2000-2001

A SEASON OF: ORCHESTRAL COLLABORATIONS
& A MILLENNIUM COMMISSION.

Season Highlights

  • MILLENNIUM COMMISSION: Richard Allain’s I SLEEP BUT MY HEART IS AWAKE from The Song of Solomon

  • JUBILATE DEO - with ENGLISH BRASS

  • TOUR to CZECH REPUBLIC

  • THE PLANETS with The Salomon Orchestra

  • BACH Mass in B Minor with The Artesian Ensemble

Choir Membership 1998-1999

CONCERTS

Sunday OCTOBER 28th 2000

NEW COMMISION WORKSHOP

GREYCOAT HOSPITAL SCHOOL, WESTMINSTER

LONDON ORIANA WORKSHOP III

TOPICS

  • Understanding Conducting: Compound Key Signatures

  • Breathing & Health

  • Marking Parts

  • Performance Posture & Attitude - a Video Review of the last concert with Self Analysis.

  • A Guide to Warming up the Voice

  • Sectionals on the Commision & Coloratura

  • Learn a Musical in a Day -
    PARADISE BOPPED - Richard Allain

Thursday November 16th 2000

The Song of Solomon

St. John’s Smith Square

DD Note:I first met Richard Allain at a Chamber Music concert where his amazing string quartet was being premiered. I was so taken by it that we struck up a conversation and I asked if he wrote for choir? The answer was a resounding yes, we became immediate friends – our families often spending Boxing Day together - and we commissioned him! So this extraordinary work is dedicated to the London Oriana Choir.

Thursday DECEMBER 14th 2000

A Cold & Frosty Morning

ST. JAMES’S, PICCADILLY

DD Note re Recording from this concert:This concert was recorded by my wife on a small mini-disc. I am very glad about this because it contains some beautiful numbers that we never recorded elsewhere and will hopefully bring back memories. There are coughs and the sounds of bells and all the usual concert noise but I believe it is worth registering these tracks in this archive!
DD Note - George Bush Christmas Cantata:This rarely performed Christmas work deserves greater recognition. It is a wonderful through-composed work in nine movements, both beautiful and powerful - not at all easy. The VIIIth mvt.is stunningly dramatic and frightening in its portrayal of Herod the King!
DD Note:Now compare Allain's setting of the same carol!
DD Note:The four tracks below are all popular amongst Oriana singers and audience alike, but are not recorded elsewhere.

JUBILATE DEO - Brass & Choir

Saturday 24th FEBRUARY 2001

ST. JAMES’S, PICCADILLY

Saturday MAY 12th 2001

RACHMANINOV - VESPERS

ST. BARNABAS, SOUTHFIELDS

Tour to CZECH REPUBLIC

MAY 27th 2000

PRAGUE, ŽLUTICE,
KARLOVY VARY

TOURISM

& FORFEITS!

Tuesday JUNE 19th 2001

THE PLANETS
The Salomon Orchestra

ST. JOHN’S, SMITH SQUARE

Wednesday 27th JUNE 2001

BACH - B MINOR MASS

ST. JOHN’S, SMITH SQUARE

DD Note - Soloists & Singing Teachers:Having first class singing-teachers associated with the choir was very important to keeping vocal standards high. We were lucky to have Jessica Walker associated with the choir for a long period and I have included the opening of her duet with the exquisite Sarah Fox so that these voices can be appreciated. I believe we managed to maintain a high standard of soloist, demonstrated here in the moving Et incarnatus excerpt.

SEASON REPERTOIRE SPREAD

London Oriana Choir Archive