February 20th
St Martin of Tours, Epsom
© Copyright Hugh Craddock and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
The 20th February saw the Choir at Epsom, at the Church of St Martin of Tours. This is the local church of one of our second tenors Byron Davies and he and the organising committee provided an excellent welcome and a capacity audience of over 400. The concert was in aid of Church redevelopment.
This was an special concert as it was the first concert of our new Musical Director Edward-Rhys Bate, here seen hard at work at the rehearsal.
In the words of the Valleys it was a cracking concert and our new MD was tidy. Eighty choristers packed into the staging and were greeted by the welcome sight of a full house, including the mayor of Epsom Councilor Jan Mason.
SImon Talbot the Vicar of St Martin of Tours welcomed us and then the concert was handed over to our compere Colin Jones, he held the concert together very well.
The choir were on fine form and Anita D'Attellis our guest accompanist performed brilliantly. 
Our soloist was soprano, Debra Morley, who has a busy concert, opera and oratorio programme. She delighted us with her range from romantic 'We'll gather lilacs' to the coloratura of Faust and La Traviata.
The other soloist was the organist of St Martins, Iain Macfarlane, a former organ scholar at Trinity Hall and a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He played two pieces, Pastorale Improvisation amd Tuba Tune.
This concert was a very encouraging start to our new era under the direction of Edward-Rhys Bate and we look forward to our next concert at Luton.
( see the engagements section for details )
Mike Jarman LWMVC
Photo of Edward-Rhys Bate and the choir courtesy of John Downing
