Our Treasurer reports that OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS, DONATIONS TO MAINLY LOCAL CHARITIES HAVE TOTALLED OVER £13,300. A wonderful result, and thanks to the Artavian Singers and to our many instrumentalist & singer friends for their generosity to enable this.

            The Artavian Singers pictured at the Hospice Concert in Swimbridge.

We disbanded after many years of happy singing together. It was time for a change.

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                                                Michael, me, Jacqui & Peter

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Our two concerts - Baroque around Europe and Christmas Words and Music raised over £1,250 for the Calvert Trust; a great result;  and our Christmas concert enabled us to send a cheque for £500 to Médecins sans frontières

The Birthday Concert at Woolhanger was a great success, and in fact we were sold out.

Our young trumpeters and drummer stole the show, but the whole orchestra played beautifully, and the soloists were superb. A memorable occasion.

The final chorus can be viewed here (cut and paste into your browse)

https://btcloud.bt.com/web/app/share/invite/PYBZoOsM1z

Sunday 24th June ‘A Rural Life’

The Octagonal Music Room, Woolhanger Manor, Parracombe EX31 4RF at 7pm By kind permission of Graham & Beverley Mellstrom.

A wonderful concert with fantastic playing and singing by all to a full house. Stand outs for me were Miranda Westcott as Julius Caesar singing ‘Va tacito’  with the incomparable Gavin Edwards on natural horn. They stood next to each other which was great theatre as well. In the second half, Jane Downer on oboe played her solo divinely, matched by Angela Henckel as Beauty in the final aria of Handel’s  The Triumph of Time & Truth: Guardian Angels Oh protect me! All in all a triumphant success.

2019 programme.

An amazing and uplifting performance to a capacity audience of the four choir Mass on the 24th November. The sound of all four choirs and instruments including two harpsichords and organ was overwhelming when singing all together. Many thanks to all who took part, and it was good to do a joint venture with our ‘rival’ choir The Winkleigh Singers under the direction of Roland Smith. This was our final outing for the Artavian Singers, and it turned out, our final concert before lockdown which put a stop to live performances.

We had a great inauguration of our new Music Room at Upper Gorwell, and the acoustics were excellent. Lizzy & Danni sang divinely in familiar arias from Messiah, and not so familiar duets by Praetorius and Couperin with instrumental accompaniment from Nick & Nicola Jackman, Michael Williamson & Jacqui Robertson-Wade and myself. More use will definitely be made of the Music Room from now on.

We raised £220 for the Freedom Centre in Barnstaple who provide drop in facilities, hot meals and care and advice for many homeless and disadvantaged people in our community. Their small group of volunteers are a dedicated band indeed.

NEWS:

I have decided to disband the Artavian Singers after almost 30 years! We are all getting older, and I will be concentrating on more instrumental and solo works for a while. I may reform the group in the future, but am not sure when and how. It was great to have the dedication of our singers over the years and looking back, it is amazing the wide ranging  repertoire we have performed. We have raised a lot of money for charities as well and only this Spring, we raised almost £1,000 for North Devon Hospice.

EVENTS FOR 2023

SUNDAY 5TH NOVEMBER at 3pm,

SOLOMON  A SERENATA  1742

William Boyce (1711-1779)

The Music Room, Upper Gorwell House, Goodleigh Road,

Barnstaple EX32 7JP

We had a great time performing this lovely piece, and we were sold out. Performers were just about to fit onto the stage and the balance of singers & orchestra was excellent according to members of the audience.  They and the performers were treated to tea and cakes afterwards, and it turned into quite a party!

We gave the British Red Cross a donation of £625.

I hope we shall have further (but slightly smaller) events in the Music Room next year.

EVENTS FOR 2024

A CONCERT FOR ST CECILIA’S DAY

The Music Room, Upper Gorwell House, Goodleigh Road,

Barnstaple EX32 7JP

Another successful concert in the Music Room celebrating St Cecilia in music and readings. We welcomed Liz Harris as our soprano soloist and Richard Westcott and David Pepper were our readers. Richard wrote a poem about Cecilia specially for the occasion.

EVENTS FOR 2025

SUNDAY 19TH JANUARY

DIALOGUE VIOLS presents

‘BEFORE THE GUILLOTINE’

Music from pre-revolutionary France.

A superb concert enjoyed by a full house. This was a preview of some of the pieces in the upcoming CD.

SUNDAY 6TH APRIL  AT 4PM

ARTAVIAN BAROQUE CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA     Present

TWO GRANDS MOTETS by Jean-Baptiste LULLY.

These two Motets for choir and orchestra were performed at the funeral of Queen Marie-Thérèse

of France on 1st September 1683 at the Royal Church of St Denis in Paris. Lovely music rarely heard.

The concert on the Sunday afternoon was a great success, enjoyed by both performers and audience alike.

The orchestra played beautifully and the chorus members who sang solos were great. The weather was glorious, and there was an opportunity to go around the garden after the performance to view the stunning flowering of the magnolias this year.

We gave a donation of £550 (plus Gift Aid 25% extra) to the Myanmar Earthquake appeal, which was a worthwhile cause to support. Many thanks to audience members who gave extra as donations.

EVENTS FOR 2026

AUTUMN CONCERTS IN

THE MUSIC ROOM AT UPPER GORWELL HOUSE

SUNDAY 25th OCTOBER at 3pm followed by Tea

A relaxed concert featuring two young sopranos and three elderly gents!

Music for Piano Trio arr. John Marston  includes: Clara Schumann, Schubert, Fanny Mendelssohn

Music for two sopranos with music by Handel J.C.Bach and others

Lili Rashbrook - Soprano and Clarinet      Isabel Moss - Soprano

Richard Westcott - Clarinet  Jeremy Taylor - Bassoon  John Marston

This was a great success, the two young ladies stole the show! And we raised £280 for the ICRC.

Many thanks to all who donated to this worthwhile cause.

SUNDAY 22nd NOVEMBER at 3pm followed by Tea

Two Odes for St Cecilia’s Day - Hail Bright Cecilia by Giovanni Draghi and Begin the Song by John Blow

Some songs from The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell and poetry.

The Artavian Baroque Orchestra  (Leader Sharon Lindo) and The Artavian Singers are joined by

Soloists:

Angela Henckel - Soprano    Jessica Gillingwater - Alto    Stephen Jeffes - Tenor     John Ward - Bass

Some wonderful music rarely heard by 17th Century composers based in London, Giovanni Draghi (and John Blow as well as familiar music from the Fairy Queen. Richard Westcott and Nick Jackman will read poems they have written appropriate to the occasion.

Tickets can be reserved by emailing artavianjohn@gmail.com

or online at       www.ticketsource.com/artavian-baroque

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I look forward to seeing you again at our events, and thank you for your support.

Please contact me by e-mail (artavianjohn@gmail.com), or by telephone (01271-267091) for more information.

                                                            John