| Date/Time | |
|---|---|
| 8th Dec 2018 |
Hedge End Village Hall
To a festive scenery of candy canes, snowmen and sparkly lights, the New Music Makers joyously sang their Christmas offering to their audiences at Hedge End Village Hall. This year’s concerts, were a great success, from the wonderfulForesthall School of Dancing Irish Dancers in their beautiful costumes,Alecs amazingly accomplished rendition of ‘Oh Holy Night’ (which provoked many a tear, it was so touching), to the New Music Makers themselves. A packed programme included favourites such as ‘Walking in the Air’, The First Noel Pachabel, Angels’ Carol and Grandma got run over by a Reindeer, to name but a few. Two contrasting medleys proved most popular – the upbeat, jazzy ‘Swing into Christmas’, and the gospel/blues piece ‘What a Wonderful Child’. In contrast, the ladies’ piece ‘What is this lovely Fragrance’, arranged by our own Lillian Sediles provided a deliciously quiet, contemplative, choral sound. The New Music Makers are not without their keen soloists and duos, so we were lucky to hear sung ‘All is Well’ by Pat Jenkins, ‘The Christmas Song’ by father and daughter Rebecca Williams and Keith Henry, ‘Pie Jesu’ by Sandie Farnell and Maggie Jacobs, ‘I Believe by ‘Roy Hogben’ and ‘Hey Mr Snowman’ by Marg Dunne and Sarah Turl, (who even managed to swap presents mid song)! The concerts were also interspersed with entertaining readings – ‘The Christmas Cards’, written and delivered (sorry for the pun), by Sharon Thomas and a poem entitled ‘The Snowman’, chosen and read by Ann Lee, to fit in with the theme of celebrating the 40th anniversary of the publication of Raymond Brigg’s story ‘The Snowman’. The choir worked very hard this year, to present the lilting ‘Seal Lullaby’ by Eric Whitacre. The crescendos and decrescendos within the piece give the impression of the coming and going of waves and the entire work is hauntingly hypnotic. We are pleased to announce that this year’s concerts raised over £147 for our nominated charity ‘Southampton Children’s Hospital Charity’, a most worthwhile cause. There are many people to thank for the putting on of our concerts – too many to list, but they know who they are and that their help is very much appreciated. However, we must say a big “thank you” to Lillian Sedilles, (our Music Director), David Farnell (our Assistant Music Director),Chris Allison, (our Pianist), Martha and Zac (our page turners) and Lin and Chris Kellaway (our Chairlady and ever helpful better half), all of whom are brilliant at what they do. Finally, we look forward to presenting a summer concert to you on Saturday 8th June at the Kings Community Church, Hedge End. We look forward to seeing you there.
|
| 1st Dec 2018 |
St Edwards Church, Netley Abbey
|
| 17th Nov 2018 |
Hedge End Village Hall
A busy day for the New Music Makers, singing at Countess Mountbatten’s Christmas Fayre and then out in the evening for one of our Social Events, Skittles. Good fun was had by all, led by Eric Gerrey, he had us all in competition mode. Some of us were rubbish, especially me, but the Turl Family, Isaac, Sarah and Simon, won after a nail biting shoot out. Our booby prize went to Percy and Jenny Knight with Denise. We had a lovely fish and chip supper supplied by Henry’s in Hedge End so all in all a good day |
| 17th Nov 2018 |
Countess Mountbatten Christmas Fayre
Countess Mountbatten Hospice, Moorgreen Hospital
|
| 15th Sep 2018 |
RAF Battle Of Britain Ceremony
Spitfire Court
On Saturday 15th September 2018, Battle of Britain Day, the choir were privileged to be asked to sing at a ceremony to re-dedicate two memorials. One for those who worked at the Supermarine Spitfire factory in Woolston who lost their lives or were seriously injured during the bombings in 1940 and the other to ‘RJ Mitchell’ the designer of the iconic aeroplane. |
| 1st Jun 2018 |
King’s Community Church
Saturday’s summer concert , ‘A World of Song’, was a double first – a new venue (KCC, Hedge End – packed to the gunwales) and a new uniform (royal blue), both of which proved a massive success, with numerous positive comments from the audience. The programme took the audience around the world in song and the music was as varied as ever, from ‘Another Day of Sun’ from La La Land, ‘One Day Like This’ by Elbow and ‘Reflection’ from Disney’s film ‘Mulan’, to classics such as West Side Story, For the Beauty of the Earth by John Rutter and ‘Its a Classic’ (to music by Mozart). The evening started with the choir walking in to a tremendous opener of ‘Let the River Run’ by Carly Simon, with a rousing percussion ensemble. As the evening progressed, the audience were treated to the Flower Duet, sung by sopranos Sandra Williams and Lin Kellaway, a hilarious solo by Roy Hogben of ‘Ill Wind’, which not only told the convoluted story of someone losing their horn, but also turned into ‘Two Ronnies’ style impromptu banter between Roy and Chris (our pianist), much to the audience’s surprise and delight. Roy of course received a huge ovation. The beautiful song ‘A Thousand Years’, from The Twilight Saga, was hauntingly delivered by a group of eight singers, which touched everyone. Sharon Thomas treated everyone to a reading of ‘Behind the Scenes’, which she wrote in light hearted verse, about what goes on at choir in order to put on a concert. She possibly gave away too many secrets of how she sometimes gets around performing (or not, as the case may be), in that she confessed to a little bit of miming the odd word she’s forgotten! I think we all do that at some point! ‘Once Upon a Dream’ performed by Rebecca Williams was a delicate solo, in contrast to the final audience participation piece of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ – a fitting end to a concert bringing together both choir and audience. Many thanks go to our Musical Director, Lillian Sediles, (whose friendly encouragement and innovative teaching have given the choir the ability to perform to its best and sing from the heart), to David Farnell, our Assistant Musical Director, (who keeps us on track and enables us to perform with great detail to dynamics and delivery), to Chris, our pianist, (whose talent knows no bounds – see those fingers move!), to Simon (our friendly minibus driver), to all who helped with front of house and to our other Chris, our able and very affable compere, who brings the entire concert together. Finally, a huge “Thank you” to our fantastic audience, without whom there would be no concert. We look forward to seeing you all at our Christmas concert on Saturday 8th December 2018 (2.30 pm matinee and 7.30 pm evening show), at Hedge End Village Hall. Tickets will be available in November but you can always go on our website www.newmusicmakers.com to reserve tickets. We look forward to seeing you there! |
| 11th May 2018 |
St Edwards
A resounding thumbs up for Friday’s concert at St Edward’s, Netley, which made over £600 for the church. The welcome we received was fantastic and everyone enjoyed the delicious homemade cakes. A programme packed with something for everyone, ranged from a medley of Westside story to favourites from Adele, Elbow, John Rutter and much more. Liz, Pat, Rebecca, Roy and his ‘rat’ wowed everyone with their solos (Far Away Places, Memory, Once Upon a Dream and You Can Do Anything) and huge applause for the choir, Chris – our amazing pianist and Lillian and David who conducted us with great panache, ended a truly memorable evening. Don’t miss a second chance to enjoy this upbeat performance on Friday 1st June, 7.30 pm at the Kings Community Church, Hedge End – bar provided for a relaxing drink in the interval. Tickets £10 and £8 for concessions are available from www.newmusicmakers.com, The Flower Garden (Hedge End) and 01489 781836. See you there! |
