The Ashburton Singers…

Spring Concert 2018

Joseph Haydn

Joined by organist Ian Curror and a string orchestra led by Susan Smallshire, the Ashburton Singers directed by Bridget Ansell performed Haydn Little Organ Mass and Rheinberger Stabat Mater

Haydn’s Missa Brevis Sancti Johannis de Deo, known as the Little Organ Mass, was composed in the mid-1770s for the Brothers of Mercy who ran the hospital in Eisenstadt, where Haydn lived while employed by Prince Esterhazy.

Intimate and short, with some movements less than a minute long, this cheerful work is full of expressive melody and quiet reverence.   It is scored for solo soprano, a four-part choir and modest orchestra with an organ, which has a charming solo in the Benedictus.

A feminine perspective can be felt in Rheinberger’s dramatic and heartfelt  Stabat Mater.  Rheinberger’s music stands firmly in the line from Bach, Haydn and Beethoven, and his style is characterised by flowing melodic lines and the expressive use of harmonic colour.

Other seasonal music in the programme included Mozart’s Ave verum corpus, composed in the last year of his short life and justly counted among the most famous and well-loved choral pieces, and music by   Victoria, Byrd, Bach, Beethoven, Bruckner and Gjeilo

Saturday 24th March 7.30 pm

St Luke’s Church, Buckfastleigh

Free entry  Retiring collection

Advent Concerts 2017

The Ashburton Singers warmly invite you to raise your voices with choir and organ in several well-known Advent Carols during our concerts of varied and evocative music for Advent.

Composers and musicians have for centuries found inspiration in the seasonal texts of Prophecy and the Virgin birth and consequently there is a wealth of magnificent music in which to celebrate this time of year.

The Singers present a programme of European sacred music, both accompanied and unaccompanied, from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries accompanied on the organ by Stephen Tanner.

From the joyful “Angelus ad Virginem” in a lively setting by Andrew Carter to the contemplative “How beautiful upon the mountains” by John Stainer, the concert includes music by the German Renaissance composers Michael Praetorius and Johannes Eccard and hymns to the Virgin by Arvo Part and Sergei Rachmaninov.

There will also be the opportunity to join with choir and organ in well-loved Advent hymns such as “On Jordan’s Bank” and “Hills of the North, Rejoice!”

 

Saturday 25th November 

With Stephen Tanner Organ

St. Luke’s Church, Buckfastleigh

Interval refreshments include mince pies, mulled wine and mulled apple juice.

Entrance free – retiring collection

 

Saturday 16th December

Ipplepen Methodist Church

Interval refreshments

Entrance free – retiring collection

Proceeds to the building fund

All concerts start at 7.30 pm


Spring 2016

“Bring us in Good Ale!”

In this year, the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, The Ashburton Singers present a concert of songs from the plays, and music inspired by Shakespeare’s words. 

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Autumn 2015

Concert – Vivaldi Gloria

Joined by an instrumental consort of strings, oboe, trumpet and harpsichord, the Ashburton Singers perform the much loved Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi and Beatus Vir by Claudio Monteverdi together with music by other Baroque composers associated with the important Italian musical centres of Rome, Venice, Verona and Bologna. 

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