One of our strengths as such a large music society is that we can bring together students from across the university to perform some wonderful pieces of music. We began our year with auditions in Freshers’ Week and gained many experienced singers from both the undergraduate and postgraduate population. It was great getting to know everyone in a post-rehearsal social early on this term, as it allows us to show new members that we are friendly and welcoming despite our size.
This term, Durham University Choral Society will be performing the requiems of Duruflé and Fauré in Elvet Methodist Church on Saturday 22nd November and, if you would like more information, please visit our website here. They are both wonderful pieces of music and it’s been fun getting to grips with the easy (and not so easy) parts of both. Thankfully, we're very ably supported by our conductor, Mike Summers, and our accompanist, Zac Clark. This is now our second year being led by Mike and he’s great at making the society feel comfortable, while also bringing out the best sound possible.
I am really looking forward to working with two student soloists, who will be performing with the society for the first time. Sophie Kidwell will be our soprano soloist and James Quitmann our bass soloist. It’s wonderful to get these talented singers from the university involved in our concerts and to able to give aspiring soloists a chance to hone their performance skills. Having heard both soloists sing before, I can definitely say that their performances will be one of the highlights of the concert and that they will work well with the society as a whole.
The society itself is sounding amazing. I'm always surprised at how much the sound can develop between the first rehearsal and the last – it’s testament to the hard work of every single member and I just hope that we can share the result of this hard work with as many people as possible this Saturday.
Thank you,
Daniel Waite
President
Durham University Choral Society
