Bournemouth (Poole) update

I have been in touch with Mark Burstow, MD of the Bournemouth MVC (for those who’ve not come across him before) over the last few days, and am pleased to be able to provide some more information about the massed choir event we’re taking part in at THE LIGHTHOUSE, POOLE on SATURDAY, 23rd FEBRUARY.

The programme as it currently stands can be found here. You will notice that there are NO individual choir slots as there were last year. All the choir items will be sung ensemble. I am deputising for Mark in the (unlikely!) event that he can’t make it or (equally unlikely!) keels over during the concert, and in return he’s allowing me to conduct one of the items, although at this moment I don’t know which one.

We know all the music except Calm is the Sea and Let There Be Peace on Earth. I understand they are both easy and are largely in unison or two voices only. I am expecting these copies to be emailed to me this coming weekend so hopefully they’ll be ready for distribution at our first rehearsal on Monday.

The keen-eyed ones among you will notice that Amen is shown as arranged by Geraint Jones, different from the arranger of the version we have, who is Geraint Roberts. This is a typo, and will be the version we have. I don’t know who the soloist will be for The Battle Hymn of the Republic, if Mark is going to do it as writ – probably one of his guys or maybe even Cherril, the soprano soloist. He has asked me to do the solo verse in Morte Criste again, which I was delighted to accept. The version of When the Saints Go Marching In is not the one we’ve been doing recently (by John Rutter) but the other one we have, no. 297 (you'll see I’ve put all our library numbers in red alongside the items prior to my producing one of our own-format programmes). I Hear Thy Welcome Voice is, of course, Gwahoddiad, sung in English, regrettably. We all know Jerusalem, don’t we (the tune, at least)?

There are NINE choirs all together:

Bournemouth MVC (hosts), Rushmoor Odd Fellows MVC (of course), Casterbridge MVC, Dorset Police MVC, Hampshire Police MVC, Harlandic MVC (Mark’s previous MVC in Belfast), Taunton Deane MVC, Swindon MVC and Solent MVC.