paragon singers & divertimento conductor Sarah Latto conductor Sheila Koch Midsummer Music rd Prior Park College, 23 June 2018 Welcome to our concert of music for mid-summer. We hope you enjoy the programme and that you will join us afterwards for refreshments on the Mansion House steps. There will be a retiring collection in aid of the Prior Park Chapel Appeal. This wonderful Lady of the Snows Chapel was opened in 1882 but is now in urgent need of restoration. The appeal is aiming to raise £1.5M. Paragon Singers’ link with Divertimento is through Andrew Mock, one of their tenors, who was head of music at Prior Park between 1980 and 1990 during which time he and his wife Sue sang with Paragon Singers. We are delighted to have this opportunity to bring our two choirs together in this magnificent venue. The full programme is shown over the page. During the concert there will not be a full interval but there will be a 5 minute break for leg stretching. Paragon Singers, led by its music director Sarah Latto, is one of the foremost chamber choirs in Bath and has been singing for more than forty years, specialising in music from the Renaissance, Baroque and contemporary repertoire. As well as its regular series of concerts in and around Bath, Paragon Singers sings abroad, most recently in Crete in May where the choir sang in the Catholic Cathedral, Chania and in a winery! The choir is encouraging and supporting young singers in full or part-time education through its recently announced Choral Bursary Scheme. Divertimento is a mixed voice chamber choir based in Leamington Spa. Started in 1983 and conducted by Sheila Koch since 1992, the group has sung locally and further afield, including abroad. Its concert programmes are varied and have included concerts of music by a particular composer during notable anniversaries, for example Purcell, Elgar and Vaughan Williams as well as themed programmes, for example Heroes and Villains, All at Sea, and Divertimento in Love. The choir promotes choral workshops and young voices, as well as presenting a popular bi-annual Festival of Voices. Concert Programme Divertimento Il est bel et bon Pierre Passereau Il bianco e dolce cigno Jacques Arcadelt The Blue Bird Charles Villiers Stanford A Nightingale arr Tony Parkinson Yellow bird traditional arranged Sheila Koch Paragon Singers There was a tree arranged Gustav Holst Ego Flos Campi Jacob Clemens non Papa Greensleeves arranged Ralph Vaughan Williams Paragon Singers and Divertimento from Five Flower Songs Benjamin Britten 1. To Daffodils 4. The Evening Primrose 5 minute break Paragon Singers Sfogava con le stele Claudio Monteverdi Ave Virgo Sanctissima Francisco Guerrero I love my love arranged Gustav Holst Divertimento Les fleurs et les arbres Camille Saint-Saëns Loveliest of trees (from A Far Country) Paul Sudlow Aftonen Hugo Alfvén Lullaby (from Scotland at Night) Tom Cunningham Sleep Eric Whitacre Divertimento and Paragon Singers Vineta (Drei Gesänge) Johannes Brahms .