Amici Cantate invites singers to Mozart workshop and Requiem masterclass
Bishop’s Stortford’s Amici Cantate is inviting amateurs to “Come and Sing! Mozart’s Requiem”.
The choir is hosting two workshops – one for chorus members and one for soloists – on Saturday September 21, focused on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s unfinished 1791 masterpiece. The majestic requiem mass was completed after the Austrian composer’s death by his student Franz Xaver Sussmayr.
Recruits will be led by award-winning music director and chorus master for the day, James Davey, who will have plenty of anecdotes and background information about Mozart’s music, drawing on his extensive experience.
Davey is one of the UK’s most distinguished and respected choral directors, in demand for his work as a conductor, choir trainer, choral education practitioner, arranger and adjudicator.
His impressive CV includes musical director of Chantage and 4Tunes, the award-winning staff choir at Channel 4 TV. He is the former chief choral advisor for the BBC’s sheet music archive and has regularly prepared and conducted choirs for television and radio.
He is also a conducting tutor for the Association of British Choral Directors (ABCD) and the Association of Irish Choirs. In 2018 he co-founded the London International Choral Conducting Competition, the first of its kind in the UK.
More recently he was appointed chorus master of Saffron Opera Group, preparing Wagner’s opera scores for concert productions including Tristan and Isolde, Parsifal and Tannhäuser.
For budding soloists, soprano Ali Ponsford-Hill will lead a parallel Mozart masterclass. The soloist, ensemble singer, conductor and teacher has chorus mastered for The Monteverdi Choir, conducted the Tower of London choir in services and runs her own U3A singing for pleasure group in Amersham, Bucks.
Ali has toured the world as a soloist and recorded with The Monteverdi Choir, Polyphony, Tenebrae, The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars and Stile Antico. She enjoyed singing as a soloist for Irish show Riverdance for two years and more recently has sung on a host of film soundtracks with London Voices including Aladdin and Spectre.
Jonathan Ngai, Amici Cantate’s deputy musical director, and Susie Savage will be the accompanists. Susie has worked on musical theatre productions of Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Woods, Oliver!, Bugsy, Grease, West Side Story, Me & My Girl, 42nd Street, My Fair Lady, The Wiz, Sweeney Todd, Grand Hotel, Hairspray, Blood Brothers, Peter Pan, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Sister Act.
An Amici Cantate spokeswoman said: “We’ll be working our way through all chorus parts of the Requiem in a very comfortable, relaxed environment. We welcome singers of all standards, although expect our choral members to read music to an adequate standard for the day.
“We will end our day joining with the masterclass soloists for a scratch concert.”
The chorus and soloist workshops on Saturday September 21 take place from 9.15am to 5.30pm at St Nicholas School, Hobbs Cross Road, Old Harlow.
The chorus workshop costs £25 per person and the soloist masterclass is £50. See https://www.amicicantate.org.uk/comeandsingmozart to book.
Amici Cantate, founded in 2005, was originally made up of parents and friends of students in renowned youth choir Cantate. Membership currently stands at 45 singers and they welcome new recruits to rehearsals in Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday mornings.
The choir usually performs three concerts a year for charities and most recently supported Red Kite, which supports survivors of rape and sexual abuse in Hertfordshire and West Essex.
There is also a chance to take part in a residential workshop or a foreign tour each year, and the choir sings carols for charity each Christmas and provides smaller groups for weddings, funerals and other occasions.
Last year members travelled to South Wales to rehearse with the Porthcawl Male Voice Choir before a joint concert.
