Latest Concert Info
The Choir continues to learn a wide range of music under the direction of its new musical director and conductor Jonathan Watts. Jonathan's first Christmas concert included the following works, accompanied by a Brass Ensemble:
- O Magnum Mysterium by Lauridsen
- Heilig Heilig by Mendelssohn
- Frohlochet ihr Volker auf Erden by Mendelssohn
- Virga Jesse Floruit by Bruckner
- Hodie Christus Natus est by Schutz and Sweelinck
- In Dulci Jubilo by Scheidt
During the 2010 Spring concert the Choir performed for the first time Mendelssohn's Elijah. A Chorus performance will be held in the Great Hall at Dartington on 21 June to celebrate European Music Day.
We continue to pursue close links with the wider community. In 2000 the Choir was invited to celebrate millennium week in Totnes by singing David Fanshaw’s African Sanctus. We sing at Dartington Hall Trust Foundation Days and in 2004 joined other choirs from the area for the open-air broadcast of Songs of Praise in Dartmouth. In June 2004 members of the Choir travelled to Swanage to sing Ian Pillow’s setting of Thomas Hardy's Three Winter Poems, a work premiered by the Choir in 2003.
Concerts are held in early Summer and before Christmas. The 2008 Summer concert featured Monteverdi's Vespers (1610). This beautiful masterpiece of early baroque music has been increasingly performed during the last 50 years and loved for its great richness of colour from solo voices with lute to ten-part chorus with orchestra, including cornetts and sackbuts. Performances were held in The Great Hall, Dartington and the following day in Buckfast Abbey where the following photograph was taken:
The Christmas 2008 concert included Christmas Music from the 16th - 20th century with arrangements and compositions by John Railton and a selection of carols by John Rutter and David Willcocks. The following photograph was taken during the concert:
The 2009 Spring concert featured Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, one of the most difficult works the Choir have tackled. The performance was held in The Great Hall, Dartington where the following photograph was taken:
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Devon Guild of Singers & Players (DGSP)
To celebrate John Railton's 80th birthday year Verdi's Requiem was performed by singers from the the Devon Guild of Singers and Dartington Community Choir, together with singers from John's previous choirs in the Great Hall, Exeter University on Sunday 3rd May 2009, accompanied by the Ealing Youth Orchestra.