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About the Alvington Singers
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Performances. The choir's concerts take place in villages and
towns around the South Hams and are usually given in aid of a charitable
cause. The music sung includes part-songs, show songs, jazz classics,
spirituals, madrigals.
Choral
works Once a year we present a performance of a major work with
small orchestra. These have included Beethoven's Mass in C, Mozart's
Coronation Mass, Haydn's Te Deum, Bach's Peasant Cantata, Handel's
Coronation Anthems - 'Zadok the Priest' and 'The King Shall Rejoice',
Vivaldi's Gloria, Faure's Requiem, Karl Jenkins' 'The Armed Man', Rutter's
Requiem |
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The Alvington Singers performing at
St. George's Church, Modbury |
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Diversity. The aim of the choir is to sing as wide a range of
music as possible, and under their present musical director have learnt to
cope with styles as diverse as madrigals and African music. Also,
contemporary composers often feature. Click here
for a list of recent concerts.
Workshops. Annual choral workshops are run in the spring by the
choir's musical director and deputy conductor. These have included such
works as Mendelssohn's Elijah, Mozart's Requiem, Haydn's
Nelson Mass, Poulenc's Gloria, as well as works featured in the
choir's programme.
Commissions. In 1998, the choir was awarded a lottery grant enabling them to commission a
work from the well-known West Country composer, Barry Ferguson -
Humbug, Mr Scrooge - based on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This was
subsequently performed in Shaftesbury and Dartmouth and revived at Christmas
2005 in the composer’s presence to celebrate the choir’s 20th
anniversary. |
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Community involvement. Weddings feature regularly in the choir's
activities; also singing at Civic functions and Care Homes. These
opportunities give the choir a rôle in the local community. Social
activities are included in the choir's programme and an annual
event has been the Singers' Supper (see photograph). |
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Annual choir supper |
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| Musical Director The choir’s musical director, Alastair Durden,
who has been with the choir for ten years now, studied at London’s Royal
Academy of Music from 1966 to 1971. Here he gained teaching diplomas in
organ and piano playing, the prestigious Fellow of the Royal College of
Organists, as well as a B.Mus. degree from London University. He taught in
schools full-time (running the Music Department at a preparatory school in
Surrey for ten years) before moving to Devon in 1984. Since then he has been
active as teacher, pianist, accompanist, organist, conductor. His choral
arrangements for the choir can be found on the Sibelius web-site
www.sibeliusmusic.com |
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Musical Director, Alastair Durden |
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| Accompanist The choir’s accompanist, Kathy Kenny, has
been with the choir since 1998. She studied for a music degree at
Goldsmith’s College, followed by a year at Trinity College, London, studying
piano accompaniment. She comes from a musical family, her father having been
a distinguished professional violinist, and is herself a gifted violinist as
well as pianist.
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Accompanist, Kathy Kenny |
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