We welcome Billingshurst Choral Society and conductor Cathal Garvey for this light-hearted programme. In the first half expect to be entertained by the finest choruses of Gilbert and Sullivan from operettas including The Gondoliers, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore. After the interval, a selection of everyone's favourite songs from the Golden Age of twentieth century films and musicals, with music by George Gershin, Fats Waller, Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen, who wrote the beautiful song of the title.
- Gilbert and Sullivan Choruses from Trial by Jury, The Mikado, HMS Pinafore, The Gondoliers, The Pirates of Penzance, The Yeoman of the Guard
- Fats Waller Ain't misbehavin'
- Kosma Autumn Leaves
- Porter Begin the Beguine; Let's do it; Night and Day
- Kern Smoke gets in your eyes
- Rodgers and Hart Blue Moon
- Gershwin S'wonderful; I got rhythm
- Arlen Over the Rainbow
Billingshurst Choral Society
Piano - Helen Wharmby
Conductor - Cathal Garvey
Tickets £23 (premium) £18 (unreserved) children £5 - book online now.
The premium package includes reserved seat + programme + interval drink.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Billingshurst Choral Society (BCS) is a lively and well-established choir based in West Sussex. It was founded in 1986 and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2016, and currently has just over one hundred singers. BCS has a wide repertoire, ranging from Handel, Bach and Beethoven to Verdi and Vaughan Williams, including modern composers such as Rutter, Chilcott, Jenkins, Todd and Goodall. Beyond the regular choral works the choir has performed the premier of The Billingshurst Mass, composed for BCS by Sir Stanley Vann, African Sanctus by David Fanshawe, Mass in Blue by Will Todd, Zimbe! by Alexander L'Estrange and the UK premiere of Requiem For Victims of Nazi Persecution, by the Norwegian composer Ståle Kleiberg, which was performed in Hove, East Sussex, as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival.
BCS performs three major concerts a year, two with full orchestra and soloists, and a lighter programme for its summer concert. Most concerts take place at Billingshurst Leisure Centre, but the choir also performs every other year at Chichester Cathedral and is now pleased to be a regular contributor at the Brandenburg Choral Festival of London.
The Choir travels on tour every two years, which not only widens its experience, but also proves a popular social opportunity for members. In the past the choir has travelled to Belgium, the Loire Valley, Paris, Prague, Tuscany and Vienna. In 2003 BCS gave the first amateur performance in the South of England of Karl Jenkins' acclaimed work The Armed Man and four years later travelled to New York to join a performance of this work at Carnegie Hall. In June this year, BCS will tour to Dublin.