Tour Reports 2012

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Coventry Cathedral - April 2012

The city of Coventry, already busy celebrating its Year of Roadworks, found time to host the OUCC’s April Tour. The spacious modern cathedral resounded to a wide selection of excellent music, ranging from Tallis to Macmillan, chosen by our Guest Music Director John Naylor.

We stayed in the Britannia Hotel which, though comfortable, featured an unforgettable menu and all-night entertainment, and guests were able to keep fit with regular trips to Reception for the re-programming of room keys.  In the hotel’s favour, though, was its close proximity to the cathedral and to the city centre, for those with the urge to explore the Transport Museum or Primark.

On the musical side, I found John’s direction of the choir to be superb (and a lot easier than the 50-question quiz he devised for our “amusement”). Although some OUCC regulars were unavoidably absent, it was good to see some new faces and to hear the talents of William Nicholson, our organist for the weekend.  Perhaps John took a bit of a gamble picking psalm chants and responses which were unknown to most of the choir, but it paid off, giving us a sense of achievement as well as making a fitting contribution to the worship in the cathedral.

I know I speak for many of us when I say how grateful we are to our new administration team, and hope they make every OUCC trip as successful as this one. Our visit to Coventry bore no relation whatsoever to the name of the horse which Ester drew in our Grand National sweepstake - “Organised Confusion”!

Bill Butler

Bristol Cathedral - August 2012 - 25th Anniversary Tour

It was a great joy to welcome back Phil Baxter as the Music Director and David Bruce-Payne as the Organist for this very special 25th Anniversary Tour.   We had a record number of singers – in fact, we had reached the limit for the number we could accommodate.  Most were regular attendees, some were returning after some years’ absence, a few were ‘first-timers’; all were equally welcome.

We met, as is the custom, on the Thursday evening for dinner at the hotel, Ramada Bristol.  Some of the members of the tour were non-resident, living locally or staying with friends but joining the rest of the company for some or all of the dinners.

Rehearsals started on Friday morning, and as the Cathedral Choir Room was in use by another visiting choir, arrangements had been made for us to rehearse in St Mary Redcliffe, next door to the hotel.  This was a treat and after the morning rehearsal in the Choir Room, we had the pleasure of singing in the choir stalls for the afternoon session and enjoying the sound of the organ and the wonderful acoustic.

On Saturday we were based at the Cathedral.  Extra seating was provided in the Choir Room where we were more than somewhat closely packed in – a couple of basses nearly ending up in the corridor outside.  None-the-less, Phil conducted a very efficient rehearsal, paying great attention to details and getting results.

The music was a mixture of new and familiar music: Byrd Responses, Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in F by Dyson (Saturday), and the setting in E by Murrill (Sunday).  The anthem on Saturday, Travis’ O worship the Lord was contrasted by Tallis’ O nata lux on Sunday. The setting for the Sunday Eucharist was Haydn’s Little Organ Mass.

The weather was very variable, mostly dry while we needed to get between venues, interspersed by some very heavy showers while we were under cover.

The seating arrangements in the hotel restaurant made it difficult to communicate to the whole group but on the Saturday evening we were able to have the after-dinner coffee in a private room which gave us the opportunity for some informal socialising.  The special anniversary was marked with a small presentation to Phil, the founder of the choir.

The general verdict from the participants indicates that it was a very enjoyable and successful weekend and we extend our heartfelt thanks to Phil and David for their hard work.

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