| Looking forward to our next concert! |
| Great News! It looks like the concert is a sell out. We are pausing the sale of tickets for the concert until choristers return any unsold tickets. |
| The Verdi Requiem concert, when Coventry Philharmonic Choir joins with Warwick & Kenilworth Choral Society, is now less than a month away! Tickets are still available here. Don't forget the concert is in aid of the Myton Hospices - we have a Just Giving page to support this: | |
| For more information, see: | www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/verdi-myton-1 |
| In view of the adverse weather conditions and in the interests of safety for everybody, we have decided to cancel tonight's rehearsal. All members are asked to contact any others whom they think might not have seen this email. We will also put a Notice on the website and social media. Thank you for your understanding, Keep safe. Colin and Sheila |
| Coventry Philharmonic Choir The Coventry Philharmonic Society is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, having been established during the Second World War in 1943. Originally, the Society organised orchestral concerts, recitals and lectures by professional musicians, in addition to performing its own choral concerts. However, now the core objective of the Society is to present concerts solely by its Choir. Our founders set high standards for the Choir and we continue to aspire to these through our choice of repertoire, the commitment of members and the talented leadership of our Music Director, David Wynne. We are a non-audition choir of around [80] members based in Coventry and welcome anyone with an interest in singing to try us out. Rehearsals are open to the public and potential new members aged 18 or over. To encourage the next generation of choristers, membership is free for students. Rehearsals take place on Thursday evenings (7.15pm - 9:30pm) during school term time at Quinton Park Baptist Church, Cheylesmore, CV3 5PZ. The Choir usually performs three concerts a year at venues in Coventry and across Warwickshire. Recent performances have included Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Faure’s Requiem and Bach’s St. Matthews Passion. Our Musical Director is David Wynne, and our accompanist and repetiteur is Antoine Mitchell. We have a tradition of celebrating our anniversaries and look forward to starting rehearsals in May for our 80th anniversary concert on 21 October 2023 – we hope you’ll be able to join us! And from all of the Choir, a huge ‘thank-you’ to our audiences, friends, sponsors and volunteers for supporting the Coventry Philharmonic Society over the past 80 years. |
| For more information, see: | https://www.covphilsoc.org.uk/concert |
| For more information, see: | https://www.covphilsoc.org.uk/concert |
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| For more information, see: | www.covphilsoc.org.uk/Autumn2022 |
With grateful thanks to: all who braved their cameras and microphones and submitted their videos David, Antoine and soloists who guided us along the way
and most of all Seb who wove a beautiful tapestry out of all of our vocal strands
This is the first time our members have attempted a project like this and the result is something we can all be proud of. | |
| YouTube Video URL: |  |
| Our annual Skittles Evening on Saturday was well attended with five teams vying for the coveted box of chocolates. The final scores were pretty close but in the end, Heather's Hopefuls triumphed over the Awkward Bunch, the Dairylea Dynamos, I Am Spartacus and the Jammers. Many congratulations to the victors! The evening raised funds for the Society but more importantly provided a great opportunity to socialise with other members and their partners. Once again the Social Team did a brilliant job in organising the event. |
| Our new main choir Musical Director, David Wynne, directed his first rehearsal on Thursday 9 January 2020 and made an energetic start to the new year. We are embarking on four pieces which we haven't performed for a few years - two very different works by Elgar for our May concert and pieces by Duruflé and Vaughan Williams for our October concert. Thursday evenings always provide the perfect opportunity to exercise the brain cells and lungs and the former are certainly getting a good workout at the moment. You can read more about about David here. |
| A small group of choristers from the Coventry Philharmonic Society performed their annual Christmas concert in the beautiful family chapel at Stoneleigh Abbey on Friday 20 December 2019. The theme for this concert was "Christmas Through The Ages" and the music performed spanned the centuries from the mediaeval "Puer Natus Est" to the present day. Videos of the concert are now available on our YouTube channel. | |
| For more information, see: | www.youtube.com/channel/UCicjIIKFJCPO0zXuc1gktzA |
| For our last concert of the decade, a small section of the choir returned to Stoneleigh Abbey to perform our third annual Christmas concert in the Family Chapel under the "stick" of Matthew Sandy. Each concert is a unique occasion with a new theme every year and this time we reflected the history of the Abbey since its foundation in the 12th century through music and words. Although the audience is necessarily small, seating is limited, they were very receptive and joined in enthusiastically. Particularly in the second half when everyone was reinforced with mulled wine and mince pies. Some of the music was quite challenging and stretched our sight reading skills but hopefully we can add some new favourites to our regular repertoire. |
| Unsurprisingly, we in the Phil are very "attached" to the Coventry Carol and so it features in most of our Christmas concerts. This year we dedicated the carol to the plight of the homeless in our city and took a retiring collection from our Christmas with the Phil concert on Saturday evening. Thanks to the generosity of choir members, family, friends and patrons, we collected £540.31. This will be donated to Hope Coventry which coordinates the Winter Night Shelter project. You can find out more about the project here. |
| Scala Radio will be broadcasting a short interview between Angellica Bell and the Chair about the Coventry Philharmonic on Saturday 14 December at about 8:30 am. | |
| For more information, see: | planetradio.co.uk/scala-radio/ |
| As the decade draws to a close, we have three cracking concerts ahead of us in December. Our first one is on Saturday 14th December in the King Henry VIII School Hall where the full Coventry Philharmonic Choir under the baton of Steven Russell will be performing a feast of Christmas music including extracts from Handel's "Messiah". Our second concert is on Monday 16th December at the Keresley United Reform Church where the Coventry Singers will present a programme of carols and Christmas music under the direction of Seb Farrall. And our final event is on Friday 20th December when Matthew Sandy makes a welcome return to the family chapel in the beautiful surroundings of Stoneleigh Abbey to lead the Coventry Philharmonic Chamber Choir in an evening of Christmas music through the ages - with some surprises. |
| A small group of singers from the Coventry Philharmonic attended the annual Remembrance Sunday Service in the War Memorial Park in Coventry by invitation of the Bishop of Coventry. We led the attendees in singing "O God Our Help in Ages Past", "O Valiant Hearts" and the National Anthem. The weather was exceptionally kind to us although the ground was soggy underfoot. We must have passed muster as we have already been invited to lead the singing in 2020. |
| There was a nice turnout for the annual Quiz Night on Saturday 9th November. The fish & chips were plentiful and tasty and the quiz, which of course was the main focus of the evening for most, was at times intriguing and fiendish. Jay, Clive & John did a great job of assembling a truly mind boggling array of questions including (my favourite) what colour jacket does the greyhound out of trap 2 wear? Since Googling was banned, this was pretty much guesswork. At the end of the day, the Famous Five team (in the photo) were either smarter than the rest of us or were better at guessing as they romped past the finishing line. Well done that team! The team which came up with the punnish name "Phil - osophers" won a price for imagination. Endless thanks are due to the quiz setters and Hilary and the rest of the Social Team for an entertaining evening. |
| Ten days until we perform Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and excerpts from Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light. This promises to be an exciting evening with great soloists, two pianos, enthusiastic percussion and two children's choirs! Tickets are £12 each. |
The archives of the Coventry Philharmonic Society have been digitised and can be accessed from the "History" page. We have now extracted all the information stored on our concert performances since 1944 and details of the concerts can be viewed from the Past Performances page. Information has been taken from programmes, posters, and newspaper advertisements or reviews. We have also included planned performances where these have been advertised in programmes for other concerts, although we have only been able to provide a summary. However, details of many other concerts have been lost in the mists of time and so we are always grateful for information from reliable sources to fill the gaps in our archives. |
| Tickets are still available on the door for the Coventry Philharmonic Choir’s Concert tonight, Saturday 18 May at 7:30 pm at St Mary’s Church in Warwick. The Choir, under Steven Russell’s direction, is performing Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Requiem with the orchestral ensemble of the Musical & Amicable Society and a mouthwatering line up of soloists. Imogen Russell Soprano Tim Travers-Brown Alto Christopher Turner Tenor Daniel Tate Bass |
Antoine (Mitchell) and Wendy (Whyte) are giving a FREE lunchtime recital at Holy Trinity in Coventry on Saturday 4th May, starting at 1pm and lasting around 45 minutes. Any donations to church funds are always welcome. The programme is all French (translations provided ) including beautiful music by Faure, Duparc, Chausson and Reynaldo Hahn. |
| Warwickshire Baroque are performing a concert of baroque music on Saturday 8th June at 7:00 pm in the beautiful surroundings of the 18th Century Saloon at Stoneleigh Abbey. |
| WSO have a concert on Saturday 9th March at 7:30 pm at Warwick Hall, Myton Road, Warwick, when they will be performing Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Mahler’s Symphony No 3 in D minor. Gaynor Keeble is the soloist in the Mahler. It promises to be a memorable and moving performance. |
We have a wonderful archive of newspaper articles and old Coventry Philharmonic programmes and the latest ferret in the vaults unearthed this lovely concert from 1958. The soloists became household names in their lifetimes and, although Janet Baker was at the start of her career, the other soloists were established performers. And that got me thinking it’s not WHAT you know, it’s WHO you know. In 1958, the President of the Coventry Philharmonic Society was none other than Ralph Vaughan Williams. Was he instrumental in attracting such high calibre soloists? Ilse Wolf was born in 1921 in Düren, Germany, but came to England just before the Second World War, fleeing Nazi persecution. Her soprano singing career really launched in 1945 and alongside her concerts she was very involved in teaching in the RAM, Trinity College and Morley College. She died in 1999 having built an international reputation performing Lieder and oratorios. Janet Baker was born in 1933 in Hatfield, Yorkshire. As a young member of Leeds Philharmonic Choir, she sang as a soloist in Haydn’s Nelson Mass in Leeds in 1953 with Ilse Wolf as the soprano soloist. Persuaded by Wolf, Baker transferred to London and began a very successful singing career. Michael Kennedy, the renowned music critic, wrote about Baker’s career saying “It was about this time (1957/8) that I first heard her, having been tipped off that it would be worth attending the concert as a critic just to hear her in the St Matthew Passion. It was.” Was he talking about the February 1958 performance of the St Matthew Passion? Janet Baker was made a Dame in 1976 some 18 years after her appearance with the Coventry Philharmonic. Wilfred Brown was born in 1921 in Horsham, Sussex. He taught at Bedales School before becoming a full time singer in 1951, going on to become an accomplished English tenor much favoured by Finzi and Vaughan Williams. He specialised in Oratorio and Folk Songs. Sadly he died in 1971 at the height of his career. John Carol Case was born in 1923 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and became one of England's leading baritones in oratorio and lieder. In the mid-1950s he became associated with all the great choral societies and festivals and was best known for his many performances of the part of Christ in Bach's St Matthew Passion. In 1948 a teaching colleague put him forward as the soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols, with the composer himself conducting. Other performances directed by the grand old man of British music followed, not only of his own compositions, but also of the St Matthew Passion, in his home town of Dorking, Surrey. Carol Case died in 2012. |
| It’s always quite sad to think you might not sing a particular choral piece again, especially when it is such an exhilarating work as Gounod’s St Cecilia Mass which we performed on Saturday. Hopefully the audience in St Mary’s, Warwick, enjoyed listening to the Coventry Philharmonic Choir and the Oriflamme Orchestral Ensemble as much as we all enjoyed performing. But now we bid au revoir to Gounod and start to rehearse the thrilling Mozart Requiem and Haydn Nelson Mass, which we will be singing on 18th May, again in St Mary’s. |
| Well done to Sandra Van Toller who was the winner of our fiendish but fun Christmas Quiz. Only seven correct entries were received and Sandra’s name was drawn from the very small hat! If you want to see the questions and answers, click here. |
| We have had an early return to the rehearsal room this year as we only have two and a bit weeks until our performance of Gounod’s St Cecilia Mass on Saturday 19th January. It’s a lovely piece to sing with quite a lot of unison and homophonic sections. At the moment we rehearse with a piano, but when your Musical Director promises “glorious orchestration” and “shimmering strings”, you just know that the concert itself will be unmissable. |
| The New Year has started with the publication of our latest newsletter which you can read by clicking here. |
| We video recorded our complete “Back Home for Christmas” concert when 30 of our members performed for a small audience at Stoneleigh Abbey Family Chapel. Individual carols have been posted on our new YouTube channel (click here) and we’ll post some more videos of our rehearsals and concerts when available. |
| Our full choir enjoying singing gorgeous music in our Carol Concert on 15th December 2018 at King Henry VIII School in Coventry. |
| The Coventry Philharmonic Choir singing Carol of the Bells at their Christmas Concert on 15th December 2018. | |
| YouTube Video URL: |  |
| Last night’s Christmas with the Phil concert was superb. Was it because we love singing absolute gems like Bogoroditse Devo and Carol of the Bells? Was it because of our lovely new friends, the Midland Brass Ensemble? Or maybe our music director, Steven Russell, in his snappy velvet jacket leading us so clearly and with such enthusiasm? Possibly our audience who were appreciative and willing to get involved? Or our fantastic band of fairies doing the ushering and stewarding? Like any good Christmas pudding, last night was the right blend of all these things. So on a cold and wet December evening, we all went away with warm and cosy hearts. |
| Our penultimate rehearsal before the concert on Saturday 15th December and all went well. I’m sure I detected that Margaret (our pitch setter) and Antoine (accompanist) were attempting to sound like a brass ensemble with some degree of success. I am particularly loving Carol of the Bells and God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen. I’m also really hoping our audience will be in good voice. |
| Less than a week to go until our Christmas concert when we will be performing Christmas carols and other seasonal music, accompanied by the Midland Brass Ensemble. Come along and listen / sing along to some festive favourites. Tickets are on sale for ”Christmas with the Phil” - Saturday 15th December 2018 at 7:30 pm in King Henry VIII School Concert Hall, Warwick Road, Coventry. Tickets are £10 and are available online from www.wegottickets.com or by telephone on 07728 887349. WE ARE ABLE TO OFFER CONCESSIONARY TICKETS AS FOLLOWS - 16 YEARS & UNDER ADMITTED FREE OF CHARGE PROVIDED EACH CONCESSIONARY IS ACCOMPANIED BY A FULL PRICE TICKET HOLDER |
| Rehearsals went very well yesterday evening - again. It’s never too early to get into the Christmas spirit (in my humble opinion). Carol of the Bells is a particular favourite because while the sopranos get the “tune”, the rest of the parts get to sound like bells (and yes I know that’s the point). We mixed in some of the Gounod, which we’re performing in January, just to add a bit of gravitas. |
| Rehearsals yesterday evening for our Christmas with the Phil concert on 15th December and the Amnesty International Concert on 19th January went extremely well. It was especially good to revisit the glorious Rachmaninoff “Bogoroditse Devo” which we will be singing in December. This wonderfully uplifting and stirring prayer to the Virgin Mary is part of the “All Night Vigil” which was premiered in March 1915 in Moscow, partly to aid the Russian war effort. It is particularly appropriate that we are performing this piece in the year which sees the 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day and the end of the Great War. | |
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| Last month we bade farewell to our outgoing Chair, John Atkins, and welcomed his replacement, Rachael Bermingham. Click here to read more. |
| We were very proud to have been invited back to lead the hymns during the Remembrance Sunday service at the Coventry War Memorial Park on Sunday 11th November 2018. A small group of choir members were accompanied by the City of Coventry Brass Band and the occasion was exceptionally moving, marking as it did the 100th Anniversary of the end of WWI. |