Fernhurst Choral Society are promising A Joyful Celebration

Under musical director Tim Ravalde they perform four celebratory pieces, accompanied by talented young soloists, organ, brass and timpani, at 7.30pm on Saturday, June 11 at St Mary’s Church, Petworth.

The programme will comprise Haydn’s Insanae et Vanae Curae, Bruckner’s Te Deum and Bach’s Ascension Oratorio with Parry’s I Was Glad invoking memories of the Queen’s coronation nearly 70 years ago.

Tickets are £15 with free entry for NUS cardholders and accompanied under-18s, available via www.fernhurstchoralsociety.org.uk, Fernhurst Hub, the Ticket Manager, 01730 815708 or at the concert door.

The concert follows successful recent performances of Handel’s Messiah in Petworth and works by Haydn and Vivaldi at the Petersfield Musical Festival.

Tim said: “Most of all this concert is just saying how delighted we are to be back, to have come through to the end of our first full season post-Covid. We wanted to put on a concert containing pieces that were full of life and variety and spirit and just full of great music.

“We are in fine form and full of energy and great voice and, I would say, better than we have ever sounded.”

All the singers are relishing the return: “We closed down in a hurry like the rest of the world in March 2020. Some choirs went straight onto Xoom but we bided our time a little bit an d I don't regret that. We ended up spending the entirety of the 2020-21 season on Zoom and I am glad that we weren't on it longer. We did the best we could with it, but it is no substitute really.

"You just can't hear each other!

“But we did manage to explore on Zoom some repertoire that we've never sung before.

"We sang quite a lot of renaissance polyphony which is not our usual fare because we're not a chamber choir but there was just something about it that lent itself to singing on your own in your bedroom!

“We emerged from Zoom in September 2021. Various choral societies started rehearsing together the moment they could plausibly legally do so but we waited. We were slightly more cautious and that meant that when we got together in September 2021 we had not seen each other for 18 months.

“Most of us had forgotten what it was like singing in a choir where you can hear each other’s voices and you're actually in the same room as each other. We had no idea what it was going to sound like and I was privately prepared for anything! But it was just great. There is just something about people wanting to be there and being happy to be there.

“You take things for granted until they are taken away from you and I think suddenly we realised how important it was in our lives to have real live music-making going on. The Zoom stuff is a good substitute or a bad substitute but compared to the real thing it's just a very very pale substitute.”

The society is very happy to welcome new members. Get in touch via the website.