Welcome

The Nottingham Bach Choir was formed in 1954 and has been making a major contribution to the musical life of Nottingham since then. Most of our concerts are held in St Mary's Church, but we also perform regularly in Southwell Minster. There are approximately 100 members who rehearse weekly under our inspirational Director of Music, Paul Hale. The choir gives high quality performances and is renowned for its sensitive and expressive interpretations of a wide range of choral music, in particular the works of Bach.

Nottingham Bach Choir is an auditioned choir rehearsing on Tuesdays at St John's Church, Carrington, and performs three concerts a year. It also performs a popular Christmas Concert each year at St. Peter's Church, Nottingham as part of their Coffee Morning series.

Although the works of J.S. Bach are central to our repertoire, we regularly perform choral music ranging from the late Renaissance era to the modern day. Outstanding reviews are regularly received for our concerts, most recently for a performance of J.S. Bach's St John Passion at Easter 2018. Amongst our recent seasons, we celebrated 60 years with a magnificent performance of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in Southwell Minster, and this year have just performed Rossini's Petite Messe Solonnelle which was a joyous end to a wonderful season of music making

If you are interested in joining us or coming to our concerts, then explore our website for details of concerts, membership and workshops.

Nottingham Bach Choir is a registered charity number 508139

EDWARD ELGAR THE APOSTLES

Saturday 24th November 2018 7.30pm

St Mary's Church, Lace Market

Paul Hale Conductor

Philippa Boyle Soprano
Jessica Gillingwater Mezzo-soprano
Oliver Johnston Tenor
Marcus Farnsworth Baritone
Stephen Cooper Baritone
Julian Empett Bass

Elgar’s magnificent work “The Apostles” tells the story of Jesus’ preaching, miracles, betrayal and death, and the effects it had on the people around him. Elgar was particularly interested in the motivations of sinners, and Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot have important parts. It calls for a huge Romantic orchestra and contains some of the soaring and stirring melodies so characteristic of Elgar’s music. You may like to look out for the recurring themes or “leitmotifs”, each of which is a kind of musical symbol for a person or idea which is central to the story.

This performance is kindly supported by

Tickets £18 (under 18s and registered full-time students £5). Tickets are available from Nottingham Tourism Centre, Smithy Row, Tel 0844 4775678, by emailing the Ticket Secretary at tickets@nottinghambachchoir.org.uk, by PayPal through our website or on the door. www.nottinghambachchoir.org.uk

The Trustees of Nottingham Bach are delighted to announce that Peter Siepmann has been appointed as our Director of Music from September 2019.

Paul Hale said,

“I could not be more delighted that, after a suitably rigorous national selection process, my esteemed and popular colleague Peter Siepmann has been appointed to succeed me. I am quite certain that he will build on the great work begun by Sir David Lumsden in 1954 and will lead the choir into the future with imagination and musicianship.”

Accepting the post, Peter said,

“I am thrilled and honoured to have been appointed to succeed Paul Hale when he retires from Nottingham Bach Choir in the Summer after 28 exceptionally fruitful years as a truly inspiring Director of Music. Having been involved with the musical life of the city for over fifteen years now, and associated with NBC for at least ten of those as an occasional guest conductor and latterly as Assistant Director of Music and Accompanist, I have long held the choir in high esteem both for its very high level of musical accomplishment and for its welcoming and friendly atmosphere. To have been given the opportunity to shape the musical future of this key player in the city's musical landscape is a great privilege and I am already looking forward to the discussions and planning that will take place over the coming months as I prepare to take up the baton in September. Until then, the choir and I will make the most of working with Paul Hale in his final two terms as Director of Music, looking forward in particular to next term's performance of Bach's iconic St Matthew Passion”