26 November 2011
The Joint Choral Society of Abingdon and St Helen’s Schools, joined this year by members of Our Lady’s Abingdon, presented their annual performance today. Michael Stinton took the bold decision to tackle one of the established masterworks of the choral repertoire, Verdi’s mighty Requiem. This decision was fully vindicated by a fine performance received enthusiastically by a sizeable audience in the Amey Theatre.
The pupils of the three schools and the adults – parents and friends – worked industriously in their weekly rehearsals through the term, and their efforts came to a highly satisfying conclusion, with well disciplined and balanced singing projected effectively through the full-textured accompaniment.
The soloists were Claire Seaton, Kate Symonds-Joy, Andrew Wicks (replacing at short notice Abingdon’s singing teacher, Andrew Yeats, who unfortunately was indisposed with a heavy cold) and Henry Herford (who also sang at the last JCS performance of this work ten years ago, and is a former Abingdon parent). They conspired to elevate the performance to its full dramatic heights in both their solos and ensemble passages; Henry’s sotto voce utterances of mors and Claire’s apparently effortless piano top B flat at the end of the final Requiem section remain particularly in the memory.
Accompaniment was provided by members and friends of the Oxford Symphony Orchestra, with guest leader Isabel Knowland. Several former and current pupils of the schools were included, notably Alistair Duff on the dynamic tympani part and the off-stage trumpeters hidden on the fly-gantry of the stage.
Special thanks are due to Rory Fraser-Mackenzie, theatre manager, and Matt Cooper for building multiple-decked staging to enable the chorus to be heard to best advantage.
This was undoubtedly a personal triumph for Michael Stinton, whose many hours of meticulous rehearsal and planning paid off in a spectacularly successful performance.
