CHOIR REPORT Trianon’s Spring concert at St John’s Church was an evening of powerful choral music, with Bach’s overtly joyful O Praise the Lord and Brahms’ German Requiem tapping into universally human emotions. Julie Roberts and Mark Saberton gave wonderful solo performances. And it was good to see so many people in the audience, after ticket sales apparently had a shaky start!

Some choir members were less happy with our overall performance; these were tricky works to learn, and the rehearsal schedule was short. This underlines the importance of attending as many rehearsals as possible, and being as attentive as possible when there. You might also be interested to know that we had a record 102 singers commit to the concert, but one sixth dropped out before the night. Many suffered ill-health (I hope you are all feeling better), but not all. I know life can get in the way of our plans sometimes (don’t I just!), but a Trianon concert is a fairly short-term commitment. Please do try not to cancel at the last minute, and please do let the Choir Secretary know what your decision is. Thank you!

On that note, now is the time to confirm that this has been my last concert as Choir Secretary. Many thanks to all who have given me encouragement over the past couple of years. I’m now handing over to Anna Andrews (thank you, Anna, for ‘volunteering’). Please continue being supportive, especially as she settles into the role, which can take some time!   Catherine Legg

A message from your new Choir Secretary
I look forward to seeing you all at the first rehearsal for the Summer concert. Usual reminder – please to return your commitment slips promptly.      Anna Andrews

I consider myself to be a very tolerant and patient person but I was on the verge of giving up at the start of the last set of rehearsals. I apologise profusely to those people who always let me know whether they are playing by the deadline. I don’t wish to preach to the converted. But those of you who never or rarely bother to tell me you are playing are making my life very difficult. The frustration I feel is doubly irritating when I do contact you and leave a message and then you don’t even bother to get back to me. You know who you are!. I understand that we are all busy people and I can tell you that my life is just as busy as yours and probably much more so. I simply don’t have the time to keep ringing you back.

And another thing whilst I am on a roll with the moaning. I was particularly disappointed with the lack of support from the cellos this time. No less than 8 out of the 13 cellos on the books did not take part in the Easter concert.

I know there are genuine reasons why some of you can’t do the occasional concert but this lack of commitment was particularly worrying.

I think I speak for the majority of people who took part at Easter and it was a particularly enjoyable rehearsal period and concert for all present. You really did miss out.

That’s the end of the moaning session. Please give some thought to your loyalty to Trianon. It is a very rare and precious organisation – dear to lots of people’s hearts not just mine. To use a hokey kokey analogy – consider whether you are going to “Put your whole self in or your whole self out”. I really do hope it is the latter. See you in July.     Ruth Symington