 | Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir |
| This page is part of the archive of community profiles and was written in April 2004.
 Founded in 1939 by Dr Stanley Vann, Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir gave its first concert in Holy Trinity Church, Leamington Spa in March 1940, a performance of J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion. With approximately 90 members at present, aged from mid 20s to 60s the choir rehearses every Wednesday evening during term-time, from 7.30 to 9.45, at Lillington Primary School on the Cubbington Road in Leamington Spa.
The choir aims to perform 3 to 4 concerts each season (September to July), more usually of sacred music, performed in local churches, but sometime of more secular music in other venues. They often work with professional soloists and sometimes with professional orchestras and musicians. |
|  Andrew Mead, currently the Choir's Chairman, says:
"The choir is looking to build stronger links with local orchestras and soloists and hopes to bring the excitement of live music to more local people. We regularly produce excellent performances of both well-known and less well-known choral works. Recent performances have included the Rachmaninov Vespers, performed to a full-house at St. Peter’s Church, Leamington Spa, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast (with the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra, St. Michael’s Singers and Collegium), Vaughan William’s A Sea Symphony (also with the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra) and even two foreign tours – to Paris in 1993 and Bruges and Ghent in 1996.
The choir is run by a committee comprising myself with Secretary Sheila Short, Treasurer Nicola Clift and 6 others, and musical direction is provided by our Conductor Janet Lince and accompanist Colin Druce. Most other choir members also get involved in some aspect of the choir organisation." |
|  The choir held a successful “Come and Sing…” event in February this year, rehearsing and performing the Fauré Requiem and Vivaldi Gloria with 70 non-members joining the choir for the day. This is to be repeated on February 26, 2005, with two different works.
Other concerts this season included a concert for St. Cecilia’s Day in November and a Christmas Concert in December, both with a guest conductor, Peter Watts, from New Zealand
The next concert is on May 1st, as part of the Leamington Festival (organised by Warwick Arts Society), a performance of the Dvorak Requiem. This is a performance with the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra and the Oxford University Press Choir, and four professional soloists. More concerts will be held on 6th November and 12th December this year, the “Come and Sing…” on 26th February 2005, and their 65th Anniversary Concert (joint with the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra) is on May 21st, 2005 – a performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius.
 For more information about the choir you can visit their new website at www.warkcom.net/rlsbc. To join the choir, or to support the choir through sponsorship of one of their forthcoming concerts, to advertise in concert programmes, or become a Friend of the RLSBC, contact them by email on rlsbc@mtye.org.uk
For tickets for their forthcoming concert, contact the Warwick Arts Society box office, or the choir via the above email address. The RLSBC is a member of “Music to your Ears”, a local organisation (supported by Warwick District Council) promoting local live music. They are also members of Making Music, a national organisation supporting amateur music groups. |
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