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Top Notes

A Thousand Years in Song

In a big change from our last concert, Goring Chamber Choir's next performance focuses on music from three short periods of history. First is the 12th and early 13th centuries, when Hildegard of Bingen was composing her ecstatic visions. Other songs from the period include the well-loved round 'Sumer is icumen in', attributed to a monk of Reading Abbey.

Moving on 400 years, we’ll contrast the late renaissance style of Queen Elizabeth I's reign with the exciting new developments and first operas from Italy — Byrd versus Monteverdi and Francesca Caccini with instruments added to the mix.

Another 400 years along, and we’ll move to the sound of the 21st century, including a focus on women composers. Plus, we will perform pieces by Paul Spicer and Eric Whitacre, whose 'Sainte-Chapelle' is as ecstatic a vision of a stained-glass window as Hildegard of Bingen's songs were 900 years earlier. Canadian composer Sarah Quartel sets a 13th century text, the 'Golden Sequence', bringing our vision full circle.

Key Change

We have made some constitutional changes in our organisation, partly to clarify the position of the choir's trustees and also to come up to date with best practices recommended by the Charity Commission. As a result, our registered charity number has changed—we are now registered charity N^o1207153 and our registered name is Goring Chamber Choir CIO. You can always find our charity number at the foot of our web pages.

None of this changes what we do or who we are: we'll continue to be known as Goring Chamber Choir to our audience and friends and we'll carry on bringing you the best in choral works. The ‘CIO’ in our formal title indicates that we are now constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

The Force Was With Us

On May the fourth, our concert of songs from the silver screen packed St. Thomas' Church and was enthusiastically received by our audience.

Val Cooper opened the show with a smooth blues rendition of Summertime, evoking the sultry, hot days of summer in South Carolina. The choir stayed in the southern States with the dreamy Moon River before moving north to the Bronx and building pace for Tonight, a tale of doomed love in Gershwin's homage to Romeo and Juliet. Continuing the theme of star-crossed love, now from the mythical world of Shrek, the choir gave a soulful performance of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

Suzanne Smith and Andy Button gave a sensitive performance of the plaintive Somewhere Out There.

An a cappella arrangement of The Sound of Silence fused influences from pop, dubstep, gospel and other genres for a striking departure from the more familiar folk version.

Crossing the Atlantic, briefly, we visited T.S. Eliot's world of remarkable Cats to admire the swing‐time swagger of Bustopher Jones and be touched by the Memory of Grizabella.

Ashley Kessler and Richard Tiley treated us to a barnstorming performance of Anything You Can Do, putting a teasing trans‐Atlantic twist on the rivalry. Then, Tori Benbow and Rachel Haverson gave us both style and irony as Sisters—this duo has a close vocal blend, which was apt for a song about siblings.

Kicking off the second half in light‐hearted mood, the choir swung through Singin' In The Rain, Over The Rainbow / What a Wonderful World and You've Got a Friend In Me, Linda Scottorn and Tori Benbow giving an authentic feel to the second piece with lead and bass ukelele backing. The men (reinforced by Sara and Tori) took centre stage for The Bare Necessities, in an a cappella arrangement by Tori herself.

The date being May the Force fourth, we couldn't let the occasion pass without honouring the Star Wars franchise. Steve Bowey gave us a stirring performance of May the Force be With You (the Force Theme) and Star Wars—Main Theme which sounded magnificant as an organ arrangement. For the organ, great talent he has.

The ladies produced a sassy performance of 9 to 5, fronted by punchy solo lyrics from Ashley Kessler and backed on bass guitar by Tori Benbow. Then the choir rocked on through Oh, Happy Day (with the audience joining in the hand-claps) and Dancing Queen.

The concert closed with a choral setting of Adele's darkly atmospheric Skyfall.

About the Choir

Based in Goring-on-Thames, our choir draws members from around South Oxfordshire and Berkshire. We sing all year round, giving concerts in Spring, Autumn and at Christmas. Our repertoire ranges from the Classical through traditional to contemporary music. While our concerts always have familiar and popular pieces, we enjoy exploring new or lesser-known works — it keeps our programme fresh.