Come and Sing Mozart Requiem
Sunday 2nd April 2023 1.30-8pm
St Anne’s Church, Highgate West Hill N6 6AP
Email: info@fleetsingers.org.uk Tel: 02072678658
Booking: www.ticketsource.co.uk/fleetsingers
Join Community Choir, Fleet Singers, for a workshop with opera singer and inspiring conductor, Phil Wilcox, then perform the work with professional soloists, accompanied by a string quartet and pianist Philip Godfrey.
(see below and News for extra details)
This term we are excited to be learning Mozart’s Requiem and hosting a Come and Sing event when our small community choir will be joined by singers from other choirs and other parts of London.
Mozart’s Requiem is acknowledged as a sublime masterpiece and is one of the most popular works for singing. Mozart began work on it when he was terminally ill and was not able to complete it before he died. It was finished by his student Franz Süssmayr, working from conversations and notes on scraps of paper. Mozart’s widow Constanz wrote that he had felt he was writing a Requiem for his own death – although she was a shrewd publicist so this is not definite fact.
“If Mozart had written nothing else but his violin quartets and his Requiem, this alone would have made him immortal”. – Joseph Haydn.
We are really enjoying learning this work. It is full of tunefulness, beauty and drama, and a lot of fun to sing.
Our Come & Sing will be a fun, welcoming day giving the opportunity to get vocal choir coaching from our conductor Phil Wilcox, who is a professional opera singer (Royal Shakespeare Company, English Touring Opera, BBC Singers, Grange Park Opera) as well as a very engaging conductor and choir leader with an informal style and lots of positive energy. www.philwilcox.com.
Although familiarity with the piece and/or being comfortable reading music would help you make the best of the experience, the day will be positive and we welcome a wide range of abilities. If you would like to be more familiar with the work in advance, you are welcome to join us for some of our rehearsals on Monday evenings 7.30pm at Gospel Oak Methodist Church. The first one you attend will be free and any more can be paid pro-rata at £7. If you would like to join us at rehearsals email info@fleetsingers.org.uk.
Fleet Singers are being set homework each week using learning resources at Chordperfect which you may also find useful. chordperfect.com/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/
For our rehearsal and performance we will be accompanied by the Castillo String Quartet, an exciting treat for us, as well as our regular amazing accompanist, Philip Godfrey www.philipgodfrey.co.uk, at the piano. Our 4 professional soloists have now been named:
Soprano – Julia Mariko
Mezzo – Emma Stannard
Tenor – Alex Haigh
And on Bass our conductor Phil Wilcox
This really is a top line-up – we are very lucky to be singing with these wonderful musicians including our very own Philip Godfrey!
Programme for the day
1.30 check-in and meet the choir.
2-4 session one including warm up and workshop.
4-4.45 break, free tea/coffee, cake and hot cross buns.
4.45-6.30 – full rehearsal with soloists, piano and strings.
6.30 – break, audience arrival.
7-8 Performance
Cost – £20 to attend the workshop and sing.
Score included or bring your own( new Novello edition 1993).
Attending the performance only 7-8pm is free, no ticket needed, donations welcome!
We will be based in St Anne’s at the foot of Highgate West Hill, Sir John Betjeman’s church. It has a lovely acoustic and a beautiful, welcoming interior and is well-placed near Swain’s Lane and Hampstead Heath.
How to get there:
15 mins walk from Gospel Oak Station across the Heath, or take the C11 bus.
20 mins walk from Kentish Town Station, or take the 214 or 88 bus.
Parking is unrestricted on Sundays.