Come and Sing John Rutter: Requiem in Melbourn Parish Church Ruth Connelly, soprano Mark Browne, Senior Organ Scholar, Downing College Conducted by Roger Bond On Good Friday, 21st March 2008, 3.30pm Performance 7.30pm Singers £10, Audience £5 Proceeds to Melbourn Parish Church Community Hall Fund and Teenage Cancer Trust Appeal
Free rehearsals Melbourn Village College Tuesday 26th February and 11th March, 7.30pm with Adrian Jacobs Bottisham Village College Tuesday 4th March and 18th March at 7.30pm with Roger Bond More information and a booking form can be found on www.cambschoralsoc.org.uk or contact Sheila Webber 23, Town Green Road, Orwell, Royston, Herts SG8 5QL Tel: 01223 207550
Programme Requiem by John Rutter 3.00pm Registration Vicarage Close, Melbourn 3.30pm Rehearsal Session 1 Melbourn Parish Church with Roger Bond 5.00pm Bring and Share Tea, at Vicarage Close. Tea and Coffee will be provided 6.00pm – 7.00pm Rehearsal Session 2 7.30pm Performance of Rutter: Requiem. The performance is expected to take 40 minutes. A ‘Come and Sing’ has been held on Good Friday in Melbourn for many years. The original Melbourn Choral Society was formed in 1842 by Mr George Ward, builder
and undertaker, and his friends. The secretary/treasurer was Mr. W. Carver, the Minister of the Congregational Church, (now URC) and who also owned and ran the Nonconformist Boarding School in the High Street, where Greenbanks is now situated. Rehearsals and meetings were usually held at the Church, though sometimes at The Hoops public house. Amongst the listed expenses during a meeting at The Hoops is the sum of £1.10.11, incurred for candles, beer and a police constable, during a concert! On Good Friday 1858 £2.18.0, was raised for charity, though the expenses were £1.14.111/2. The choir has always had close connections with the University, due to our proximity to Cambridge. In 1895 Mr. H.P. Allen, organist at Christ’s, conducted a St Cecilia’s Day Cantata, bringing some members of the Cambridge Musical Society (CUMS) with him. He came again 1896 to conduct, sing quartets and play Chopin. On this occasion he persuaded the LNER to stop at Melbourn & Meldreth Station so that they could get back to Cambridge and the College before the gates were closed for the night! Mr. H.P. Allen subsequently became Sir Hugh Allen, conductor of the Bach Choir and succeeded Hubert Parry in 1918 as principal of the Royal College of Music. Ed.
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