Choral works by Schubert, Brahms and Bruckner are on the programme as Chichester Chorale start to celebrate their 20th anniversary year ahead with a concert at Boxgrove Priory Church, PO18 0EE.
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers and also
00:06Chairman of the Festival of Chichester, and it's always fabulous to have at the Festival
00:11of Chichester, Chichester Chorale, exactly where they should be at the heart of our festival.
00:16Now it comes as part of a significant year, this is the 20th anniversary year coming up,
00:21isn't it, for Chichester Chorale? It was founded by Arthur Robson and five years ago it was
00:27taken over by Arthur's son, Tom. Now, you've had good continuity and the choir is in a
00:32good place, isn't it? Yeah, it's such a delight to be working with this wonderful group of
00:39singers who, I mean we call ourselves an amateur choir but, you know, they are really so good
00:45and it's been lovely transition and continuity between my dad and then me. I did work with
00:51the choir a little bit before when I was working at the University of Chichester running
00:57the choirs there. Well that's an interesting one to take over from your father. Do you
01:02feel obliged to continue in his vein or do you feel obliged to do something different?
01:08Yeah, I mean it's been quite amusing actually because a year after I took over my father
01:17rejoined the choir as a singer having missed it and so we have an interesting relationship,
01:24very amusing. Does he do as he's told?
01:30Not as much as I'd like but that's a lot of the fun and I think it gives it a family
01:37atmosphere for the whole choir. My mother also joins the choir and my sister and they've been
01:44in since the start and they're a good core of people that have been in the choir for
01:48the whole 20 years. Fantastic and talking of continuity, you've done wonderfully well
01:52to survive when others haven't. The pandemic? Yes, yeah, I mean the pandemic was very tough
02:00for a lot of people. For me personally as a freelance musician I spend most of my time
02:05singing. Of course I lost all of that work so yeah it was really tough but it's so nice
02:13to be out the other side and to see people excited about singing together again, making
02:19music. The festival of Chichester has just been such a kind of lifeblood for everyone
02:28and a real focus for our events. We were so disappointed that we couldn't do it that year,
02:33that was going to be our... we had one concert just into the start of the pandemic but all
02:38the preparations had started for the summer so it's been so wonderful to return to the festival.
02:45Are things back to where they were do you think? Are we back to how things should be? Yeah I think
02:52you know we've had a tough time particularly guaranteeing audience numbers and things like
02:59that but things are really looking great. The ticket sales for our forthcoming concert are
03:05you know as high as I've known them this far advanced of the concert so I would urge people
03:10to get on and book if they can. Especially as you have a lovely programme don't you? We do, yeah, lovely music
03:19by Brahms, Bruckner and Schubert. Lots of music that people recognise, the famous Locus
03:26Iste by Bruckner, an extra extract from Brahms' Requiem, How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings and Schubert
03:34Mass in G. You know, what's not to like? Absolutely and as if that is not enough you are in Boxgrove
03:40Priory Church and it's on Friday July the 5th. Part of the Festival of Chichester, tickets through
03:46the Festival of Chichester box office. Tom, really lovely to speak to you again, thank you. Lovely to speak to you Phil, cheers.