Chichester Singers open the Festival of Chichester

SussexWorld

The Chichester Singers offer the opening night’s concert for this year’s Festival of Chichester with the promise of something rather different.

Transcript

00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Lansussex Newspapers. Always

00:06 lovely to speak to Jonathan Wilcox, Musical Director of the Jutister Singers. Now, Jonathan,

00:10 the Jutister Singers, under you, are performing the first opening day concert for the Festival

00:16 of Jutisters this year on Saturday, June 15th, and you are happily pushing your singers with

00:22 this programme, aren't you? There's something a bit different that's going to challenge

00:27 the choir and that they are enjoying. Yes, the choir are delighted to be able to be at

00:31 the opening concert of the Festival, which offers so much to the Chichester environment

00:36 in the arts in so many ways. And this is a very different sort of concert with three

00:41 choral works that are very much fused around the jazz idiom, which is quite unusual for

00:46 a large choir. Three composers of the 20th century who contributed so strongly, particularly

00:53 George Shearing, who was such a wonderful jazz pianist, and then contrasting with the

00:58 Argentinian composer Ramirez, Ariel Ramirez, who wrote one particular piece which has become

01:06 really synonymous with Argentinian music that's called Mesa Creola. And then there's a lovely

01:12 connection with the George Shearing work, Songs and Sonnets. The British composer John

01:17 Rutter, who was a close friend of George Shearing and a very great fan of his music, wrote a

01:22 tribute to him called Birthday Madrigals, which was actually performed for the first

01:28 time in 1995. And it was actually in the presence of George Shearing conducted by John Rutter.

01:38 The title Birthday Madrigals is because it was written in celebration of George Shearing.

01:44 It's a lovely story. So those two clearly naturally go together. What made you think

01:48 about doing the Ramirez? Well, the Ramirez is also very much in the jazz idiom. It has

01:54 the same accompanying sort of requirements of a jazz ensemble, which is piano, string

02:01 bass, drums. And we've got the percussion ensemble of London coming to be our percussion

02:07 section, who are a terrific team of percussion players who I've worked with in the past.

02:12 And also, we've got two lovely soloists, both old friends of the choir, Bibi Heal, the soprano,

02:19 and Matthew Long, tenor, who in addition to being the soloist in the Ramirez, Missa Creola,

02:25 which is the sort of centrepiece of the concert. They're also doing two short sets of songs,

02:31 which will also fit in a set by George Gershwin, particularly, who of course was yet another

02:37 20th century sort of legend in the jazz and swing world.

02:44 And you were saying so interestingly, Nick, just now, by stepping outside the conventional

02:48 mainstream core repertoire, when they step back into it, they come back with benefits.

02:54 How does that work? Yes, I think it's very important for any choir.

02:57 I'm very proud of everything that the Chichester Singers achieved. But the core repertoire

03:03 of a large choir of 130 or so voices is much of the classical repertoire. But to put before

03:10 them these three works in a jazz style, which needs a very precise rhythmic form of singing,

03:16 I think we'll have real spin-offs when we come back. In the autumn, the choir is performing

03:22 Mendelssohn and Elijah, and then around Christmas, a performance of Handel Messiah. And I think

03:28 because of the work that they will have done on these jazz pieces with their vibrant rhythms,

03:35 I think they will come afresh to the works of Mendelssohn and Handel when we come back

03:39 in the autumn.

03:40 Fantastic. And it also meets a requirement from you. You're saying that every year you

03:44 like to do something you have not conducted before.

03:47 And the Chichester Singers, I've worked with them for a very long time. But in every one

03:52 of the 45 seasons that I've been their musical director, I've made a point of having at least

03:57 one piece that I've never conducted before. And of course, these pieces for many of the

04:03 choir, it's the first time that they also have encountered them. And so we've been able

04:07 to explore the idiom and to have a new challenge, not only them, but me too, which is always

04:13 nice. I feel I'm being refreshed every time I come to a new piece, which I really believe

04:18 in, which I've enjoyed getting to know and to study and then to work with with the choir.

04:24 Fantastic. Well, lovely to speak to you and lovely to have you absolutely at the heart

04:28 of the Festival of Chichester, which is what the Festival of Chichester is all about, not

04:32 just at the heart of it, but on that first day too.

04:35 And the Chichester Singers always enjoy performing in the Cathedral, which is such a lovely centrepiece

04:40 of the Chichester community. And we're so lucky to have it and to be in the festival,

04:45 which we're much looking forward to.

04:46 Brilliant. Great to speak to you. Thank you very much.

04:49 Thanks, Phil.

04:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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