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Public AppearancesAs a concert choir Bolsterstone is in constant demand, particularly throughout South Yorkshire. There is always a major annual concert in Sheffield, which is now held at Sheffield Cathedral. The Choir regularly performs at other venues in Sheffield, such as the Cutlers' Hall or the Crucible Theatre. Local societies and charities use the choir on a regular basis and the tradition of a carol concert in Bolsterstone parish church has lasted for decades.The choir have performed in almost every conceivable venue. It has sung in wooden huts, cavernous tents, tiny churches, a bus depot and a gold mine: as well as in Elsinore Castle (Denmark), the Royal Albert Hall, Sheffield, Lincoln and Gloucester cathedrals and innumerable airports. Indeed the Choir gained a great deal of publicity when (twice) it flew round Britain in a day with Britannia Airways in order to raise money for "Children in Need". Over £ 75, 000 was raised by the Choir for the appeal.
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The Choir performs in public about 20 times every year. There is a flurry of activity every Christmas when there can be ten concerts in three weeks. Not all the Choir's performances are open to the general public because we regularly perform for private functions. There are, though, a substantial number open to the public and a list is provided on this Web site of forthcoming concerts. If you would like tickets for any of these events, then please e-mail the Concert Secretary.
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Postal Address
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Graham Walsh |
Touring forms a major plank in the choir's concert structure,
and tours have taken place every two to three years. The choir visited Denmark
in 1990 and several visits have been made to Sheffield's twin city of Bochum in
Germany. A major tour of South Africa was undertaken in 1993, with the choir
taking second place in the South African International Eisteddfod. A feature of
its touring record is that several return visits have been made by the Bochum
Choir from Germany and in 1996 the choir was happy to be hosts to the Welsh Male
Voice Choir of South Africa and the Copenhagen Police Choir 1996.
Overseas competitions have been an important stimulus to development. The visit
to South Africa was followed by participation in the International Music
Festival in Malta in 1996 where the Choir was the highest placed single voice
choir in the competition.
In 1998, the Choir faced one of its sternest tests at Riva del Garde in Italy
where some of the best choirs in Europe were competing.
Competitions
Bolsterstone has always regarded itself as a 'competitive' Choir. Since the early days of its foundation, choral competitions have been the most important aspect of its work. Before the 1950s, the Choir competed regularly at local Yorkshire festivals. Since that time, it has moved onto the larger national and international competitions. Its greatest achievement was, undoubtedly, winning the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen in 1972. In the 1990s, though, the Choir has, so far, won 5 major competitions which compares well with the glory days of the 1970s.In recent years, Bolsterstone has added the major titles of
Welsh Choir of the Year (1984 and 1995), Northern Champions (1988) and National
Champions (1992) and United Kingdom Champions (1997) & (1999) to
its list of honours, together with several other successes. Our recent prizes
are:-
 | The Championship at the Pantyfedwen Eisteddfod in 1996
| 4th prize in the 1997 Malta International Music Festival, where there
were a record 13 choirs from all parts of Europe competing.
| The inaugural National Championships, held in Rhyl in June 1997 was another notable
triumph for the Choir. On this occasion there were 13 choirs competing in
a large field that included the best of English Male Voice Choirs.
| At the Bangor Choral Festival in Match 1999, the Choir was placed 2nd in
the Male Voice Choirs section; 2nd in the Light Entertainment Section and
2nd in the Open Choral Competition. This string of results ensured that
the Choir won the Festival rosebowl for the Best Choir in the Competition.
| In October 1999, the Choir won the national title back from the Colne
Valley MVC.
| In October 2000, the National Male Voice Choir championships were
cancelled because not enough choirs wished to compete. The Choir retained
their title by default
| In November 2000, the Choir competed in the 8th International Choir
Festival in Athens. We were place 4th out of 11 and were the highest
placed male choir. We were awarded the Festival's Silver medal. | | |
Our Repertoire
The choir has sung in a number of languages, including Czech,
Italian, French, German, Latin and Welsh. This willingness to take on the
difficult challenges posed by other languages is also reflected in the Choir's
commitment to new music.
For instance, Bolsterstone MVC has commissioned new pieces of
music several times and recent examples are several settings by our former
Musical Director, Christopher Wiltshire. The first and most successful was 'What
May This Mean', which uses the words from Shakespeare's Hamlet, where
the young Prince sees the ghost of his father on the battlements of Elsinore
Castle. The second was Great Things, which is a poem by Thomas Hardy (and
one of a trilogy) that reflects on the important things in the poet's life and
concludes that spiritual salvation is more important. The third, and most
recent, is a setting of an American poem (that Chris Wiltshire has re-named The
Birth of a Nation) that rejoices in that country's independence and freedom.
The Choir has also commissioned a piece by Barry Russell called 'Two
Sisters', which is a modern version of a Child ballad and, several years
ago, a wonderfully humorous piece by Andrew carter called "William the
Conqueror".
The choir's repertoire is extensive, and ranges from the
sixteenth century to the present day. Much of its concert programme is drawn
from the traditional male voice choir repertoire but there are many other types
of music that Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir can perform.
| Pieces from popular classical composers like Schubert,
Janacek, Handel and Dvorak who wrote music specifically for the male chorus.
We also sing little-known masterpieces from composers, not well known for
male choral music, like Elgar, Copeland, Rachmaninov and Bruckner. We also like performing madrigals, although a 70-strong male choir seems the wrong type of choir to do this. Our three long-time favourites are 'My Bonnie Lass' and 'Fire, fire my heart' both by Thomas Morley and 'Matona, Mia Cara' by Orlando di Lasso. Religious music has long been popular with our audiences.
Hymns like 'Llanfair', 'Gwahoddiad' and the 'Ave Maria'
are part of our current repertoire. | Songs from operas and musicals provide a rich choice of
choral material. We sing choruses from operas by Wagner, Puccini, and Verdi
and songs from popular shows like 'Les Miserables', and 'South
Pacific' as well as a new arrangement by Chris Wiltshire of the music of
Ebb and Kandor, who wrote 'Cabaret' | Popular songs, old and new, feature in our concerts. The
Victorian classic 'The Lost Chord' by Sir Arthur Sullivan is a choir
favourite and the beautiful setting of the English folk song, 'Linden
Lea' by Ralph Vaughan Williams is also very popular in both competitions
and concerts. We also sing modern classics like 'Cavatina' and 'Portrait
of my love' as well as medleys from the work of Cole Porter, the Beatles
and Ebb and Kandor. A recent addition to our programme is a song that is
very popular with mixed voice choirs and which has been arranged for us by
Chirs Wiltshire. 'The Mermaid' is a light-hearted tale about a
mariner who marries a mermaid at "the bottom of the deep blue
sea". The story is funny but far more unusually so is the music with
variations of tempi, style and dynamic which all create a most unusual piece
that has been very popular at our concerts and competitions. | No male voice choir could possibly ignore the great
spirituals and in our concert programme the choir includes many American
spirituals and folk songs. Currently 'Shenandoah', 'Nobody knows
the trouble I seen', 'Charlottetown', 'L'il Liza Jane' and
'Where shall I be ?' all feature regularly. | English translations of Welsh songs are increasingly becoming a part of our programme. Two songs arranged by Brian Hughes have been added recently, 'Lisa Mine' (Lisa Lan) and 'Liza Mary' (Hen Ferchetan). A South African compilation by Gwyn Arch called 'African Trilogy' has been a very successful addition to our 2000 year's programme. Christmas carols are a high point of our musical year. As
well as the well known traditional Christmas hymns we also sing carols from
the Yorkshire tradition like 'Stannington' and 'Oughtibridge'
and, of course, the "Bolsterstone anthem", 'Hail Smiling Morn'. | |
The choir normally sings accompanied by a piano/ clavinova or 'a
capella', but it has sung with the Band of HM Royal Marines and with the
Band of the Welsh Guards. It has also sung with symphony orchestras and with
magnificent pipe organs and has sung as a part of massed choir concerts. The
choir has been honoured to appear with great brass bands, famous singers and
fine instrumentalists.
Since late 1998, the Choir has been fortunate to have its own
mobile staging and clavinova, which were both bought with funds provided by the
National Lottery. The staging ensures that every chorister can be seen by the
audience and (importantly) that they can all see the conductor ! Furthermore,
the arrangement improves the Choir's sound because the individual parts can be
positioned to best advantage. We have also been able to buy sound equipment that
has been of great value in venues without their own sound system. The most
obvious lottery purchase, however, is our trailer for the equipment that we take
to various venues because it has a giant Choir logo on the side !
Recordings
The Choir has made several private recordings. Unlike other major Choirs, they
have not worked for a commercial recording company. In addition to the discs and
cassettes that have been produced by and sold through the Choir, there have been
other recordings which feature the Choir in some way. These have normally been
concert performances, for instance the National Choir Championships have made
several recordings on which the Choir are featured. BBC Radio Sheffield also
made a tape of 'A Concert for Africa', which raised funds for charity.
One recording that features several songs by the Choir is the Memories from
Denmark, 1991 tape that was made when at a concert in Copenhagen when the
Choir toured Denmark at the invitation of the Copenhagen Police Choir. A
list of the Choir's own recordings is given below. Click on the name, to see
full details of the contents of each one.
| Autumn
Leaves
| Hail
! Bolsterstone
| Sounds
Great
| Village
of Song
| A
Yorkshire Christmas | |
| Graham Walsh Lemonacre Bank Lane Upper Denby Huddersfield HD8 8UT |