Mid Sussex-based choir Coro Nuovo are looking forward to a busy December.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely to
00:06speak to Kate Kent, who is the Chair of Coro Novo, and you've got a fantastically busy
00:11December coming up, haven't you, with plenty of things happening, starting with a really
00:15lovely sounding concert on December 7th. What's happening in that concert then?
00:21Well, Phil, we're going to St Mary's Church, Bolcom, who have invited us to come and do
00:26a Christmas concert at their church, and we chose the theme of Sussex Christmas because
00:32lots of composers used to have had a connection with the county. We've got Holst, who lived in
00:40Hove for a while, and is buried in Chichester Cathedral. Warren Williams was often seen around
00:45with his phonograph, and Percy Granger as well, recording all those wonderful old tunes that he
00:51would hear on his travels, and then you will find that many of them are familiar and repeated
00:57in carols that we still sing today. Christina Rossetti is another one who wrote the words to
01:01Good King Wenceslas, so there's lots of little treasures that you may not know about which are
01:08in all these carols, and actually a lot to do with Sussex, which is quite exciting,
01:13and we've enjoyed the research actually as well.
01:15And it's a venue you like to play in, isn't it?
01:18It's a lovely venue, it's a very ancient church, a lovely village, and there'll be some nice
01:25refreshments as well, and some readings which take us back 150 years ago to our imaginations of
01:32what life was like in a rural community here, just in the Sussex towns, so yes.
01:37Fantastic. And then, breaking new ground, assuming the weather is okay, you'll be singing at Petworth
01:43House on December the 15th, which is a bit special, isn't it?
01:45Yes, it's something new for us.
01:47They make such a thing of Christmas there, don't they?
01:49Well, they do, yes. I mean, I've heard it's absolutely stunning there. I've never been
01:54at Christmas, but so this is exciting for us, and we're going to be singing in the courtyard
01:59around the Christmas tree, just carols, and we hope that everyone who comes will join in with us.
02:07It sounds fantastic, brilliant. And then early next year,
02:09launching the 2025 Sussex Young Musician of the Year.
02:14Yes, as part of our outreach, we don't just do singing and concerts. We actually
02:19want to think about the next generation, and conserving and helping Sussex Young Musicians.
02:28Studying music is expensive, and it's a difficult journey, and getting a platform is everything,
02:34really. Apart from the money, it's actually getting that platform and getting that recognition. So
02:41what we do is we have a competition where musicians from Sussex, both singers and
02:46instrumentalists of any genre, can apply. And we have prize money of two and a half thousand pounds
02:54this year coming up, and we have a second and a third prize. And actually our adjudicator will be
03:01Eamon Dugan from The Sixteen, the Assistant Director of The Sixteen World Famous Choir.
03:06So he's also from Sussex, so that's going to be very exciting as well.
03:13Lovely chap, and a conductor, and the rest. So being recognised by somebody
03:21like that can often be a huge jump in a career.
03:24Brilliant. Well, Kate, that sounds a lovely way to start 2025.
03:27Lovely to speak to you. Hope it all goes well.
03:30Thank you, Phil. Happy Christmas.