Welcome to the Dartington Community Choir Website

News and events

A National Honour for John Railton

John Railton has been awarded an MBE in the January 2012 Honours List. 

As long ago as 2008 Geoffrey Histed as co-ordinator wrote to a number of friends and former colleagues of John Railton to enlist their support in order to try to get his very special life and career recognised in the national honours system.  Letters of support from some 80 recipiants helped Geoffrey then and in the intervening period to make a very full and wide ranging submission/nomination.

Geoffrey would like to thank everyone who wrote in support of the nomination and also Rosemary Roscoe and Cath Collins who greatly helped and encouraged him personally in the long and involved process.  We are also grateful for the interest and support of Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes.

David Ewins, chairman of the Dartington Community Choir, would like to offer congratulations on behalf of the whole Community Choir.

John is truly delighted and if you want to contact John direct to congratulate him, he has given his permission to give you all his contact details which are as follows:

Address: 2 Harbourne Flats, Old Road, Harbertonford, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 7TA

Landline: 01803 732980  Mobile: 07982 803901  Email: railton494@btinternet.com

Spring Concert 2012 - Sunday 1st April

Tickets: Dartington Box Office 01803 847070 www.dartington.org/arts

Christmas Concert 2011

     

Press Review by Philip R Buttall

If you prefer getting your teeth into a Bratwurst rather than a humble fried sausage, then you’ll surely appreciate the advantage of singing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in the vernacular.
However, the main issue is whether to give the work in its entirety, or make some cuts. Then, having finished with the editor’s pencil, there’s the decision to go with period instruments, or not.
In the hands of Baroque specialist, and charismatic conductor, Jonathan Watts, Dartington Community Choir’s performance in the radiant ambiance of the Great Hall got it absolutely spot on.
Using a small Baroque orchestra meant that balance between voice and orchestra was as originally intended, and the slightly lower pitch made Bach’s often uncompromising lines far more manageable.
Devoting the first half to the composer’s Cantata No 51 and Handel’s Messiah Part 1, was a deft bit of programming, leaving the opening and closing parts of the Christmas Oratorio to provide the perfect finish, musically and spiritually.


Soloists Anna Sandstrom (soprano), Alexei Winter (tenor), Paul Sheehan (bass), and Sebastian Field (counter-tenor), standing in for the indisposed Nicholas Clapton, were in fine voice.
The orchestra, confidently led by Julie Hill, provided stalwart support throughout, enhanced by trumpeter, Crispian Steele-Perkins’s telling contribution.


But again the choir deserves the ultimate accolade for singing its heart out, and clearly conveying how very much it enjoyed every single note.  

 

KEY DATES