News & Reviews

Read reviews of our performances and find out what the choir has been up to...

News & Reviews

Read reviews of our performances and find out what the choir has been up to...

Vivaldi: Gloria

Soloists: Alison Rose (Soprano), Jeremy Jepson (Alto)

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The biggest feather in the choir’s cap was their premiere of David Machell’s Gloria, clearly inspired by Vivaldi but speaking in its own distinctive voice and exploding in a starburst of energy

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Review for Nottingham Evening Post
Jun 23, 2012

AS befitting a Diamond Jubilee concert, there was a lot to celebrate.

First of all, Her Majesty’s glorious reign, so it was right and proper that the Bach Choir opened with a full-throated setting of the National Anthem and ended with a specially…

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Bach: St Matthew Passion (BWV 244)

Soloists: Mary Bevan (Soprano), Katie Bray (Alto), Andrew Tortise (Evangelist) and Joshua Ellicott (Arias) (Tenor), Stephen Cooper (Christus) and Marcus Farnsworth (Arias) (Bass)

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The choir’s deep knowledge of this music expressed itself in crisp articulation and never-flagging commitment

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Review for Nottingham Evening Post
Mar 24, 2012

EVEN before the first note of the Nottingham Bach Choir’s performance on Saturday the audience knew that the narrative was paramount.

Suspended above the choir in Southwell Minster was a huge screen on which were projected translations of every…

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Mendelssohn: Te Deum | Schubert: Mass in G | Bach: Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227)

Soloists: (members of the Nottingham Bach Choir) Susannah Hale (Soprano), Tim Bacon (Alto), David Tranter (Tenor), Stephen Cooper (Bass)

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The Te Deum allowed the singers, under their conductor Paul Hale, to demonstrate their excellent balance and tight ensembl

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Review by William Ruff for Nottingham Evening Post
Jun 26, 2010

THE Bach Choir’s programme was well-chosen for a summer Saturday. Not too much knotty complexity – but plenty of light-textured music thoughtfully split between the concert’s two halves with choral music interspersed with solo organ works.

There…

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Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 | Brahms: Schicksalslied

Soloists: Caroline Trutz (Soprano), Katie Bray (Mezzo), Ben Thapa (Tenor), Thomas Faulkner (Bass)

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This exhilarating 65-minute performance rose to the challenge magnificently, beautifully played and sung throughout

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Review by Grahame Whitehead for Nottingham Evening Post
May 15, 2010

MEMBERS of the Nottingham Bach Choir joined forces with the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra under Derek Williams for an energy-laden evening of Beethoven and Brahms which demonstrated just how powerfully both composers speak to our emotions.

Beethoven’s…

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Haydn: Theresienmesse | Rutter: Magnificat

Soloists: Jo Boddison (Soprano), Kathryn Woodruff (Mezzo), John Bowley (Tenor), Andrew Ashwin (Bass)

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The Choir exploited the St Mary’s acoustic to the full and produced a beautifully mature, well-blended sound which was incisive and clearly articulated

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Review by Grahame Whitehead for Nottingham Evening Post
Mar 27, 2010

The Nottingham Bach Choir under Paul Hale was in top form for this performance of Haydn’s Theresienmesse and John Rutter’s Magnificat. These liturgical settings come from very different musical backgrounds, almost two centuries apart, but they complemented…

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Grier: Around the Curve of the World | Parry: Blest Pair of Sirens | Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs

Soloists Soprano: Dorothee Jansen, Mezzo: Sarah Pring, Tenor: Stephen Brown, Bass: Adrian Clarke

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Combining human emotions and the changing motions of the sea, choir and orchestra resembled a constantly turning kaleidoscope

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Review by Peter Palmer for Nottingham Evening Post
Nov 29, 2009

Francis Grier wrote Around the Curve of the World (2000) for a specific occasion, the 150th anniversary of an Anglican colony in New Zealand.

Such works often get a couple of performances at most, so does Grier’s deserve better? Nottingham…

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