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| CONCERTS |
These days one is more likely to hear of the demise or amalgamation of male voice choirs than the launch of a new one. However, a group of men chose April 23rd, St George's Day, in the year marking the 200th anniversary of Brunel's birth (2006) to officially announce their intention to form a new choral group for men living on both the Cornwall and Devon sides of the Tamar River, and beyond. A group of 8 men namely Jim Christophers, Eric Cruse, Ray Hinton, Chris Leggatt, Bill Savage, Terry Pengelly, John Springham, and Charles Westlake Gathered informally at a house in St Ive and, after some considered discussion, agreed to form the new choir. The choice of name reflected the potential recruiting area of the choir, however, they did not realise at the time that they were resurrecting a previous 'Tamar Valley Male Voice Choir' formed in the Parish of Calstock after the Second World War. Within a month, the inaugural group had been joined by:- Brian Asprey, Bob Berry, Peter Bolt, Richard Morley, Brian Nice, and Jeremy Wells to form a choir of 14 singers comprising 6 top tenors, 4 second tenors, 2 baritones and 2 bases. It had also recruited two excellent accompanists, David Crocker and Elizabeth Sidebotham. |
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Under the musical direction of Rosemary Cole, someone with first class musical musical qualifications and a wealth of experience, the choir began to develop an innovative repertoire of traditional, classical and popular music |
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The first practice meeting of the new choir took place in Callington Primary School on 9th May at 7.45pm and it performed for the first time at a 'Songs of Praise' evening at Chillington Methodist Church, Kingsbridge, on Sunday 25th June 2006 to the acclaim of a large and enthusiastic audience.In October 2006 at the invitation of The Stanborough Chorus which is based in Kingsbridge, the Choir took part in their Festival of Vocal Music and shared the platform with Richard Stilgoe in support of his charity, the Orpheus Centre. It was such a successful evening that Richard honoured the Choir by becoming the President of the Tamar Valley MVC - a great honour indeed. |
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The Choir has also been very privileged to attract the attention, and active support of a celebrity of the stature of Justin Leigh of BBC South West and the TV programme, Spotlight. As one would expect he is an extremely busy person, and yet he has the time and interest to turn up at Concerts |
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From that time to the present the choir has grown in strength, quality and experience performing in concerts and other events across Cornwall and South & West Devon picking up new recruits along the way and we can now expect to have about 27 members on the concert platform at any given time. |
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The Tamar Valley MVC Gala Night 31st May 2008 The Choir undertook a concert at Stokenham Parish Church on the 13th September 2008 and recorded their first CD. In concert with the Choir was guest artist,Tim Garner, Saxophones,and other solo pieces by Elizabeth Sidebotham on Accordion, and David Crocker on Organ. |
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