GOTHIC SPLENDOUR! The Winkleigh Singers directed by Roland Smith with Mark Hounsell - tenor Jonathan Wagstaff - bass Steven Martin - organ Saturday 27th March 2010 St Michael and All Angels Church, Torrington PROGRAMME Glorious and powerful God Charles V Stanford (1852 -1924) O Thou the Central Orb Charles Wood (1866-1926) From the rising of the sun Frederick A G Ouseley (1825-1889) Ave verum Edward Elgar (1857-1934) God is a Spririt William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875) O Saviour of the World John Goss (1800-1880) Round me falls the night melody by Adam Drese (1620-1701) harmonies: S S Wesley (1810-1876) Henry G Ley (1887-1962) J S Bach (1685-1750) My soul, there is a country Hubert Parry (1848-1918) Magnificat in Bb Charles V Stanford (1852 -1924) INTERVAL (approximately 15 minutes) The Crucifixion John Stainer (1840-1901) words selected and written by the Reverend J. Sparrow-Simpson MA Mark Hounsell Mark was born in Northampton and received his early musical education as a chorister at All Saints, the parish church of Northampton. He was the first chorister to be awarded a music scholarship to St. Peters Independent school. At the age of 14 Mark’s voice broke and immediately started to sing Tenor. Following his gap year as a choral scholar in Truro Cathedral, he moved to be a Vicar Choral at Lichfield Cathedral while studying at Birmingham Conservatoire with Julian Pike. Mark then moved to St. Albans to be a Lay Clerk. In September of this year he was appointed a Vicar Choral at Wells Cathedral. As well as singing with lots of Cathedral choirs, Mark has enjoyed singing with ensembles including Ex Cathedra and The Joyful Company of Singers, and is lucky enough to have sung on 10 CD recordings, toured across Europe and America and sung solos on both Radio 3 and 4. Recent engagements have included Mozart Requiem, Bach Magnificats (J.S. and C.P.E.), Handel Messiah & Dixit Dominus, Haydn Creation & Nelson Mass, Jepthe in Carissimi’s work of the same title, Acis in Acis and Galatea (Handel) and Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell). When Mark isn’t singing he spends his time as a dispensing optician. His hobbies include most sports, cooking and walking and is looking forward to pursuing these hobbies in his new life in the West country. Jonathan Wagstaff is a 26-year-old baritone. He grew up in Kent where he sang with the National Youth Choir before moving on to the Queen's College, Oxford to study for an a BA and MSt in Musicology and to sing as a lay clerk with the College Choir. He has sung as soloist on a number of recordings and broadcasts, including a 2007 performance on BBC Radio 3 as a cantor for a programme of renaissance Portuguese sacred works. His most recent solo recordings include Caeli Porta (Guild Records) with the Queen's College Choir and a forthcoming disk of works by the contemporary composer Phillip Moore (Delphian Records). As as choral singer Jonathan performed on ITV1 Television for HRH the Prince of Wales in a celebration for his 60th birthday on 15th November 2008. He works with a variety of sacred and secular ensembles in the United Kingdom such as St. Paul's Cathedral Choir and the Choir of the Chapel of St. George, Windsor Castle. Over the past 5 years he has worked with a number of renowned conductors and coaches including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Christopher Cowell, James Gilchrist and Graham Johnson. Jonathan has sung as a soloist with a variety of British choral societies including the Tonbridge Philharmonic, the Chelmsford Singers and the Witham Singers. He is currently studying voice with Nicholas Powell and Russell Smythe (Royal College of Music), and holds a choral scholarship at Wells Cathedral. Roland Smith, founder of The Winkleigh Singers and the Choir's Musical Director, took up singing at the age of seven in the choir at Holy Trinity Church, Cookham-on-Thames, where he was joint head chorister before he took to the back row as a bass. In over twenty years at Cookham he took part in a number of first performances, recordings, radio and television broadcasts and sang in most of the cathedrals in the south of England. It was here that he had his first experiences of choir direction, regularly conducting the sung parts of services. On moving to Devon in 1984 he put foward the idea of a Winkleigh based chamber choir, which became The Winkleigh Singers. Singing in recent years has been with a number of distinguished choirs including Schola Aquae Sulis, The South West Cathedral Singers, Exeter Festival Chorus and The Richard Roddis Singers. He has sung in performances of Haydn Masses in Paris, Mozart’s Requiem in Salzburg and Britten’s War Requiem in Russia, and conducted The Winkleigh Singers on a number of tours in France and with Vox Hungarica at the Matthias Templon in Budapest to a capacity audience. Roland has attended conducting workshops and masterclasses led by a number of leading choral directors, including Mike Brewer, Bob Chilcott and Jane Glover. During an interregnum, he rehearsed and conducted Exeter Festival Chorus for performances at St James, Picadilly, (works by Ramirez) and Exeter Cathedral (off stage chorus in Holst’s The Planets with the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra). Roland now sings with Somerset Chamber Choir and is also the Director of the wedding choir, The Devonshire Company of Singers. ESTABLISHED IN 1984 in one of the remotest parts of Devon, the Winkleigh Singers enjoy a broad repertoire from early to contemporary music. The choir has recently recorded works by John Byrt and Ira-Paul Schwarz and a CD of Christmas Music. The choir has performed with Devon Baroque, The British Chamber Orchestra, Bartholomew String Ensemble, and North Devon Sinfonia. They have a policy of encouraging talented young soloists, regularly employing students and recent graduates from the major music colleges. The Winkleigh Singers have enjoyed several tours in France, and in April 2003 the choir visited Hungary as guests of Vox Hungarica, performing at Matthias Church, Budapest, and at the Concert Hall of the Music Department of Budapest University, to capacity audiences. We were pleased to welcome Vox Hungarica here in Devon in the following September when, with them, we gave two memorable concerts of (mostly) Hungarian music. Workshops have been held in recent years to which other singers and choirs are always invited. Previous workshops have been led by, amongst others, Evelyn Tubb, Nigel Perrin and Mike Brewer. Over the years the choir has given several first performances, notably Colin Hodgett's Season Songs (with Evelyn Tubb as the soloist) and John Lane's Maggott, Sam Richards' Midwinter Ceremonies, these being commissioned by The Beaford Centre. In 1994, to celebrate The Winkleigh Singers' tenth anniversary, a competition was organised for young composers, and the winning work by Paul Holland, At a Lunar Eclipse, was given its first performance by the choir as part of their summer concert that year. Dr Simon Standing's Magnificat and Nunc Dimmitis were first performed by the choir in 1998. The Winkleigh Singers continue to support charity events, in recent years taking part in ‘Voices for Hospices’ and the Macmillan Cancer Relief ‘Celebration of Christmas’ at Castle Hill, Filleigh. We are at the early stages of planning an educational project involving local youth and school choirs. Please se back page for our plans for the remainder of 2010. Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was born in Dublin in September 1852 of parents who were both amateur musicians, and is particularly noted for his choral compositions. He went to London in 1862 to continue his musical studies and in 1870 won a scholarship to Queen’s College, Cambridge. He was appointed professor of composition at the Royal College of Music in 1883; was conductor of The Bach Choir from 1886 to 1902; and was professor of music at Cambridge from 1807. He was an exacting but respected teacher whose pupils included Samuel Coleridge- Taylor, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Ireland, Frank Bridge, Charles Wood (who succeeded him as music professor), Geoffrey Shaw and Herbert Howells. Notoriously irascible, he quarrelled with many of his contemporaries, including Elgar and Parry. He was knighted in 1902. Charles Wood, Irish composer and teacher, was the son of a tenor at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armargh. He received his early education at the Armagh Cathedral Church School, in particular studying organ with Robert Turle and Thomas Marks. In 1883 he became one of fifty inaugural class members of the Royal College of Music, studying composition with Stanford and Parry. In 1889 he took up a teaching position at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, first as organ scholar and then as fellow in 1894, becoming the first Director of Music and Organist. He was instrumental in the reflowering of music at the college, though more as a teacher and organiser of musical events than as composer. After Stanford died, Wood succeeded him as University of Cambridge Professor of Music in 1924. Wood is remembered mainly for his contribution to Anglican church music, he also composed chamber music, including a number of string quartets. His pupils included Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells. Sir Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley was born in London to Sir Gore Ousely and started composing at a young age, completing his first opera at the age of eight. Known as a composer, organist and musiclogist, he succeeded to the baronetcy in 1844 and ordained in 1849. From 1855 to 1889 he was professor of muisc at Oxford, and at the same time precentor at Hereford Cathedral.