19th December 2023

Cirencester Choral Society December 2023

Christmas Charity Concert
by Ros Ivison

Cirencester Choral Society

A Sparkling Start to Christmas

Cirencester Choral Society were again in the Parish Church on Tuesday 19th December, for their biannual Christmas Charity Concert.  The two charities being supported this year were Cotswold Citizens Advice and The Churn Project.  However, due to the Covid pandemic, this was the first time that they have performed this concert since 2019, with the 2021 concert having to be postponed, but it was well worth the wait!

We were treated to a feast of choir and audience carols, under the direction of Conductor Carleton Etherington. 

The performance commenced with the Haldane Stewart On this Day Earth shall ring, followed by O Come all ye faithful, where the audience were encouraged to join in.  Deck the hall in the second half was sung unaccompanied – it was light in tone, with all parts coming in with precision and good intonation.  As the choir is generally smaller for Christmas concerts, the ensemble was tighter, with everyone watching, which made for a beautiful rendition of the piece.

Judith Paris again delighted us with her narration of a Poem for Christmas Eve by Godfrey Rust and Wenceslas: The inside story by Oliver Pritchett. 

We were treated to two pieces and an accomplished performance by the oboist Grace Tushingham, who was a finalist in the 2023 Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year competition.  She was accompanied on the piano by John Wright, who also accompanied the choir on the organ.  He demonstrated the depth and breadth of the organ with adept keyboard skills, especially in the Bach chorale Now vengeance hath been taken.

As Canon Graham reminded us at the end of the concert, we are still technically in Advent, but this performance was an excellent start to Christmas.

As the choir sang at the end of the concert – We wish you a merry Christmas one and all.