News

Would you like join us? We are looking for new singing members.

If you enjoy music and choir singing have you ever thought about joining a choir.
New members are vital to an organisation like ours. Don't be put off if you have not sung in a choir before. Choral experience is not necessary, nor is the ability to read music, as we employ learning techniques that cope with all levels of ability and experience.
All that we ask is that you have a love of, and an ear for music. If you want to know more, please give our Secretary Gerry Smith a call on 01244 316664 OR just turn up at one of our rehearsals at Hamilton Street Methodist Church, Hamilton Street, Hoole on Wednesdays at 7.30pm or Sundays 7.45pm. You will be made very welcome.

Black Dyke Band 119th Festival Concert Success

The wonderful sound of the world famous Black Dyke Band filled Chester Cathedral on Saturday 12th April at the Choir's 119th Festival Concert. A huge audience gave the Band and Choir a raptuous welcome and were literally applauding for more at the end of the concert.
The highligtht of the evening was the was the Band's dramatic and exciting crescendo of Respighi's 'Pines of Rome'.
As well as singing popular favourites the Choir introduced three new pieces to its concert repertoire - All in the April Evening, Sprig of Thyme, and Dona Nobis Pacem.
Yet again the Choir was honoured by the attendance at the concert by its President, Her Grace the Duchess of Westminster and its Vice=President His Worship the Lord Mayor of Chester together with his wife the Lady Mayoress. The concert was in support of the local charity 'Miles of Smiles'
The next Festival on Saturday 11th October 2008, will be the 120th and will celebrate 60 glorious years of the Choir's famous Festival Concerts.
Tenor Rhys Meirion will be the star guest artiste.

Russ Abbot with 'Les Girls' from the Black Dyke Band

Russ Abbot was among the honoured guests at the Choir's 119th Festival Concert last Saturday. in 2001 Russ was appointed as the first Honorary Life Member of the Black Dyke Band. Russ was of course born and started his career in Chester and his brother Stuart has been an member of the Choir for many years. The girls featured in the picture with him are (left to right) Rebecca Marshall, Julie Backhouse, Alison Childs, Morvern Gilchrist and (just in view) Alex Kerwin

Russ Abbot joins the guests at our Festival Concert

Chester born Russ Abbot joined the guests in the audience at Festival Concert with the Black Dyke Band at the Cathedral. Russ was appointed as the first Honorary Life Member of the Black Dyke Band in 2001 in recognition of his excellent contribution to the world of theatre and entertainment and as a supporter of the Band over many years. Another reason for Russ to be there was that his brother Stuart Roberts is of course a member of the City of Chester Male Voice Choir and was on stage with the Choir.

We will sing at your wedding!

Would you like the City of Chester Male Voice Choir to sing at your wedding? We are frequently asked to sing at weddings either at the service or at the reception. During the service we will lead the congregational hymns as well as singing a short selection of your choice before the bride arrives and also during the signing of the register. We have a special repertoire of suitable music, including popular standards for these occasions. For further details please contact Gerry Smith on 01244 316664.
Also if you are planning a wedding you should check out our links page and find out how 'Handy Weddings' can help.

Black Dyke Band - TONIGHT - Tickets now available at Tourist Information and on the Door from 6.15pm

Tickets for the 119th Festival Concert with the Black Dyke Band at Chester Cathedral on Saturday 12th April are now on sale by ringing the Box Office on Chester 01244 341296. They will also be available on the door on the night.
For further details see the Future Concerts entry on this page.

Valentine's Day on the fabulous Orient Express Northern Belle

At our Festival Concert last October the first prize in the raffle was a dinner excursion for two people on the famouse Orient Express Norhern Belle.
The prize was won by Dorothy Wallis and she and her husband Brian chose Valentine's Day to enjoy their prize. This is the letter that Dorothy wrote to the Choir after the special event:-

Some of you may remember my discordant gasp of excitement and surprise (sorry Rodney!!) when my raffle ticket was announced as the winner at the October Festival Concert, the prize being a trip for 2 on the Orient Express Northern Belle.
Well nothing was out of tune on the Northern Belle – in fact everything was just great when Brian and I joined the train for the Valentine’s Day dinner on Thursday evening at Chester Station. We were greeted by Stuart and the Manager of the train and shown to our seats in the beautiful carriage named after Alnwick castle. The carriage was very plush and decorated with veneers of lily motif in oak, box wood, yew tree, sycamore, satin wood and walnut.
As the train left the station we were sipping Laurent-Perrier pink champagne with delicious canapés. Later we enjoyed a delightful 5 course meal (the lobster and crab ravioli in a consommé and the venison loin wrapped in ham were just wonderful) as we journeyed steadily through Lancashire via Hebden Bridge to West Yorkshire, returning via Manchester.
During the journey we were entertained by a duo on saxophone and guitar playing chattanooga cho cho (rather apt!!) amongst other popular songs.
Stuart and his colleagues looked after us extremely well and at the end of the evening all the ladies were given a beautiful rose.
All in all a wonderful evening. Our thanks go to the Northern Belle Company for their generosity in offering such a special raffle prize and to Stuart for his kindness in organising the evening.

Dorothy Wallis

Happy New Year to all from The City of Chester Male Voice Choir.

Blake Fischer wows Festival audience at the Cathedral with his tribute to Pavarotti

The young Australian tenor Blake Fischer wowed the audience at the 118th Festival concert with his four aria tribute to Pavarotti. For full details see the review of the concert above under the picture of Maria Friedman.

Festival Concert success for Maria.

Full page publicity with a celebrity interview and a huge colour photograph of Maria on the front page of The Guide section of the Chester Chronicle set the scene for a great 118th Festival Concert at the Cathedral last Friday. The audience was thrilled with Maria's performance. Jason Carr, her MD and accompanist, matched her presentation perfectly and not only duetted with Maria in Bosom Buddies from the show Mame (he taking the part that Bea Arthur played on Broadway) but also contributed to the concert in his own right with a masterful performance at the piano of The Warsaw Concerto.
Maria wove a narration of her life and music between stunning performances of classics from Kern, Gershwyn, Rodgers, Hammerstein, Herman, Le Grande, Bernstein and particularly Steven Sondheim who, she informed her audience, was a personal friend and godfather to her children. Her voice ranged from an extremely powerful upbeat rendition of When The Parade Passes By from Hello Dolly to the haunting, breathy sound that filled the cathedral when she performed Send In The Clowns from Sondheim's Little Night Music. Performed, rather merely sung, is the appropriate way to describe her presentation - she really lives the part with every word that she sings. "When I perform a song from a show, I have to go to the place I would be if I were in that show" is how she explained this in her celebrity interview with Michael Green of The Guide.
Maria sang two numbers with the Choir. In the first half it was 'In The Sky' a most beautiful unaccompanied song from The Vilna Ghetto written by a 12 year old boy, and dedicated to all children who suffer, or have suffered in war and strife. Her finale with the Choir was the always uplifting You'll Never Walk Alone which received a another resounding ovation from the audience.
The young Australian tenor Blake Fischer wowed the audience with four popular arias, E lucevan le stelle; La Donna e Mobile; O Sole Mio and Nessum Dorma! all chosen as a tribute to the late great Pavarotti. Blake is surely a star of the future and once again the Choir is delighted to have brought an outstanding new talent to Chester for the first time. Blake was accompanied by John Wilson who was appearing at his 58th Festival Concert with the Choir.
On its part the Choir conducted by Rodney T. Jones, accompanied by Helen Everett and presented by Lance Howie (who as deputy conducter led the choir for Stout Hearted Men) were well on song showing its versatility with a varied programme of fourteen songs, ranging from the rousing Comrades in Arms and When The Saints Go Marching In, to the lyrical Autumn Leaves, When I Fall In Love and The Rose. As befitting the theatrical background of Maria Friedman the Choir included songs from the shows Oliver, Porgy and Bess, Les Miserables, South Pacific, New Moon, and Pirates of Penzance - a programme that appealed greatly to the audience.
The City of Chester Male Voice Choir have been presenting twice yearly Festival Concerts for almost 60 years. 'The Festivals' are, perhaps, the longest established Festival of the many that take place each year in Chester. Next April the 119th Festival concert at the Cathedral will feature the Choir with the world famous Black Dyke Band. Tickets for this will be available soon.

Choir sing in great concert with the Dorset Police

Last night (Saturday) the Choir joined the Dorset Police Male Voice in a great combined concert at St. Andrews United Reform Church, Richmond Hill, in Bournemouth in front of a large audience in this beautiful church. The concert raised over one thousand four hundred pounds to be shared between the RNLI and the church organ restoration fund.
The Choir return to Chester today (Sunday).

We have been made website of the week by Chester Tourist.

Welcome to our brand new web site which went live on 3rd September 2007.
The following email was received on 13th September from the Chester Tourist Web site (see our links page).
"Your web site is now linked to:-
http://www.chestertourist.com/chester1.htm" and I have also made you web site of the week!"

If you like our site please save it it your favourites, visit it on a regular basis, and please pass it on to all your contacts.
The ' listen to our recordings' feature is not yet working properly - but this should be fixed in the next few days.
We hope that you will come to visit the site frequently it is intended to keep the site fresh almost on a daily basis.
Please leave a message in our guest book to let us know what you think of us or to suggest any features you would like to see on the site.
Our thanks are due to John Ulotti of UQ Web Design for his professional help in building this new site.
If your organisation would like to set up a link with our site we will gladly reciprocate.

Prom Praise 2007

On the 6th October the Choir once again took part in this sell out concert at the Cathedral. Putting in an excellent performance of Cat-Like Tread, Llanfair, and Battle Hymn of the Republic as well as joining with Chester Ladies Choir and Farndon Band with World in Union.

Hope and Glory 2007 at Bimingham ICC

On Saturday 15th September the City of Chester Male Voice Choir appeared with the Band of the Royal Air Force College to entertain the 1500 guests at the 'Hope and Glory 2007' boxing tournament and banquet at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. The event was unique in bringing together, in one parade of Champions, the cream of British boxing over the past 50 years. Those attending included Ken Buchanan, John Conteh, John H. Stracey, Alan Minter, Charlie Magri, Dick McTaggart, Nigel Benn, The event was staged to help set up the UK's first Boxing Hall of Fame.

Miles of Smiles for Jonny Sass

The Choir's fund raising effort for Miles of Smiles has helped to send Jonny Sass (pictured at a recent choir rehearsal with his mum Dianne Sass, and trip co-ordinator Brian Peers) to Disneyworld

Luciano Pavarotti has died. Nessun Dorma!

The great tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, died in the early hours of Thursday 6th September, at his home in Modena, the city of his birth.
The City of Chester Male Voice Choir will join the many millions of music lovers around the world in mourning his passing.
Although the Choir never sang on the same stage with Pavarotti there are still at least two surviving members of the Choir who competed in the same male voice choir competition as Pavarotti at the International Eisteddfod at Llangollen in 1955.

Congratulations to Gordon and Beth Garnos on their 50th Wedding Anniversry!

In 1957 Gordon Garnos was a young airman serving with the US Airforce at Sealand camp. Encouraged by the Choir's founder Fred Warren Gordon joined the Cestrian Male Voice Choir as a tenor. While he was in the Choir he met, fell in love with, and married Elizabeth McFarlane the daughter of another Choir member William McFarlane. They married on the 7th September 1957 and soon afterwards they left Chester to set up home in Gordon's home state of South Dakota USA. They have lived there ever since and this week they celebrate their golden wedding anniversary at their home in Watertown SD.
In 1980 the Choir undertook a 2 week concert tour of South Dakota which was inspired and managed by Gordon who at that time was one of the state's leading journalists and was the editor of the Watertown Public Opinion newspaper. Now retired, Gordon is President of the Watertown City Council and he also serves on the Board of Directors of the South Dakota Hall of Fame. Congratulations once again to Gordon and Beth.
The Choir has now appointed Gordon as an Honorary Member of the Choir in belated recognition of his inspiration and management of the Choir's tour to South Dakota in 1980.

This is John Ulotti designer of this web site.

Thanks to the professional help from John Ulotti of U Q Web Design we went live with our new web site on 12 August 2007,