2011

Saturday 17th December – ‘The Journey’ – St Botolph’s Church, Colchester
‘The Journey’ was devised by Bill Tamblyn. The text is based on factual accounts such as they are of the journey of two refugees from persecution, namely Mary and Joseph. The idea was to write a series of short prose-poems to set the scene as the travellers migrate south from the Jerusalem area to Egypt, to celebrate their joy as they return home, and to illustrate these scenes with some 21^st century contemporary accounts and songs either newly composed or drawn from the World Music archives that Bill Tamblyn has collected over the years. To hear excerpts from the performance visit the QuireColchester channel on YouTube

Saturday 10th December – ‘Gaudete – celebrating the good news in music from Africa and America’ – Colchester Community Carol Concert – Lion Walk Church, Colchester
Quire performed a fundraising concert with the Colchester Citadel Salvation Army Band, providing Christmas music in Quire’s own style as well as carols to sing along with. Proceeds from the concert went to Lion Walk Church’s Christian Aid Project in Sierra Leone.

Saturday 12th November – ‘Make a Joyful Noise’ – Methodist Church, Broomfield, Chelmsford
Octavia and Towering Angels performed vibrant close harmony music from the Appalachians, Eastern Europe, Africa and America as part of the Broomfield Methodist Church Centenary Celebrations.

September 25th - Performance at the opening of the new Firstsite Visual Arts Facility, Colchester
Quire was one of four local music groups to be invited to perform at the opening of the new First Site building in September 2011 . The groups rehearsed and recorded new interpretation’s of each other’s pieces. The project was challenging: each group submitting one piece from their repertory, with the other three groups then creating an ‘interpretation’ of the piece in their own style. Quire submitted Gabi Gabi ( from Shout!) and had to interpret a medieval piece L’homme armé offered by Colchester Waites, a grunge piece  Take it all from Sanctorum, and a brass band march Colchester Castle from the Garrison marching band. What the groups made of each others pieces can be heard on a CD released and distributed in the Colchester area.

June 25th – Crossing the Jordan – St Leonard’s Church Hall, Lexden
Quire sang to a virtually full house at their end of term concert, resulting in a donationof £1,000 to the Truan Trust.  the concert featured music from many parts of Africa – including countries from the Commonwealth. There were Gospel songs from African Americans; Gospel from the Poor Whites of the Appalachians; and some contemporary Gospel too!

June 18th - Open Workshop – Slack Space, Colchester
A small but enthusiastic group of Quire members and interested others took part in a 2 hour workshop led by Bill Tamblyn. Pieces tackled included a selection from Quire’s repertoire as well as new songs, including an impromptu solo by a future tenor who reprised his role at the following concert.

April 30th – Truan Trust Concert – St Mary the Virgin Church, Peldon
The concert was in aid of the Truan Trust, a registered charity supporting education in Uganda. Along with Quire-Octavia and Quire-Towering Angels the concert featured No Strings Attached, a vocal duo set up by Quire member Gwendal Moële offering an intensely musical presentation of unaccompanied folk songs. The programme included Gospel, Soul, Medieval and Modern music.

April 17th – ‘King Jesus’ – South Woodham Ferrers Quire presented ‘King Jesus’ –  a dramatic presentation in words and music of the Gospel story devised by Professor Bill Tamblyn, Quire’s music director. The text was based on the novel ‘King Jesus’ by Robert Graves, written in 1946 and considered controversial at the time. The script was just 30 pages of a 400 page book and, rather than a service, it was a memorial to a brave and inspirational human being who the Christians believe was also divine. Spiritual and moving songs from around the world and some especially written for this event combined with rousing hymns for all to sing.

2010

December 18th – Christmas Concert at St Botolph’s Church, Colchester Heavy snowfall meant both Quire and the audience were slightly depleated in numbers, but the show went on and a mixed programme of sea songs,  folk songs, traditional English Christmas music and readings were presented with Quire’s usual good humour and professional polish.

September 30th – Singing workshop at Slack Space, Colchester To celebrate the start of Colchester’s Black History Month, Quire held a singing workshop with a mixture of African songs and Gospel tunes.

September 5^th – the Colchester Oyster Festival.

July 10^th -  Singing workshop with Quire We had a very well-attended workshop at Slack Space Colchester!

July 3^rd and 4^th – The Bradwell Pilgrimage On Saturday July 3^rd Quire was one of the groups escorting The Archbishop of York  from the village to the chapel. Bill had met John Sentamu before and featured music from East Afrika in his honour. On Sunday July 4^th, Quire sang the afternoon service in the chapel.

June 19^th – That’s the Spirit! The last gig of the academic year for Quire at St Botolph’s church, Colchester: a summer display of Quire’s most requested songs.  Intrepid choral explorations from Europe, Asia, Africa and New World…with a splash of ‘end-of-year’ fizz!

May 30th – Quire brings SOUL MUSIC to Peldon Colchester’s unique nationally recognised World Music Community Choir joined forces with professional classical cellist Orlando Jopling and pianist Daniel Law to present a very special End-of Festival concert for the Peldon May Festival in Peldon Church.  Using ‘soul’ in its widest sense to mean music that has passion and commitment, the programme was drawn from classical music and world music . The evening mixed Bach with Chicago Soul, exotic music from Venezuela with the strangely beautiful music of the Balkans, and so much more!

May 15^th and 22^nd - Quire CD recording Quire gathered in St Botolph’s Church for 2 days of recordings for a new CD. Sound Engineer Matthew Dilley was there to work his magic and we hope that the new album will be ready in time for Christmas 2010. The programme is a miscellany (like Pilgrim) featuring songs from  Europe, America,  New Zealand, Africa, English and American Gospel, and will also feature the two smaller groups from Quire – Towering Angels and Octavia.

May 3^rd – Essex Global Gala in Central Park Chelmsford. There were 7 cultural tents and Quire was  in one of them doing  an hour long African programme.  You can look up more details on www.oneworldfestival.org.uk

March 26^th – Just a Steppe away! The Officers Club, Colchester was the venue for an exciting journey to Western & Eastern Europe in song ! From Wales to Poland and Spain to Russia with an extra special celebration of great ‘craic’ -  Irish Music – a nod to St Patrick’s Day. Over 70 guests joined us for an informal evening of prepared pieces and spontaneous song.