The Sixteen's Blog

The choir has moved on to Melbourne; the orchestra has a day off in Sydney; I am still in Hong Kong for another day of meetings; and our offices and colleagues in London and Oxford are helping keep the show on the road.

Tonight’s concert is at the Melbourne Recital Centre at 7.30, with a programme including Allegri’s Miserere and works by Palestrina, Anerio and Marenzio.

The South China Morning Posts arts critics are notorious for finding fault with nearly every event they review (apparently even the Concertgebouw Orchestra got short shrift recently), so maybe today’s review of our Messiah last Saturday isn’t so bad, although it starts with the usual (and here rather tedious, as well as inaccurate) numerological debate: ‘Directed by Harry Christophers, The Sixteen Choir seems a misnomer: on Saturday it was sporting 18 singers on stage, 16 in the programme notes and around 30 on the posters.

Christophers was once one of  the 18  boy choristers at Britain’s Canterbury Cathedral, traditionally known as The Sixteen in deference to ancient statutes. If the point seems laboured, it at least offers a frame for asking whether size matter’s in Handel’s Messiah, which has a greater role for the chorus than his other oratorios.

The work’s unsinkable popularity was confirmed in this highly enjoyable Arts Festival performance, by turns zingy and introspective, and sporting every colour bar grey. Christophers kept the action moving slickly, regularly tweaking details in the instrumental ensemble’s rock-solid support. The chorus delivered faultlessly from a technical standpoint but often sounded once-removed from the emotions, not simply by being small in number but also by being consciously restrained by Christophers in volume and edge.

The four soloists commanded an impressive narrative flair, sometimes captivating more by a sense of theatricality, however, than the quality of voice that Handel puts so roundly to the test.  The exception was countertenor Robin Blaze, whose beguiling shifts in tone and responsiveness to textual shading were exemplary throughout. You would have to go a long way before hearing a more telling performance of ‘He was despised’.

Tenor James Gilchrist led the pack in terms of projection; bass Matthew Brook hooked us with dramatic presence; soprano Gillian Keith trod a middle path. And did the local audience oblige tradition by rising for the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus? Yes, in a bemused, Mexican wave sort of way.’

Kirsty and Harry prepare for the pre-concert talk

The Sixteen was in Manchester last Friday evening when the Choral Pilgrimage headed for Bridgewater Hall.  A busy day, with a pre-concert talk, the concert, various receptions for our local corporate partners, a CD-signing and a welcome boost to the membership of our Patrons’ Circles.  On Saturday, Eamonn and Sally led a choral workshop for just under 70 singers from all over the North West, many of whom had attended the concert the night before.

I had to miss the Manchester visit as I was speaking at a conference of managers of professional choirs from throughout Europe.  The main topic was non-concert activity, so I was describing how we founded and run our own label, CORO.  It is intriguing to compare UK choirs, which don’t receive any significant public funding, with the choirs in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and Denmark which are having to manage with dwindling public funding and have not yet (on the whole) developed the flexible and highly creative funding model which supports The Sixteen.  Anyway, the conference was at the  Cité de la Musique in Paris (where The Sixteen performed Messiah last September), so I can’t complain: there was time to pop into one of my favourite restaurants opposite the Gare du Nord.

Cité de la Musique, Paris

Croydon Parish Church, soon to be Minster

Few will, I suspect, claim Croydon as being one of the nation’s architectural gems, but you may recall our pleasant surprise last year, when we gave our first concert in Croydon Parish Church, to discover an oasis in and around the church.  Such discoveries are one of the many things the Choral Pilgrimage is all about, so we were delighted to return last Friday for another full performance of our Victoria programme.   

Croydon Parish Church has a long and distinguished history. It is believed to have been founded in Saxon times, since there is a record of “a priest of Croydon” in 960, although the first record of a church building is in the Domesday Book (1086). The church has had close links with the Archbishops of Canterbury who had a Palace in Croydon. Much of that building still stands next to the church and is now the Old Palace School. Six Archbishops of Canterbury are buried in the church and many more would have worshipped here. In its final medieval form, the church was mainly a Perpendicular-style structure, but this was severely damaged by fire in 1867, following which only the tower, south porch and outer walls remained.

Zoe at our Patrons Circles desk at Croydon

Under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott the church was rebuilt, incorporating the remains and essentially following the design of the medieval building, and was reconsecrated in 1870.  It seems highly appropriate that the Parish Church will become Croydon Minster later this month. This elevation in status will be confirmed on the 29th May at the 10am service by the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun. The title is being bestowed as a reflection of the Church’s work in the community, the history of the church and the Church as a centre for civic services.  The Sixteen looks look forward to returning next April.  Membership of our Patrons Circles was further boosted in Croydon, not least because of our team’s skills of persuasion.  This support is invaluable in enabling us to continue to broaden our Choral Pilgrimage to take in more splendid buildings.

And thence to the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday for the Massive Messiah.  Over 350 singers (including a contingent from the USA)  joined The Sixteen in a performance of Handel’s masterpiece.   That frequent moment of hesitancy – to stand or not to stand – was avoided by the entire audience being invited to rise and sing the Hallelujah Chorus!

Massive Messiah

Elin Manahan Thomas, Grace Davidson and Simon Berridge

We have just finished sessions in St Silas Church in Kentish Town for our next CD of Monteverdi.  Volume 1 of Selva morale e spirituale (our CD of the week) was released recently, with two more volumes to follow.

Montverdi revolutionised the music of the theatre and the church by his dramatic and imaginative use of voices and instruments and by his daring harmonies and rhythms. Next to his Vespers of 1610, the Selva morale e spirituale of 1641 is his most significant and virtuosic collection of sacred music.

A team of eight singers were joined by our ace string and continuo players.  It’s too early to announce the release date, but we have other releases before then to highlight anyway!

Congratulations to one of our Development Board members Chris Blackhurst, who has just won the Business Journalist of the Year Award from the London Press Club.  Chris is City Editor of the London Evening Standard, but always manages to find space also to cover – trenchantly – the interface between business, the wealthy and the arts (and other third sector activity).

We are off to Croydon tonight for the next Choral Pilgrimage Victoria concert, supported by the Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs, Embassy of Spain, followed tomorrow by the Massive Messiah at the Royal Festival Hall. A busy week.

If you can’t be on the South Bank tomorrow evening, try and get to the last performance of James MacMillan’s Clemency at the Royal Opera House.  I saw it last night: brilliant, with writing for voices which reaffirms why he is one of The Sixteen’s favourite contemporary composers.

Recording session in St. Silas Church