Cheltenham Bach Choir
Events
Spring Festival of the Baroque
Details of the 2019 festival will be available soon
The 2018 Spring Festival of the Baroque was held in March and was hosted by Cheltenham Bach Choir.
The festival was established in 2017 to provide a showcase of Baroque music and a platform for the Cedric Virgin Memorial Prize Singing Competition. The winner of the 2017 competition, Lauren Lodge-Campbell, was the soprano soloist at the 2018 festival performance of Bach’s B minor Mass.
Tim Lowe
Bach Cello Suites
Venue | Chapel Arts
The 2018 festival opened with a selection of Bach Cello Suites performed by the outstanding young British cellist Tim Lowe.
An established recitalist and chamber musician Tim has been hailed as ‘one of the more comprehensively talented of the younger generation of British cellists’. Tim is Guest Principal Cello of the English Chamber Orchestra and Professor of Cello at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
J S Bach
B Minor Mass
Venue | Cheltenham Town Hall
The centrepiece of the 2018 festival was the Bach B Minor Mass performed by Cheltenham Bach Choir with The Musical and Amicable Society Baroque Orchestra. The conductor was David Crown and the soloists were: Lauren Lodge-Campbell (soprano); Angela Simkin (mezzo); David Webb (tenor) and Christopher Cull (baritone).
The 2018 Singing Competition
Cedric Virgin Memorial Prize
The aim of this competition was to discover and encourage new young singers of talent and provide them with an opportunity to perform before an audience and a panel of renowned professional judges. The winner has the opportunity to perform with the Cheltenham Bach Choir and a professional orchestra.
The competition was open to young professional singers from all voice registers who were aged 28 or under on 25th March 2018.
First Prize The Cedric Virgin Memorial Prize: £500 and a performance with the Cheltenham Bach Choir and a professional orchestra.
Second Prize £300
Third Prize £150
The competition was held in the Prince Michael Hall at Dean Close and was judged by Christine Cairns, Russell Smythe and David Crown.
2018 Winners
1st place Felicity Turner
2nd place Davidona Pittock
3rd place Camilla Harris
Other Events
Göttingen Concert Trip
Through the twinning of the town of Cheltenham with Göttingen in Germany, links have been developed with a local choir in the town and the two choirs regularly organise exchange visits with concerts.
This year the exchange took place between the 31 October and 4 November.
On the 3 November the choir performed A Sea Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams with the Göttingen Stadtkantorei and the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra in the St Johannes Church in Göttingen.
“ A fantastic, memorable and hugely emotional evening in Göttingen. Wonderful work from two fab choirs and an orchestra that truly delivered. I feel very lucky to have experienced this ”
David Crown
Musical Director
Cheltenham Bach Choir
Gallery
Cheltenham Bach Choir 
