Croydon Male Voice Choir returns to rehearsals on Thursday, September 7, following its summer break.
Croydon Male Voice Choir has a busy programme in the coming months
The opening concert is at Banstead United Reform Church on Saturday September 23 (start 7.30pm) and will benefit a charity, the Asian Christian Students Trust, which supports street children in Manila, capital of the Philippines.
Concert tickets cost just £8 and include refreshments.
The choir will draw on its wide-ranging repertoire for the concert, from folk-songs such as The Water is Wide and Scarborough Fair to choral hymns and anthems such as Gwahoddiad and Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Conductor is choir music director Richard Hoyle and there will be two solo slots from choir tenor John Aitkenhead. The choir has a new pianist, Felipe Rodrigues, originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who will make his debut appearance at Banstead.
The choir ended the 2016-2017 season with a singing tour in Suffolk, regarded by the choir as one of its best-ever. It performed in Bury St Edmunds Cathedral and in village churches in Long Melford and St Mary’s Woodbridge.
“We had a wonderful reception everywhere we sang and felt we had made lots of new friends,” choir chair Kim Ormond said.
Following its Banstead night, the choir will stage three more concerts before Christmas – at Oxted’s Barn Theatre, Croham Hurst Golf Club and Shirley Methodist Church (with the Croydon Welsh Society).
In March 2018 it holds the second recording session for its latest CD, for release later in the year.
The choir recently released a video of its performance at the Menin Memorial Gate in Ypres, Belgium, as part of last year’s World War I commemoration ceremonies.
The choir currently has around 70 members and rehearses at Sandilands in Addiscombe.
CMVC, which proclaims itself southern England’s most exciting male voice choir, always welcomes prospective new members.
Contact details and a full concert schedule appear on its website www.croydonmalevoicechoir.co.uk
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network- Inside Croydon is the borough’s only independent news source, and still based in the heart of Croydon
- In the five months from April to August 2017, Inside Croydon generated more than 500,000 page views
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents’ or business association or a local event to publicise, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
