Let's sing for the Peace in Georgia

Chela is a small Cambridge based choir who sing traditional, religious and folk songs of Georgia. As a demonstration of support and solidarity with the people of Georgia, Chela will ‘Sing for Peace in Georgia’ on Wednesday, 20 August at 6pm at St Edwards Church, Market Hill, Cambridge (behind the Guildhall). This will be a synchronized sing with choirs in Georgia, Turkey, Corsica, Brittany, Paris and London.

All are welcome.  A small collection for refugees and good causes in Georgia will be made.

The Georgian polyphony, listed on the Unesco World Heritage, is a thousand-year-old tradition of singing which accompanies the life of Georgians in joy and pain, in celebration and mourning. It is also the ferment of courage and solidarity that enabled Georgia to outlast the difficulties.

The conflict between Russia and Georgia claimed lots of lives during those last days. Whole populations were scattered. A flimsy agreement of a cease-fire was signed by both countries.

All songs are taught by ear and are suitable for people of all levels of singing experience

About the Spooky man ............ Stephen Taberner was born in New Zealand, but moved to Sydney where a perfectly unorthodox life as jazz double bass player and computer programmer was hijacked by an extended encounter with world music choir "voices from the vacant lot". Before he knew it, he was a choirleader and then a singing songwriting double bass player.

As a massed choir leader Stephen is best known for his work with the Choral Sea in Sydney (1996 and 1998), and the Millennium Chorus in Melbourne (2004-6) and he is also notorious for his leadership of the Spooky Men's Chorale, which he formed in 2001. He currently directs the Spookies and community choir Yirriba as well as his work with the Millennium Chorus and an increasingly bewildering programme of singing or songwriting workshops throughout Australia.

Conductor: Jonathan Brett
Soloist: Freddy Kempf, Piano

Khachaturian Spartacus Suite
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 1 in C minor
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 4 in F Minor

The mighty Russian orchestras produce a quite distinctive and thrilling sound, and we are delighted to include two of them in this concert series. First off is the Moscow Philharmonic appearing under the dynamic English conductor Jonathan Brett, described by the Independent as 'brillantly exuberant'.

Their programme opens with Aram Khachaturian's best-loved work, his music for the ballet Spartacus, which juxtaposes glorious lyricism with frenetic drama. Now forever linked with the BBC TV series The Onedin Line, the work enjoys enormous popularity in its own right.

Having thrilled audiences with his reading of Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto in the last series, Freddy Kempf now tackles the composer's ultra-romantic Second Concerto (used to such atmospheric effect in David Lean's classic film Brief Encounter). Since winning the BBC Young of the Year Competition in 1992, Kempf has established himself as an outstanding pianist of international repute.

This concert comes to a barnstorming finale with Tchaikovsky's powerful Fourth Symphony. This gives the brass section plenty to do, not least in the resounding fanfare that opens the work and returns towards the end (incidentally, this featured as the theme tune to the 1970 mini-series Ivanhoe - just to complete the hat trick of film/TV theme tunes!). Another wonderful touch is the third movement scherzo, marked pizzicato ostinato, which gives the strings the chance to show their dexterity.

This is everyone's party!

Cantate is one of the UK's leading young choirs. It exists to encourage young people to sing a wide choral repertoire to the highest professional standards, and is renowned for exciting, dynamic performances and refined music-making. It draws its membership of over 180 young singers from more than 70 schools in the Cambridge, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire area. Cantate consists of three main choirs: the Training Choir for high voices from 8 years old; the Youth Choir of mixed voices from 13 to 16 years old; and the Senior Choir for singers from 15 to 19. In addition, there is a Chamber Choir of alumni, and a parents' and friends' choir - Amici Cantate. The choirs perform separately and together, both in their home area as well as in London, nationally and internationally. During the last year, Cantate has appeared on BBC's Songs of Praise three times. In November 2006, the Senior and Youth Choirs performed the world premiere in Cambridge of Bob Chilcott's Missa Cantate, and appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in the Schools Prom. In December, their London engagements included the Royal British Legion Christmas Celebration at Freemasons' Hall and Family Carols in St Paul's Cathedral. The Youth Choir toured Tuscany and Umbria in May 2007, and the Senior Choir performed 4 concerts to packed audiences around Lake Garda in July.

Programme details

Debussy: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

John Hopkins: Floating World

W. A. Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp

Frank Bridge: Summer

The K. 239 Chamber Orchestra is a semi-professional chamber orchestra based in Cambridge, UK. It was founded in spring 1989 by Nicholas Toller, taking its name from the catalogue number of Mozart's Serenata Notturna, the work which began its inaugural concert. Since then, the orchestra has presented 3 concerts each year, performing in several Cambridge venues (most frequently the University Concert Hall at West Road and Emmanuel United Reformed Church) and has given a great many conducting and solo performing opportunities to local musicians. The orchestra was disbanded in 2004 after the 15th Anniversary Concert but was re-formed in 2007 in memory of Nick Toller. A special trait of the orchestra is the repertoire: in addition to promoting less well-known or neglected works, each concert usually includes at least one work by Mozart and sometimes features works (including premières) by composers living in the city.

The Players

The orchestra consists of players from a very wide range of professional backgrounds. Some of our players are, or have been, professional performers, and several are semi-professional players and teachers of their instrument. For many of the others, orchestral playing is an enjoyable diversion from the stresses of their working day in medicine, science or commerce, etc.

Each member of the orchestra, including the soloists and conductors, contributes their time and expertise on a purely voluntary basis, and any regular member who wishes to do so, may be given the chance to conduct or to feature as a soloist.

Cambridge Philharmonic Society

Timothy Redmond: Conductor, Mark Simpson: Clarinet

Programme details
Wagner - Tristan and Isolde: Prelude

Magnus Lindberg - Clarinet Concerto

Mahler - Symphony No 1

"This was more than a performance; more than an interpretation, even ... this was simply great music-making by any standard"
So wrote music critic James Day after a performance of Mahler's Ninth symphony by the Cambridge Philharmonic Society in November 2002. The Cambridge Philharmonic Society: a group of nearly 200 members who play and sing music for the sheer love and art of it, aiming, always, at the highest possible standards of performance.

The Cambridge Philharmonic Society comprises a thriving choir and orchestra. Members come from all walks of life. The singers and players represent such diverse occupations as doctors and nurses, scientists and academics, writers and adminstrators, refrigeration engineers and engravers, teachers and students. They play up to eight concerts a year concentrating largely on the romantic repertoire. But they have also championed new works such as John Dankworth's Clarinet Concerto and George Lloyd's Symphonic Mass. They play Bach and Haydn too. Apart from venues in and around Cambridge they have given concerts in Ely, Peterborough and Norwich. In 2001 they travelled to Amersfoort in Holland for a performance of Haydn's Creation with the Amersfoort Choral Society, and in January 2004 they joined forces with the Brussels Choral Society for an all-Berlioz concert in Belgium.