2025 Big Sing Wrap-up Newsletter

Type of post:	Choir news item
Sub-type:	No sub-type
Posted By:	Mike Elcock
Status:	Current
Date Posted:	Sat, 12 Jul 2025

Reply to Jos Gregson,
18 Willoughby Close,
Alveston,
Bristol BS35 3RW
Tel: 01454-411652
Email: josgregson@gmail.com
SCBSG Website: bigsing.org

WRAP-UP NEWSLETTER

Dear Singer,

Thank you for taking part in last Saturday’s concert. Everything went really well on the night and our extra singers, Lay Clerks, ex-Lay Clerks and members of the National Chorus of Wales gave us a tremendous boost and were most welcome. In some rehearsals we had one lady tenor covering both tenor parts, in the performance we had ten of each so life became a bit easier. I thoroughly enjoyed singing with everybody and hope that you will all want to join in next year’s project.

THANKS
Huge thanks are due to the brilliant teaching team of Adrian, Steven, Chris, Jonathan, Julian and Alison H – we could not do it without you, thank you all so much.

CONCERT FOLDER
We are missing one Wycliffe Choral Society folder, black with the name on the front. If you know where it is please let me know.

SCORES
We are missing a number of scores. I have done the Brahms and we are missing 3 though I know that one of these went missing in the post together with a Berlioz score.
Please search your bags for any scores that are not your own, if you find one please let me know together with the score number. I shall be making house calls next week.

COMMENTS
I have had a number of nice comments which I am passing on below, in no particular order, more or less as received. I must stress that my support team is invaluable and it would be very hard for me to manage without Trevor, Alison M, Mike, Andrew, Naomi and Lyn, as well as all of you who put out folders and programmes on the day.

A very special “thank you” to you and your team for working so hard to give us all such a wonderful evening on Saturday. A precious experience to be remembered and treasured. (TSThornbury)

I am now back in Cheltenham after attending tonight’s wonderful concert in Gloucester Cathedral.(AA- Cheltenham)

Many thanks for a very enjoyable concert this evening. My head is still ringing from the Te Deum. (PS Thornbury)

My thanks to you, Trevor and all the other people involved for the huge amount of work that goes into making these events a success. SCBSG provides a unique opportunity for less talented singers such as myself the experience of detailed teaching by one of the country's leading conductors and participation in works that would not otherwise be possible for smaller choirs. A particular thank you to Chris Swain who in spite of scanty numbers at rehearsals patiently succeeded in getting us through some of the more tricky parts of the music. I wish he had been music master when I was at Wycliffe when I was learning to play the clarinet, the then teacher didn't provide copies for B flat instruments so we had to learn to transcribe as we played which was not ideal. (BG (Tewkesbury CS)

When you send out your congratulatory newsletter would you please include a note from me to everybody thanking them for their help in making such a successful performance. All the hard work paid off and Adrian was extremely impressed with our setups. (Trevor Bartlett – Concert Manager Wycliffe CS)

I wanted to send you a personal email to say a big thank you for everything you have done to help make last night’s thrilling performance happen. Adrian, as always, supplied the magic but none of this would have happened without your enthusiasm and dedicated hard work behind the scenes. For me, and my fellow BCS participants I spoke to last night, this was the standout brilliant concert of the last 12 months and I can’t wait to sign up for next year. I have sung the Bruckner Te Deum before (most recently Three Choirs in Hereford in 2018) so hopefully it will be a bit familiar! The Mahler will be very interesting. (KF _ Bristol CS)

I would like to say how grateful I am for all your organisation of the Big Sing. It is always the highlight of the year for me and last night was no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed all the rehearsals, and singing with the professional orchestra and excellent soloists in the magnificent Gloucester Cathedral is the culmination of a lot of hard work. Adrian Partington is inspirational and excellent to sing with. I really appreciate this opportunity which would be difficult to get anywhere else as an amateur singer. Long may the Big Sing continue. (ME – Thornbury CS)

As you know, I sadly had to duck out of singing last night due to health issues, but I was in the audience - and it was WONDERFUL! A truly stupendous concert, really thrilling, and testament to all your hard work and organisation. I sang every note "in my head" and soooo wished I was up there with you all! Really well done, and congratulations on a truly successful and memorable evening. (LW- Bristol CS)

I'm just beginning to come down to earth after Saturday, still with a head full of music.
Thanks for making such a glorious experience possible. It is a great space in which to sing a big work. The tenor soloist said he had never heard a noise like it, (and when we laughed, he said he meant it in a good way.) The ground moved for me when the organ played (though John says that for him it was when we stood up.) I always start the process wondering if I will manage to sing the work, and we always do, thanks to Adrian.
The leader of the orchestra was John's second cousin, and she said how much she enjoyed playing pieces she had never done before. (AC – Stroud CS)

And from Adrian a very generous email:-

It was a fantastic evening, seemingly enjoyed by everybody. I've had several very excited emails about the Berlioz in particular.

It was as good a concert as last year; possibly even better.. My particular joy was that the a cappella page in Movement V stayed absolutely in tune. That made me very happy!

I have marked April 11th in my diary for a Mahler/Bruckner workshop. In many ways, this programme will be easier to bring together than the last three, partly because for the first time for some years, none of the pieces requires a children's choir!

I think it is marvellous what energy and imagination you bring to the SCBSG and its singers! Thank you for making all these memorable.

PHOTO GALLERY You may have noticed a photographer busy taking pictures both during our rehearsal on Saturday and also during the performance. The photographer, Michael Whitehead has kindly sent us a selection of these images and these may be viewed here: https://www.bigsing.org/dbpage.php?pg=album&Category=9 courtesy of ©Michael Whitefoot @whitefootimages

NEXT YEAR
Next year’s concert consists of three works. We start with Malcolm Sargent’s arrangement of the Brahms Academic Festival Orchestra with chorus and the first half is completed with the great Bruckner Te Deum for four soloists, chorus and orchestra. The second half comprises Mahler’s Das klagende Lied again for four soloists and chorus with full orchestra and we have the British Sinfonietta booked again to accompany us in this. Das klagende Lied is early Mahler written before the Titan, his First Symphony and is rarely performed as it is too expensive for many choirs to put on. There appears to only be one vocal score available at just under £40 and there are none for hire so we have had them printed from a free to use website on high quality paper and ring bound so that they lie flat. The Brahms will be made available free, it is a single sided A4 sheet so the only score requiring hire is the Bruckner.where we are using the Peters edition.
We will be laying on a Workshop on 11^th April ‘26 to show you these works and rehearsals for our performance on Saturday 4^th July ‘26 will start in June.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to my very generous Marks and Spencers voucher, maybe it is a hint that I am getting a bit scruffy and need to smarten up. I will and thank you.

Jos Gregson

Chairman, South Cotswold Big Sing Group