The Chichester Singers offer the opening night’s concert for this year’s Festival of Chichester with the promise of something rather different.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Lansussex Newspapers. Always
00:06 lovely to speak to Jonathan Wilcox, Musical Director of the Jutister Singers. Now, Jonathan,
00:10 the Jutister Singers, under you, are performing the first opening day concert for the Festival
00:16 of Jutisters this year on Saturday, June 15th, and you are happily pushing your singers with
00:22 this programme, aren't you? There's something a bit different that's going to challenge
00:27 the choir and that they are enjoying. Yes, the choir are delighted to be able to be at
00:31 the opening concert of the Festival, which offers so much to the Chichester environment
00:36 in the arts in so many ways. And this is a very different sort of concert with three
00:41 choral works that are very much fused around the jazz idiom, which is quite unusual for
00:46 a large choir. Three composers of the 20th century who contributed so strongly, particularly
00:53 George Shearing, who was such a wonderful jazz pianist, and then contrasting with the
00:58 Argentinian composer Ramirez, Ariel Ramirez, who wrote one particular piece which has become
01:06 really synonymous with Argentinian music that's called Mesa Creola. And then there's a lovely
01:12 connection with the George Shearing work, Songs and Sonnets. The British composer John
01:17 Rutter, who was a close friend of George Shearing and a very great fan of his music, wrote a
01:22 tribute to him called Birthday Madrigals, which was actually performed for the first
01:28 time in 1995. And it was actually in the presence of George Shearing conducted by John Rutter.
01:38 The title Birthday Madrigals is because it was written in celebration of George Shearing.
01:44 It's a lovely story. So those two clearly naturally go together. What made you think
01:48 about doing the Ramirez? Well, the Ramirez is also very much in the jazz idiom. It has
01:54 the same accompanying sort of requirements of a jazz ensemble, which is piano, string
02:01 bass, drums. And we've got the percussion ensemble of London coming to be our percussion
02:07 section, who are a terrific team of percussion players who I've worked with in the past.
02:12 And also, we've got two lovely soloists, both old friends of the choir, Bibi Heal, the soprano,
02:19 and Matthew Long, tenor, who in addition to being the soloist in the Ramirez, Missa Creola,
02:25 which is the sort of centrepiece of the concert. They're also doing two short sets of songs,
02:31 which will also fit in a set by George Gershwin, particularly, who of course was yet another
02:37 20th century sort of legend in the jazz and swing world.
02:44 And you were saying so interestingly, Nick, just now, by stepping outside the conventional
02:48 mainstream core repertoire, when they step back into it, they come back with benefits.
02:54 How does that work? Yes, I think it's very important for any choir.
02:57 I'm very proud of everything that the Chichester Singers achieved. But the core repertoire
03:03 of a large choir of 130 or so voices is much of the classical repertoire. But to put before
03:10 them these three works in a jazz style, which needs a very precise rhythmic form of singing,
03:16 I think we'll have real spin-offs when we come back. In the autumn, the choir is performing
03:22 Mendelssohn and Elijah, and then around Christmas, a performance of Handel Messiah. And I think
03:28 because of the work that they will have done on these jazz pieces with their vibrant rhythms,
03:35 I think they will come afresh to the works of Mendelssohn and Handel when we come back
03:39 in the autumn.
03:40 Fantastic. And it also meets a requirement from you. You're saying that every year you
03:44 like to do something you have not conducted before.
03:47 And the Chichester Singers, I've worked with them for a very long time. But in every one
03:52 of the 45 seasons that I've been their musical director, I've made a point of having at least
03:57 one piece that I've never conducted before. And of course, these pieces for many of the
04:03 choir, it's the first time that they also have encountered them. And so we've been able
04:07 to explore the idiom and to have a new challenge, not only them, but me too, which is always
04:13 nice. I feel I'm being refreshed every time I come to a new piece, which I really believe
04:18 in, which I've enjoyed getting to know and to study and then to work with with the choir.
04:24 Fantastic. Well, lovely to speak to you and lovely to have you absolutely at the heart
04:28 of the Festival of Chichester, which is what the Festival of Chichester is all about, not
04:32 just at the heart of it, but on that first day too.
04:35 And the Chichester Singers always enjoy performing in the Cathedral, which is such a lovely centrepiece
04:40 of the Chichester community. And we're so lucky to have it and to be in the festival,
04:45 which we're much looking forward to.
04:46 Brilliant. Great to speak to you. Thank you very much.
04:49 Thanks, Phil.
04:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]