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Amici Chorus Present Music for Easter

Dvořák Stabat Mater (original 1976 version).

Directed by Stefan Catto with Accompanist Christopher Gower.

Soloists: Catherine Futcher (Soprano), Elizabeth Green (Alto), Zachary Smith (Tenor) and Sonny Fielding (Bass). Amici Chorus Present Music for Easter

Tickets £10 on the door. Free to students.

Wednesday 20th March 2024 at 7pm
St Pauls Church, Church Street St Pauls, Canterbury, CT1 1NH

French Impressions: An Evening of French Choral Music

An evening of French choral music featuring the rarely performed Poulenc Gloria with its distinctive style of harmony moving between dissonance and lush chord progressions and a colourful musical palette being used to express a wide range of emotions from lyrical serenity to unashamed glee. The choir is joined for these performances by Adrian Bawtree and Helen Crayford and vocal soloists Helen Vincent (Canterbury Cathedral choir) and Joseph Morris (Royal Holloway Choral Scholar).

French Impressions: An Evening of French Choral Music

Lili Boulanger's Hymne Au Soleil is perhaps reminiscent of an impressionist painting, Claude Monet’s painting Sunrise. The rich, sometimes blurred harmonies of Boulanger’s piece evoke the colours of Monet’s clouds, while the ostinato quarter notes throughout the piece suggest the infinite waves that envelop the harbour in the painting.

Like his fellow Frenchman Fauré, Duruflé intended the mood of his Requiem to be largely contemplative, though there are moments of fire and brimstone too, not least when it is performed in the original version for choir and full symphony orchestra. The superb setting of the Requiem Mass by organist and composer Maurice Duruflé mixes Gregorian chant and splendid harmonies, to make what is without doubt, one of the most moving religious works from the 20th Century.

Following graduation, Stephen Barker studied for a Post Graduate Certificate in Education and qualified as a secondary teacher of Music. Composition remains an enjoyable passion, and while not having the time to be particularly prolific, Stephen tries to write two or three significant pieces a year, along with a wide range of smaller pieces of music suitable for liturgical use. Much of his music is available on his website.

Canterbury Cantata, with around 26 singers, is the chamber choir of Canterbury Cantata Trust, a charity whose guiding principle of Caring through Singing supports the creation of singing groups for many around the country.

Event date:
Saturday, 16 March 2024 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Ticket Prices:
Students £5, Full price £15

Tickets on the door or available online here.

Monday Music on Tour: Sounds Beaney, Canterbury, 12th December 2023

Monday Music Canterbury and Folkestone groups joined together to raise the roof at the Beaney in Canterbury for Sounds Beaney, a music for wellbeing session. Returning to their pre-COVID venue, they demonstrated the enjoyment, camaraderie and feel-good sensation engendered by singing with others. The well-known tunes such as Amazing Grace and Little Liza Jane soon had everyone on their feet, blending their voices in harmony.

Monday Music on Tour
Monday Music on Tour

Phil Self, the ‘pied piper’ of the Canterbury group and Grenville Hancox who inspires Monday Music Folkestone, led the songs familiar to these singers in the wonderful surroundings of the Explorer’s and Collectors Gallery at the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge.

Both groups meet at 11am on Monday mornings in Folkestone and Canterbury. Anyone can join and there is no need to be able to read music as they use lyric sheets for the songs, and no other musical knowledge is required with the repertoire built around familiar songs, new ones, and simple fun rounds.

More than sixty attended and filled the beautiful gallery, splitting into three groups to sing in canon, following the familiar and well-trodden path of their weekly workouts.

What a wonderful way to lead up to Christmas and celebrate the joy given by singing together in harmony!

Monday Music on Tour
Monday Music on Tour

GRENVILLE HANCOX MBE becomes Honorary President of Canterbury Cantata Trust

GRENVILLE HANCOX MBE becomes Honorary President of Canterbury Cantata Trust
“Singing should be on prescription,” he said many years ago… Grenville has championed engagement in the arts as a means of social regeneration and cohesion, with the firm belief that music should be at the heart of every community.

So many important milestones have been achieved over the years with opportunities being provided by Canterbury Cantata Trust for thousands to join together in demonstrating the benefits of singing, often performing with and supporting local musicians. The establishment of our “Sing to Beat” brand continues apace with 35 groups currently, and the recent incorporation of the Skylarks sessions into the ground-breaking Parkinson’s Centre for Integrated Therapies in Canterbury is a very exciting development with endorsement by “Movers and Shakers” (a remarkable podcast series )member Mark Mardell. Meanwhile, Canterbury Cantata, Amici Chorus and Monday Music prove their worth at every rehearsal and performance, invigorating and lifting the spirits of all those taking part.

Since Canterbury Cantata Trust’s birth in 2012 when, as the founding father of CCT, his belief in the power of singing to enhance well-being (observed first-hand in his original sessions in Canterbury and Folkestone) galvanised him into setting up the organisation, he has forged a path towards his original aim with imagination and immense enthusiasm. I am extremely proud to be have been a part of this evolution.

Whilst Grenville will still be involved as an ambassador for the Trust, crusading for singing as the perfect path to well-being, it will now be as Honorary President of our wonderful organisation. Emily Renshaw-Kidd, an alumna of Canterbury Christ Church University from Grenville’s time there, continues the crusading work of the Trust as Artistic Director with immense passion and conviction. He can be immensely proud of the legacy of “Caring through Singing” he has created and we are indebted to him for his time, endless energy and inspiration given to the Trust.

Roshna Ahmad, Chair, Canterbury Cantata Trust.

Canterbury Cantata Trust

Canterbury Cantata Trust Registered in England and Wales
Company No. 8293466 (Limited by Guarantee)
Registered Charity No. 1163197.

Registered Office:
April Cottage, Cherville Lane,
Bramling, Canterbury,
Kent. CT3 1LZ

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