News 15 April 2018

The year is rolling along nicely now and our calendar is filling up.

See details below.                  

You can also find details on our Facebook page and we’ll usually put links on Twitter as well.

At most of our events you can get tickets on the door. However, we do recommend getting tickets in advance where we offer this. It helps us and it guarantees that you won’t be turned away at the door. We’ve not had to do that yet but we’ve come close to it.    

 

22 April Concert by Honour, The Lowry, Aldridge Studio, 8.00 p.m.   

So, yes, the first event we'll mention is one by our sister choir, Honour. Many of our members are also members of Honour.  The event features new music by Manchester composer, Andrew J Smith, and specially commissioned spoken word, alongside some old favourites. Great War / World War I themes.  More details and how to book are found at https://www.thelowry.com/events/honour-choir

12 May Concert Brunswick Parish Church M13 9TQ

We join other performers here to help raise funds for a young person to travel to the World Scout Jamboree.  Cake and tea will also be provided.  The concert starts at 2.30 p.m.     

   

13 May Concert at St Mary & St Philip Neri Roman Catholic Church, Radcliffe, M26 4DG

The concert begins at 2.00 p.m. We have performed here before and have held a couple of rehearsals in this lovely space when our normal venue has not been available.  Read more about the Church here.      

 

7 July Buxton

As usual we're doing two concerts:

11.00 a.m. United Reformed Church, Hardwick Square East, Buxton, SK17 6PT

3.00 p.m. St Mary's Church Dale Road, Buxton  SK17 6LN
on SK17 6PT

Tickets are available here:  https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ordsallsingers  

And as usual there will be cake.

Like to see what we've done there in the past? Take a look here. 

8 September Victoria Baths Open Day   

14 October Victoria Baths Food Festival

On both occasions we'll be singing early afternoon. We've been here many times. It's an amazing building.  Read about our previous visits here.    

The Victoria Baths, Hathersage Road, Manchester M13 0FE, are well worth a visit in any case.  Read more about them here.  

Other events

We'll also be performing at the Chorlton Festival of Choirs on 16 June.

 

An honour to sing with Honour , 12 November 2016

“They went with songs to the battle, they were young

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and a–glow”

(Opening of Honour 1V, Andrew J Smith)     

We provided the second half of this very special evening. Quite a few of us are in both choirs but those who aren’t were able to sit and enjoy this rather inspiring concert, In Remembrance. The Honour Choir    was formed originally for a large scale event that took place on 2 August 2014. Read all about it on their web site. Unusually, this choir does not meet every week for a couple of hours like most but meets every six weeks or so for a four hour rehearsal. Success is dependent on members working on their own and learning pieces quickly.

And successful they were.

This very special concert was enhanced by the spoken word parts written by Honour choir member and soon-to-rejoin Ordsall A Cappella Singers Christopher Bowles. This included letters between a young man and his fiancée, a meeting with Edith Cavell just before her execution and the story of one family whose relation went missing in action. Particularly touching was the letter from the solider of his longing for colour. Chris performed this rather than just reading it. All of the readers in any case did more than merely read. Extremely moving as well was when choir members shouted out the names of local soldiers who had fallen in the Great War.   
  

The songs weren’t necessarily the usual ones that make up Remembrance Services although we heard Abide with Me, Ave Verum, and In Remembrance. We also heard Blue Skies, Fix You and Wonderful World. We know most of the songs though two especially composed ones, The Somme and the Ancre and Honour 1V were unfamiliar to us and particularly dramatic and appropriate for the occasion.

After a brief pause for tea and biscuits it was our turn. We whizzed through a fair bit of our normal non-Christmas repertoire. By this time, the Honour Choir members who are not also in Ordsall A Cappella Singers sat down to watch. It is so good having another choir urging you on. They are so appreciative and encouraging. Jeff got the audience doing a couple of things. Again, choir members were useful.     

During the interval I met someone I knew. I hadn’t known he was going to be there. “Thank you for coming,” I said. “How did you find out about the concert?”

“Facebook,” he replied. 

So, it works.        
       

We had a respectable audience. There’s room for more. No doubt there will be soon. 

We used Brunswick Parish Church, which is where Honour normally rehearses. Ordsall has used it a couple of times as well both for concerts and rehearsals. It’s a friendly place and this also helps to make the event successful. 

Tomorrow, I’ll post about what else we did at the weekend.     

Whip-cracking Away with Family and Friends 16 January 2016

So, what better to do on cold January evening than come along to our Friends and Family concert held at Brunswick Parish Church, which several choir members attend?  Oh, yes, the sleet began to fall just as we all set off but the church was warm and cosy and a friend or two or three or four came along. 

This is now the third Friends and Family concert we’ve offered.  Always free and always with cake. We’re torn. At Brunswick Parish Church, it's easier to stay longer, lots of room, but it will probably have to be a Saturday or Ordsall Hall, very Ordsall, rather romantic, we have to leave promptly and it can only hold a smaller audience but we can use it easily enough on a Tuesday.  Let us know what you think by adding a comment here.         

My goodness weren’t our top-up acts something?  Daisy, also one of our talented young sopranos but an established artist in her own right, offered two fabulous solos.  Ella presented some lesser-known Ralph McTell numbers. The Mad Donnas were as professional as ever. John (aka Elvis, Clint, Superman and many others) told his stories of RALPH and other dog-turd lifting machines.  (Yes, that’s right). Not to mention the whip-cracking cow-girl, Marilyn, who turned our musical director into a cowboy, our secretary into a show-girl and one unsuspecting bass – we think actually our chairman had been the target – into an Indian Chief.

We enjoyed singing and we think our audience enjoyed listening. Naturally we paraded the four – five songs we’re entering for the ManchesterAmateur Choral Competition (MACC). “I got a bit bored,” said Jeff in our rehearsal on Tuesday, “of being told how much people liked R …..” So, that’s a big thumbs up for  R …. then. (Aha, under wraps until after the MACC --- unless we’ve put you in the know.)        

We also trotted out parts of our older repertoire some of which we’d not touched since November and we were pleased to note that we still know these pieces. 

It all felt very good.

Then, of course, there was the cake.

If you were there, and /or you’ve been to one of our other Friends and Family concerts, don’t forget to let us know what you think! Post a comment here.