"Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas ...."

“Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the Farnham Youth Choir ..” was overheard in a Farnham supermarket last week.   And so they all packed into the United Reformed Church last Sunday evening for a concert of Christmas music and readings.  Beautifully crafted by our Musical Director, Jo Tomlinson and Alison Noakes, a dozen choir pieces were interspersed with festive literature and audience carols.

FYC is most grateful to all at Farnham URC for allowing their usual evening service to be substituted by this concert.  How else could we finish such a wonderful evening ? Mulled wine and mince pies – Christmas is now Christmas !

Junior Choirs Christmas Celebration Concert

Saturday 3rd December saw the FYC Junior Choirs perform in their Christmas Celebration at the United Reformed Church in Farnham.  Looking resplendent in their new t-shirt uniforms (making their debut), the atmosphere was also suitably informal and joyful.  FYC accompanist, Matthew Rickard, was kept on his toes throughout, be it on the up-and-down between piano and organ console or on the organ pedals.  The Junior Girls and then the Junior Boys served up festive offerings, including a wonderful arrangement by our own Patrick Barrett of the juxtaposing  “Cold are the People” and “Silent Night”.  The Training Choir joined the Junior Choirs for some movements from Ian Assersohn's "Dies Irae" before providing their own Christmas selection box of musical treats.  Audience Carols ensured all had a share of the festive cheer.  Thanks to all members of the choirs, and to choir directors Patrick, Jo and Sarah, and to accompanist Matthew.

Dies Irae, Dorking Halls

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Well done to the FYC Girls and Boys choirs, as well as the 5 trainers who participated, for your fantastic performance at the Dies Irae concert at Dorking Halls. 

"It was such a delight to have them there and they won a lot of new fans for the FYC. They had been impeccably trained and their tuning, diction and timing were really impressive."  Ian Assersohn, Composer

"On behalf of Leatherhead Choral Society I am writing to thank you all for taking part in our world premiere concert and to send a special THANK YOU to the Farnham Youth Junior Choir whose performance was really enchanting.  It was lovely to have them perform with us and we hope they enjoyed the experience just as much as we did.  They must have been very tired at the end of the evening but they sang perfectly until the last note!" Lynne Gillespie, Chair of Leatherhead Choral Society."

Click here to see a short presentation about Dies Irae.

Something Old, Something New

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 Farnham Youth Choir’s first concert of the new season was held at the lovely church of St Alban’s in Hindhead on Sat 15th Oct in front of a full and appreciative audience! This was a new venue for the choir which performs more frequently in Farnham.

The evening began with choir members coming out to the audience members and greeting them, before starting a "Festive Alleluia" in an almost flash-mob style. Once regular choir positions had been resumed, we were treated to sacred music from 16th century up to 20th century, as well as pieces involving choir actions such as clapping in a Spanish style for "Yo Le Canto" and looking fearsome and warlike for "De Bello Gallico".

The choir was performing for the first time under the direction of Joanna Tomlinson who began regular rehearsals with them only 7 weeks ago. It also welcomed a new pianist, Matthew Rickard, who was given particular opportunities to shine in his accompaniments for Holst’s piece “To Agni” and the Spiritual, “Joshua”.

Many of the pieces performed during the evening were familiar works sung in previous years, but the audience were also treated to new pieces learned only in the past few weeks. The 14 new members who joined the choir in September performed confidently, having learned and memorised their parts in such a short period of time.

Another new feature of the concert was the inclusion of some more contemporary songs, including “Make You Feel My Love” by the recently announced Nobel Laureate for literature, Bob Dylan. The audience were sent on their way home with a lively rendition of the song “Happy”- appropriate for conveying the feelings of choir and audience alike, after this first outing of the season!

Laura Brown, director of The Octavian Singers.