- Christmas Charity Appeal
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Date Posted: Tue, 1 Dec 2020
This Christmas the North Herts Guild of Singers is supporting Haven First (formerly Stevenage Haven and North Herts Sanctuary) which provides support for the homeless. Please follow the link for more information, and to make a donation
virginmoneygiving.com/fund/nhgsCarolConcert
- Keep Music at Benslow Alive
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Date Posted: Fri, 4 Sep 2020
STILL KEEPING MUSIC AT BENSLOW ALIVE
By the time you read this, the fundraising appeal by Benslow Music should have hit its mark; a generous benefactor promised to make up the shortfall with a five-figure donation so Peter Hewitt, Benslow's CEO, was confident that the £200,000 target would be reached in just three months. Writing in the latest edition of The Buzz, Benslow's newsletter, Peter says: "Thank you to everyone who has been so very supportive of our appeal... our gratitude to all who have donated small and larger amounts alike, sometimes several times over, knows no bounds." However Peter stresses that they are not out of the woods and the appeal remains open, and he was writing before the second lockdown in November when Benslow was again forced to close its doors to courses and concerts.
To donate, search for Keep Music At Benslow Alive on JustGiving or click the link.
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/KeepMusicAtBenslowAlive
- Requiems at Home
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Date Posted: Fri, 10 Jul 2020
The Self Isolation Choir now has more than 5,600 subscribers all over the world. We are very proud to report that our Music Director, Harry Bradford, is to become their Course Director for a new series of Requiems at Home.
Harry is to lead the teaching for the Faure, Brahms, Verdi and Durufle Requiems, with a cathedral organ/piano backing and the Recordare Chamber Choir. The first course will be available from 24 August. Each course will be a mix of live streaming and recorded learning, for each voice, and there will be a live ‘concert’. In January there will also be the Mozart Requiem led by their Music Director, Ben England.
Harry has been honing his online skills with our weekly choir sessions over the last few months and we can vouch for his skill and talent in this medium.
https://www.theselfisolationchoir.com/requiems-at-home
- NHGS meets online
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Date Posted: Thu, 11 Jun 2020
The essence of a choir is to gather together to make music; to rehearse and to perform. Every Thursday the North Herts Guild of Singers rehearses, and we have a concert four times a year. We have not been able to do this since March. However, we are meeting together online, as many as 80 of us at a time.
Every Thursday evening we join Harry Bradford and Colin Spinks from our homes. During these sessions we have continued to work on Bach’s wonderful B minor Mass. We have also taken a look at the Rossini we had planned to perform in July. We have sung rounds to videos of ‘The Four Harrys’, and we always have a warm up, which no doubt attracts the curiosity of our neighbours on the warm evenings.
Other sessions have included an overview of sight reading and Colin’s ‘Debunking Choral Myths’, American choral music and close harmony, as well as some early music and a range of works both familiar and new to us. Choir members requested their own favourite items for the penultimate meeting of the term.
We are still making plans for our 2020/21 season, and look forward to seeing each other and our audiences before too long.
