Calling all Singers!
We are currently recruiting new singers in all parts of the choir, particularly new tenor and bass members of the choir.
If you or someone you know might be interested in singing with us, please contact our Musical Director Jason Lambert or Chairperson Suzanne Long – contact details for both Jason and Suzanne can be found here.
Rehearsals recommence on Wednesday 4 September 2024 at 7.30pm at Rosebery Road Methodist Church. The rehearsals on 4 and 11 September are open to anyone who thinks they may be interested in singing with the choir, so why not come along and give us a go. Simply turn up on the night – we look forward to seeing you then.
2024/25 concert dates are as follows:
14 December 2024: Christmas Concert – 7.30pm at Rosebery Road Methodist Church.
18 December 2024: Christmas Concert – 7.00pm at How Hill Trusts, Ludham (tickets only available directly from How Hil by telephoning 01692 678555 or emailing secretary@howhilltrust.org.uk).
12 April 2025: Poulenc Gloria, Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana, Nella Fantasia, premiere in East Anglia of Fallen by David Lancaster, and a selection of choruses and arias from Messiah at Rosebery Road Methodist Church.
12 July 2025: Summer musical medley from Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Misèrables, Half a Sixpence, Oliver! and more, plus Last Night of the Proms including Jerusalem, Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory at Rosebery Road Methodist Church.
Autumn/Winter News 2024
Summer News 2024
On one of the hottest summer evenings (as usual) Norwich Singers presented a lively and varied evening of music to celebrate the choir’s seventieth anniversary. ‘From Byrd to the Beatles – 500 Years of Song’ did what it said on the tin and the evening travelled from the sixteenth century to the twentieth century through song, mainly staying in Great Britain but with an occasional detour to Vienna, Paris and, somewhat tangentially, Japan. As well as Byrd, and Lennon and McCartney, there were songs from Arthur Sullivan, Thomas Morley, the newly knighted John Rutter, Mozart, Fauré, Vaughan-Williams, Elgar and Flanders and Swann amongst many others. The choir was also very pleased to sing a song composed by one of their own, Ken Tickle, who set Marlowe’s poem Come Live With me and Be My Love to music for his wife Enid.
Winter 2023 News
Christmas comes but once a year …
… And once again Norwich Singers enjoyed presenting an evening of festive songs and carols on 16 December 2023. We were pleased to be at our new concert venue, Rosebery Road Methodist Church, especially as it coincided with the church’s beautiful crib festival.
Summer 2023 News
Summer Concert 2023 – a journey through time
For once the weather was kind for our Summer Concert on 15 July 2023, and we didn’t have to sing in a heatwave. A varied programme of music from many ages and around the world took the audience back in time and all around the world, up rivers and over seas, with songs both well-known and perhaps new to the audience and also paid tribute both to the late Queen Elizabeth II and to King Charles III.
From the Mid-West of America with Oh What a Beautiful Morning via Australia with Waltzing Matilda ( where the tenors and basses turned rough and the altos came over all ghostly), the Russian steppes at the turn of the 20th Century with the beautiful Sunrise Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof and Stratford-Upon-Avon with Where the Gentle Avon Flows by Ronald Bynge, Norwich Singers travelled around the world and back.
After our travels, Norwich Singers took the opportunity to remember the late Queen Elizabeth II and acknowledge the new King Charles III with four very different pieces with royal connections: Zadok the Priest (sung at every coronation since George II), Let the People Praise Thee O God (written by the Welsh composer William Mathias for the wedding of Charles and Diana), Psalm 121 (which, as set by Henry Walford Davies, was sung as the late Queen’s coffin entered St Georges Chapel for Committal) and finally In Our Service (commissioned by the Royal School of Church Music for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee for choirs in any setting to sing – the text comprises extracts from the Queen’s speeches given over more than 70 years.)
The choir sent the audience on its own journey home with First, Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and then a song which has taken on a life all of its own from its origins in the musical Carousel – You’ll Never Walk Alone
Spring 2023 News
Norwich Singers welcome Spring
It was a lovely Spring evening for a change on 15 April when Norwich Singers offered Songs for a Spring Evening (our Spring concerts have been known to be sung while a snow storm rages outside!) The well-attended concert comprised a number of songs on the theme of Spring and Eastertide. Some were well known, such as spirituals including Deep River and Were You There?, Stanford’s The Bluebird, Franck’s Panis Angelicus and John Tavener’s The Lamb, whilst others were possibly less so, including Ave Maria by Igor Stravinsky. Certainly one song would have been new to everyone there as Bread of the World was a world premiere, written by a member of the choir, bass Ken Tickle.
We were delighted to once again welcome as our guest soloist Hannah Long, who sang Ave Maria (As a mother to her child) by Tolga Kashif and The Lord’s my Shepherd, arranged by Bob Chilcott.
Other News
Christmas Concert 2022
Once again Norwich Singers celebrated the festive season with an evening of carols and Christmas songs. With a mix of new songs (certainly new to many of the audience and probably to a number of the choir too!) by composers such as William Mathias and John Rutter, traditional carols for al to join in, with and seasonal readings, the whole evening was a lovely way t start the festive season.
Summer Concert 2022
On Saturday 16 July 2022, one of the hottest nights of this very hot summer, Norwich Singers presented their summer concert, a selection of musical numbers from stage and screen. There was something for everyone: the romance and tragedy of Stephen Sondheim’s first musical, West Side Story; The sass and razzmatazz of Chicago, the charm of Mary Poppins, including songs specially written for the stage version and not included in the original film; the grandeur and Latin American rhythms of Evita; the old fashioned jazz and blues of Cole Porter; The evergreen Oklahoma; the fun of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat; the classic Oliver!; and finally the pop rock of Rocketman.
We were also pleased to welcome back once again soprano Hannah Long who sang I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady and Think of Me from Phantom of the Opera.
Spring Concert 2022
On Saturday 2 April 2022, Norwich Singers gave their first full concert in two years. The concert comprised a performance of Parts 2 and 3 of Handel’s Messiah, followed by John Rutter’s Requiem, and was notable, not only because, like all performing groups, the choir had been unable to give a full concert for the past two years, but also because it marked 70 years since the choir was founded.
As well as invited soloists, Hannah Long, a regular collaborator with the choir, and Matthew Jordan, the choir, led by Musical Director Jason Lambert, was delighted to be accompanied by members of St Gregory’s Orchestra, Norwich and other invited musicians, led by Alison Mills.
The second half of the concert, a performance of John Rutter’s Requiem, was dedicated to the people of Ukraine and a retiring collection was taken. Thanks to the generosity of all who were there, nearly £200 will be donated to the DEC Emergency Fund for Ukraine.