COMING SOON …

There is an exciting season ahead for Lymington Choral Society which began as an Adult Education Class at Lymington Community Centre in 1961 but has since grown to a choir of around seventy members. Under their new conductor, professional tenor Michael Goldthorpe, they will expand the number of performances to three rather than two. Michael plans to build on the high standard reached under previous six musical directors, introducing challenging but enjoyable repertoire for the choir to sing and for local audiences to appreciate.

The choir is always looking for new members from the New Forest area of all ages especially younger people. There is no audition – some sight-reading is helpful and there must be a commitment to regular attendance at rehearsals which are held on Wednesdays from 7.30-9.30pm in the Wellington Room at Lymington Community Centre. We have two sessions in the year, the first from September to December, culminating with the concert and the second from January to May when we have our second concert.  The fee for each session is £30 plus £1 per copy for the hire of the music. 

After a very successful concert in May when we performed Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, our next is on Saturday, 4th December again at 7.30pm in St Thomas' Church, Lymington.  At this concert we will be singing The Seasons by Haydn and the concert will also include carols for choir and audience.

2010-2011 is the choir's Golden Jubilee and in our concert on 14th May 2011 we will be performing a newly commissioned work by Christopher de Souza.  Also included in this programme will be Songs from the Bavarian Highlands by Elgar and Cant de les Estrelles by Granados.  On this occasion we will be singing in the United Reformed Church in Lymington and there will be two concerts, one at 2.30pm and the other at 7.30pm.

MICHAEL GOLDTHORPE - Conductor

Michael Goldthorpe was born and educated in The City of York. He sang as a boy treble at St Michael-le-Belfrey (opposite the Minster) and played horn in York City Brass Band. He quickly reached a high standard of piano playing and was in demand as an accompanist for local singers. He studied at Trinity College Cambridge where he served in the OTC and the college choir and orchestra, whilst reading for an English degree. He then moved to London where he studied at King's College for a Post-Graduate Certificate of Education, and taught in various secondary schools, from 1966-7 studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won the Mirsky Memorial Prize for Lieder before joining the BBC Singers and the music profession in 1968.

Michael has travelled widely with Intimate Opera, The London Opera Group, Kent Opera, The Chelsea Opera Group, The English Bach Festival, L'Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing and The Royal Opera Company Covent Garden. He has broadcast recitals and concerts for the BBC and stations in Europe and Singapore, becoming closely identified with the French Baroque revival of the seventies and eighties, and making many records and television appearances.

He has taught for London University, The London College of Music and Trinity College of Music. For many years he directed solo and choral singing classes for Wandsworth Adult Education Institute, where he also conducted the Ladies Choir. He has taught voice for both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and currently teaches singing privately in London and Lymington, where he now lives, and for Roehampton University.

Michael is delighted to be taking over as Musical Director of Lymington Choral Society. His priorities will be

·       to develop the already high standard of performances

·       to increase the number of performance opportunities

·       to find fresh, varied and challenging repertoire

·       to draw in new choir members, especially young ones

·       to make rehearsals both instructive and enjoyable

·       to offer promising young professional soloists a platform