From Portsmouth Baroque Choir
This Newsletter appears not long after another resoundingly successful performance by the Portsmouth Baroque Choir with the Consort of Twelve at St Paul’s in Chichester. St Paul’s was the ideal venue for Alessandro Scarlatti’s St Cecila Mass and Handel’s Dixit Dominus, two major Baroque works written in Rome in the first part of the 18th century. Both pieces have extended solo sections, Scarlatti using the chorus mostly to reiterate key words in short bursts like punctuation, so it was difficult to get a sense of the continuity of the whole in rehearsal. Handel’s Dixit Dominus is renowned for its virtuoso demands on singers and players alike: it is very much like a concerto for choir and orchestra, an intense, exhilarating rollercoaster ride, according to one of the altos. Any pre-concert uncertainty was soon dispelled in the final rehearsal when Malcolm Keeler pulled everything together magnificently with perfectly judged tempi and a clear beat, the brilliance of Scarlatti’s and Handel’s writing rendered with confidence and amplified by the clear resonance of St Paul’s, the closest we can get locally to an Eternal City basilica.
As for the performance itself, the Consort of Twelve played better than ever, the soloists sang as if for an audience of thousands rather than just short of a hundred and the choir found a new level of stamina, energy and intensity that moved the audience to applaud loudly until the last person had left the stage. One of our best, as you can tell by the facial expressions captured by David Harris at the final bow. Front row L-R: Chris Clark (tenor soloist), Sarah Baker and Naomi Barkley (soprano soloists), Malcolm Keeler (conductor) Melissa Wingfield (alto soloist), Giles White (bass soloist). A selection of David’s photos of that concert is included in the Portsmouth Baroque Choir gallery. We also got a review, from David Holmes, published with additional comment from me in the Portsmouth Baroque Choir Blog, or read it on MiP.
As a performer, it doesn’t get much better than that and this bodes well for our next collaboration with the Consort of Twelve in December 2026 in the same venue.
The success of the October concert built nicely on our Gibbons concert at the Chichester Festival in July which drew one of our largest audiences in recent years. All of which ought to be the cue for new singers to fill some of the gaps that have appeared in our ranks, especially in the basses and alto sections. So, please, if you hear of or know of singers looking for a new home choir, do point them in our direction.
Music for Advent and Christmas
Music for Advent and Christmas, Havant URC, 7pm on Saturday 6 December
Our Christmas concert this year is on 6th December at the Havant United Reformed Church and will feature Vivaldi’s Magnificat, music from the early 16th century, including Nesciens mater virgo virum, an ingenious quadruple canon at the fifth by Jean Mouton and Christmas music from our own time by Bob Chilcott and John Rutter who this year celebrated their 70th and 80th birthdays respectively. Local composers Ian Schofield (our President) and Philip Drew, our organist on the night are also featured and there will be a selection of favourite carols requiring audience participation and, naturally, mulled wine and mince pies during the interval.
A couple of weeks later, on December 17th, the Choir will lead the singing together with the Portsmouth Salvation Army Band at the Boardwalk in Port Solent. This will be the fourth year running that we have helped raise money for the Salvation Army’s winter support fund.
2026 season
On March 14th 2026 the Choir will make its début at Portchester Methodist Church with a second Bach Connections programme, this one featuring motets by Bach family members.
That ushers in another busy season for the Choir. On May 9th we will be joining other local choirs and music groups based in Portsmouth at The Guildhall for Sing 100, a gala concert that will be a main fixture in the centenary celebration of Portsmouth’s city status. The choral element of the programme will include Parry’s Best Pair of Sirens, Cecilia MacDowall Ave Maris Stella, John Rutter’s Gloria and music by Portsmouth-born Freda Swain.
Our summer concert will take place at St George’s, Whyke on July 4th. Next year being the semiquincentennial of the American Declaration of Independence.we willl celebrate that with a programme of all-American music from Billings to Lauridsen via Ives and Copland.
For more information about all of these concerts, keep an eye on our website.
This will be the last PBC Newsletter for 2025 so here’s wishing you joy and good health as the festive season approaches.
Chris Clark
(Chair & Publicity Co-ordinator, Portsmouth Baroque Choir)
