Come and Sing event, Taunton

Saturday 12 April, 10.30am-4pm • St Andrew’s Church, Taunton

David directs an all day ‘Come and Sing’ event for RSCM Somerset Area, primarily on his own music. The programme is planned to include many items that attendees will want to take back to their own churches – favourites, and some less well known. RSCM individual members, Friends of RSCM and members of RSCM-affiliated churches can book for £12, non-members £15 and people in full-time education £5. Contact Jerry King at Somerset Area RSCM to book – telephone 01275 462433

Exultate Singers: Splendours of Venice

facebook-290314Saturday 29 March at 7.30pm • St Georges’ Bristol

Following the choir’s memorable performance as part of last year’s Bristol Baroque Festival, Exultate Singers will join forces once again with the renowned early music ensemble His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts to perform music from Renaissance Venice originally written for St Mark’s. The programme includes works by Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Hassler and newly-edited motets by Gioseffo Guami. If you were at last year’s concert you’ll remember what an exhilarating evening it was. One audience member wrote to us afterwards to say it was, “A wonderful concert…. Beautifully staged, staggering singing and inspiring accompaniment.”

Tickets from £10 to £21 for adults, £2 discount for concessions; tickets for students in full time education £6, under 18s £4. Available from Exultate Singers’ shop and St George’s box office on 0845 40 24 001 or online

 

City of Bristol Choir: The Greater Light

facebook-160314Sunday 16 March at 7.30pm • St Alban’s Church, Westbury Park, Bristol

City of Bristol Choir presents an atmospheric concert of romantic English choral music on the theme of light including works by Vaughan Williams, Chilcott, Talli, Holst, Elgar and Martin Shaw. In the candlelit ambience of St Alban’s Church, the 100-strong choir will be accompanied by combinations of bells, organ and percussion to create both mystical and celebratory sounds and moods. Tickets £15 (concessions £13, under 18s and full time students £5) from www.cityofbristolchoir.org.uk and by phone on 01454 778477.

 

Gershwin Spectacular: Bristol International Jazz & Blues Festival

facebook-080314Saturday 8 March at 2.30pm • Colston Hall, Bristol 

David conducts the Big Boogie Big Band, vocalist Jacqui Dankworth and a choir of 250 singers in the world premiere of a newly-commissioned set of arrangements of Gershwin songs written by Ned Bennett. The Gershwin Spectacular is part of the Bristol International Jazz & Blues Festival at the Colston Hall, which runs from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 March. Tickets £15 from the Colston Hall box office on 0844 887 1500 or online at www.colstonhall.org

 

Exultate Singers: A Sense of the Divine

facebookSaturday 8th February at 7.30pm • St George’s Bristol

This year’s Sense of the Divine concert is out of this world! Singing music spanning 1000 years, Exultate Singers perform choral works inspired by the universe, the moon, planets and stars. The centrepiece is Lux aeterna by Ligeti, written for Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Vaughan Williams’ wonderful setting of Shakespeare’s words in Serenade to Music, marking the 450th anniversary of the playwright’s birth.

To accompany the wonderfully atmospheric and mesmerizing music, the travelling Planetarium from the Explorer Dome projects breathtaking images of the night sky onto the ceiling and balconies of St George’s. Tickets £13 to £22, available from St George’s box office on 0845 40 24 001, or book online

 

Royal Mail Choir raises £50,000 for Prostate Cancer UK

rmc

The singing talents of the Royal Mail Choir have helped to raise £50,000 for the Royal Mail’s Charity of the Year partner, Prostate Cancer UK.

The Royal Mail Choir, which is conducted by David and made up of postal workers from Bristol Mail Centre and the Bath area, has reached the milestone by performing numerous concerts in aid of the charity across the UK. The sum includes penny for penny matched giving from Royal Mail Group.

The choir has sung at events in the UK as well as Europe, released a charity single in aid of Prostate Cancer UK with former X winner, Joe McElderry, and most recently recorded a new version of ‘All You Need Is Love’ for Royal Mail’s TV advert, We Love Parcels.

The money raised will support Prostate Cancer UK’s vital work in supporting men and their families affected by the disease.

City of Bristol Choir CD release: Realms of Glory

Realms of Glory is a brilliant new collection of choral classics and contemporary works, reflecting City of Bristol Choir’s talent and flexibility and more than justifying their reputation as of one of the finest choirs in the South West.

In the Summer of 2013 if you were one of the Bristolians hunting for Gromit as he was unleashed on the city you might have stumbled across City of Bristol Choir in St Alban’s church in Westbury Park industriously recording a CD for the first time in their 30 years’ history. Tracks include exquisite and tender motets from Bruckner and Lauridsen, alongside the technically challenging Hymn to the Virgin by Benjamin Britten and Howells’ Here is the Little Door. On a lighter note, you will be humming along to David Ogden’s brilliantly fresh Angels from the Realms of Glory within seconds.

CDs are £12 each (plus £1.50 postage & packing) and are available to buy online from the City of Bristol Choir website and from Opus 13 music shop at 14 St Michael’s Hill, Bristol

Singing day with David and City of Bristol Choir

Raise The RoofSaturday 18 January from 11am, performance at 3.15pm, St George’s Bristol

Join David Ogden, members of City of Bristol Choir and fellow fans of musicals and films for an unashamedly indulgent day of singing blockbusting hits from stage, screen and Strictly Come Dancing! Now in its fourth successful year, the day culminates in a grand (but very informal) showcase performed by the day’s cast accompanied by a live band. Workshop tickets £12 (£5 under 18s) from St George’s Bristol on 0845 40 24 001 or book online