight Bells Pub, where Kirsten generously had organised food and drink to be enjoyed by choir and friends.

‘MAY DAY’ MADRIGALS EVENT

The May Bank Holiday Monday is the traditional date for our annual madrigals event. With a misty start and only light cloud, happily it looked like we would not be singing in the rain. Arriving at St Mary’s Church in Long Crendon, the choir prepared for the ‘interesting’ ascent up the claustrophobic medieval stairwell to the top of the church tower. The vertiginous view of the village below and slightly precarious access on the slippery lead roof, makes for a challenging stage.

Local villagers including small children and dogs started to congregate in the church yard to witness the church-top performance . The familiar confines of the rehearsal room were replaced with a vast open space. David located a safe-ish spot to direct the start of the madrigals. Singing early in the morning is quite hard to do, as the voice is still warming up, but the choir kicked off proceedings with ‘April is my Mistress Face’, by Thomas Morley. Appreciative applause from below indicated that we could be heard, and it gave encouragement for completing the set of madrigals without sustaining injury.

Once the choir had descended from the tower, the village congregation assembled in church to listen to the second half of the set pieces. This was a much more conducive place to sing. David expertly corralled the audience participation for the sung rounds of ‘Come let us all a-Maying go’ and ‘Well Rung Tom’.

The set was finished off with the old favourite ‘Now is the month of Maying’ preceded by the rather wonderful madrigal arrangement of the Beatles song ‘Can’t buy me Love’.

Following a quick chat with friends and family, the choir then bade farewell to St Mary’s and scooted off to St Nicholas’ Church in Cuddington. The tower here is less high and has a flat roof which greatly helps with singing-out the madrigals. With our voices warmed up, and less concern about falling off, performances were more assured. The sounds of ‘Fair Phyllis’ and ‘Thus said my Cloris Bright’ wafted sweetly over the audience below. Back down into the church for the second set, the passionate Italian madrigal ‘Il bianco e dolce cigno’ belayed the fact it was still only 10:15am in the morning.

Everyone joined in with the final rendition of ‘Now is the month of Maying’ followed by thanks and a request for charity support. Cakes, tea and coffee were then proffered to complete the occasion.

The ambience of the May madrigal event is really lovely; a community coming together in a beautiful old church, ringing with the rendition of traditional songs and the background sound of birds singing, barking dogs and babbling babies. Funds are raised and future events are also promoted.

CONCERT IN NORWICH ON SATURDAY 23RD MARCH 2024

The fine city of Norwich is a first for a Witchert Chorale performance. On March 23rd 2024, the choir travelled over to Christ Church, Eaton in Norwich to sing a ‘Passion Flowers’ programme of choral music. Founding choir member Alison Court and her husband Ed Cairns retired to Norwich in 2018 and it was her dearest wish that the Witchert Chorale would one day come over and sing there.

Amid a plethora of travel arrangements and the iffy weather, everyone made it over to Christ Church in time for the afternoon rehearsal. Splendid cakes and tea were offered to bolster flagging energy levels.

After retiring for a short break with the hosts, there was a earlier start than usual for the concert at 6:30pm. The choir were greeted with a full audience at the church, with much credit to Alison’s organising skills and energy.

The concert repertoire reflected themes of the Easter Passion and Spring flowers, with a secular first half followed by more ‘flowery’ choral arrangements in the second. As part of the programme, Ed Cairns also provided two readings of poetry.

The second half featured an array of flower-themed compositions including The Rose of Sharon, Daffodils, Evening Primrose, Green Broom and Country Gardens. The Benjamin Britten arrangements are a particular delight, with the Green Broom piece accelerating into a fast and lively conclusion.

Both audience and choir were surprised and delighted by a Tango dance routine performed by Benedikt and Claire-Lise Kessler, to the tune of Des de alma. The concert rounded off with renditions of Gershwins ‘Fascinating Rhythm’ and Percy Graingers ever popular ‘Country Gardens’.

After the concert, Alison and Ed generously held an open-house party, at their home with much delicious food and drink for socialising and celebrating the concert. Inevitably, as the night progressed, there was a migration over to the music room, where favourite choral pieces were sung with great gusto. Hopefully the neighbours were out.

Haddenham Concert on Saturday 2nd December 2023

In complete contrast to the heat of the June concert in Oxford, Winter came early for our December concert, with freezing weather doing its best to keep St Mary’s Church on the chilly side. Nethertheless, our audience dressed warm for the occasion and were treated to a concert programme of contrasting choral music that well suited the advent of Christmas.

The repertoire ranged from the dramatically stirring ‘Virga Jesse’, by Bruckner, to more reflective nativity pieces by Lauridsen and Warlock. Arrangements by Bob Chilcott of famous carols, provided a distinctly Christmassy feel to the evening.

The main event of the concert was a performance by the choir of J.S Bach’s ‘Jesu, Meine Freude’. With its German text and intricate and exquisite baroque arrangement, it’s a piece that demands sustained concentration and energy.

Both choir and audience enjoyed an interval of wine and snacks before settling down to the second half. The Christmas spirit went into overtime with a spirited rendition of ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ and rounded off with the ever popular ‘Feliz Navidad’.

Proceeds and donations from the concert raised nearly £1000 towards the Friends of St Mary’s Church. and the Haddenham Village Society.

Summer Concert on Sunday 25th June 2023

On Sunday 25th June, the Witchert Chorale performed a concert at Exeter College Chapel in Oxford.

It was a baking hot summers day and the heat of the sun was driving pedestrians in the city centre to search for shade. Fortunately the chapel was much cooler inside for the choir rehearsal in the afternoon. The chapel itself is a jewel of gothic architecture with a stunning array of stained glass windows at the altar end.

Our concert was titled “Crossing Continents” which reflected the geographical diversity of composers involved including Igor Stravinksy from Russia; Ola Gjeilo, a Norweigan composer who lives in the US, Arvo Part from Estonia, and Saint Saens France. Pieces from English composers included Purcell, Willan and Parry.

After the rehearsal, there was time for the choir to refuel and relax at the nearby Pizza Express.

The time of the concert approached and the audience soon filled the available seating in the chapel. It was certainly very warm that evening. Although the chapel auditorium is quite small, it has a superb acoustic. This was especially effective when singing the highly moving ‘Deer’s Cry’ by Arvo Part. You could have heard a pin drop in the audience.

After the concert finished, the choir and appreciative audience spilled out into the lovely college courtyard, to chat and enjoy the surroundings.