Christ’s Hospital Choral Society looking for new singers

Spokeswoman Esther Clark said: “New year, new plans? Would you like to increase your social circle? Are you looking for a sense of achievement? Better health? Have a think about music, about singing, about what incredible benefits you might gain! Music brings people together.

"Be part of a group with whom you work towards performing in a concert. It is so satisfying to develop your vocal skills, remembering melodies and lyrics, singing a beautiful piece of music in perfect harmony. It is terribly exciting being part of a big sound! And then there are the health benefits, too.

"Learning breathing techniques allows you to improve your sound. It also reduces stress, and it exercises major muscle groups. It increases your lung capacity, improves your posture and mental alertness, your immune system, and it has a calming effect on your heart rate. Singing makes you feel so good!

“Interested? Come and enjoy a rehearsal with Christ’s Hospital Choral Society! New singers are warmly welcomed to join practising Mozart’s Requiem, which will be performed on March 19 with the school’s choir at Christ’s Hospital. Taking the choir through their paces this term will be soprano and wonderful singing teacher Verity Bramson. She has a special interest in singing voice rehabilitation and is head of music at the school.

"The choir loved having Verity at the helm when rehearsing for the very successful Christmas concert, and they are excited to start Mozart’s exquisite Requiem with her.

“The Requiem was Mozart’s last work before, at the age of just 35, he left this world in 1791.

"Although Mozart had finished most of the movements at that time, the work was incomplete and it was Mozart’s student cum assistant Süssmayr who finished it.

“There are a few mysteries surrounding the work, one of which is for whom it was written. Mozart, in ill health, may have composed his own requiem. Hardly surprising then that he was in no rush to finish the work. It is not totally clear who commissioned it either; probably Count Franz von Walsegg whose wife Anna had just died at the tragically young age of 20. The Count had the reputation of passing off music as his own; there are suspicions that he would have claimed credit for this Requiem too. Intrigue and ploys are nothing new.

“The last music Mozart ever composed is the first eight bars of the well-known and stunning Lacrimosa. Do come and join the choir to enjoy singing this piece and the rest of the Requiem Mass. You will love it.”

The first rehearsal for the year was on Tuesday, January 10 at 7.30pm at Christ’s Hospital school.

To join the choir and for or more information, visit www.chchoralsoc.org or contact Esther Clark on 01403 272978.