Easter Concert
Saturday 12th April 2025
St. Petroc's Church, Bodmin
Singing Day - Great Choral Classics
Saturday 8th March 2025
St. Martin's Church, Liskeard
The East Cornwall Bach Choir held a very successful Singing Day on Saturday 8th March in Liskeard. Around eighty singers, including forty guests, assembled to practise three glorious choral classics. Under the baton of Simon Dunbavand the singers worked on Fauré’s lilting ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’ which made a beautiful contrast to Parry’s stirring ‘I was Glad’. There was an informal concert in the afternoon when the assembled choir raised the roof of St Martin’s Church with their rendition of Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’.
There was plenty of opportunity during the breaks to relax, socialise and eat delicious home-made cake. One of the guests wrote afterwards ‘A beautiful choice of music, great conductor and organist.... I came out feeling happy and uplifted’ while a member of the afternoon audience commented ‘The most evident thing was how much the singers were enjoying themselves, and that enjoyment transmitted to the audience’s own experience’.
Carols from Around the World
Saturday 7th December 2024
St. Martin's Church, Liskeard, PL14 3AQ
7.30pm
Sadly this concert had to be cancelled because of Storm Darragh and its associated 70 mph winds and power cuts. It should have featured a varied programme of Christmas Music with opportunity for audience participation in some traditional favourites, with music drawn from a range of countries
including Mexico, Korea, The Philipines, Moravia and Poland as well as more local roots including the beautiful Cornish ‘Sans Day Carol’.
Conductor: Simon Dunbavand. Organist : Joshua Hughes
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Ceremony of Psalms - Paul Drayton
Gloria - John Rutter
Gabrieli Motets
Saturday 22nd June 2024
St. Germans Priory Church
Pre-concert Talk - 7.00pm
Performance - 7.30pm
The wonderful Priory Church at St German’s was filled with the sound of East Cornwall Bach Choir and the trumpets, trombones and tuba that make up Abbey Brass. It was a feast of 20th Century music with the rousing work ‘Gloria’ by John Rutter and the magnificent ‘A Ceremony of Psalms’ by local composer and musical director, Paul Drayton. The audience was treated to five psalms, each with a different theme: Solitude, Strife, Solace, Salvation and Celebration. As a contrast the choir and Abbey Brass will briefly return to the world of Renaissance music when they perform two motets by Giovanni Gabrieli.
There was a pre-performance talk at 7pm by Simon Dunbavand, the Musical Director of East Cornwall Bach Choir.
Here are three photos of the rehearsal:
Singing Day
The Armed Man - Karl Jenkins
Saturday 11th May 2024
St. Martin's Church, Liskeard
Registration from 10.00am
Performance 4.00pm
The performance also included 'Sure On This Shining Night' by Morten Lauridsen.
The programme for the day was as follows:
10.00 to 10.45 Registration | Refreshments available
10.45 to 12.45 Singing (with a short comfort break at a suitable juncture)
12.45 to 14.00 Lunch break with refreshments available
14.00 to 1515 Singing
15.15 to 16.00 Refreshment break
16.00 to 16.45 Performance
A German Requiem
Brahms
Saturday 16th March 2024
St. Petroc's Church, Bodmin
7.30pm
A performance of the magnificent Brahms’ German Requiem under the baton of their Musical Director, Simon Dunbavand.
The performance featured guest soloists Harriet Oakley Soprano and Matthew Secombe Baritone with Ian Curror and Jonathan Delbridge accompanying on two pianos.
The wonderful acoustic of St Petroc’s Church, Priory Road, Bodmin PL31 2DP was the perfect setting for this rich and moving work, particularly the well-known 4th movement, ‘Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen’ (How lovely are thy dwellings).
The performance started at 7.30 pm with a free pre-concert talk by Simon Dunbavand at 7 pm.
READ THE REVIEW by Nick Hart