Halesworth Festival Voices recently performed a concert of Baroque music in St. Mary’s Church on Sunday 31st May 2009. The church was packed with local people who thoroughly enjoyed the second concert given by this new choir. The first was a sell-out performance of Benjamin Britten’s cantata Saint Nicolas at Christmas, so there is already a loyal local following.


For the recent concert, conductor Ian Humphris chose to turn the clock back and introduce the singers to a much earlier repertoire. He had enjoyed many hours studying this music under Imogen Holst in Aldeburgh when a member of the Purcell Singers and his long experience of music from the baroque period transferred itself to singers and audience alike.

Accompanied by the best string players in the area, led by Jim McLeod and with organist Philip Simms, the whole programme was of the highest musical quality and repaid the hard work the singers had put in over several months. Such is the quality of the choir that it was able to produce its own soloists.

With such talent to call upon, Halesworth can look forward to imaginative programming from a choral ensemble that the town can be proud of.

The Voices’ next concert will be an all-Haydn programme at St. Mary’s Church on Saturday 17th October 2009 and is a feature of the middle weekend of the Halesworth Arts Festival.

It marks the 200th Anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn and will include two choral works and the popular Trumpet Concerto in which the soloist will be Ray Simmons, former principal of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and now living locally. Haydn’s Te Deum and Nelson Mass were written towards the end of his long life and find him still lively and optimistic.

The orchestra will include leading players from all over East Anglia and the four soloists are all outstanding students from the Royal Academy of Music, chosen and supported by the Josephine Baker Trust. The tenor Thomas Hobbs sang the part of Saint Nicolas in our Christmas concert so we are all looking forward to hearing him again.

We are always looking for new members in all voices and, if you have a true voice, a love of music and can commit to most Monday evening rehearsals, why not consider joining us for the October concert?

We meet at the United Reform Church (on the Holton Road roundabout) on most Mondays 7.15 – 9.15.

We will be there every Monday in June then, after a rest in July/August, we start again in September. You can hire music and buy a CD to help you learn your part.

For more information ring: Maggie Pepper on 01986 874900 or Dorothy Frost on 01986 873202.