2024-07-31-accounts - St Albans Chamber Choir

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St Albans Chamber Choir

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2024

1. Reference and administrative information

1.1. St Albans Chamber Choir is a registered charity, number 280876.
1.2. Its principal address is c/o The Treasurer, 4 Lancaster Road, St Albans AL1 4ET.
1.3. The Choir’s affairs are managed and administered by a committee. At the beginning of the season, the Committee comprised:

Chair: Edith Gilmour (Trustee)

Treasurer: Andrew Fotheringham (Trustee)

Secretary: Susannah Renshaw (Trustee)

Other members: Carol Crook, Laurence Hawkins, Helen Kemish, Dorothee Nauth and Joanne Scott

1.4. At the AGM on 9 July 2024, Joanne Scott was re-elected to the Committee. There were no other changes to the membership of the Committee.
1.5. The Choir is affiliated with Making Music (The National Federation of Music Societies), a registered charity which provides advice and services to affiliated societies.

2. Structure, governance and management

2.1. St Albans Chamber Choir is an unincorporated association and is governed by its constitution, which was revised in 2001 and last amended in 2022.
2.2. The Committee members are elected or re-elected by and out of the Choir’s members at the Annual General Meeting

3. Objectives and activities

3.1. St Albans Chamber Choir’s objects are:
3.1.1.To study and give performances of choral music of both familiar repertoire and rarely performed works, ranging from early to modern music, including works commissioned by the Choir.
3.1.2.To foster public knowledge and appreciation of such music by performing locally and further afield
3.2. The Choir meets these objects by giving performances of suitable choral works in venues appropriate to the music being performed.
3.3. The pieces are selected by the Committee, with guidance from the Choir’s music director, to provide variety during the course of the season for both Choir members and audiences.
3.4. The music is practised at the Choir’s regular weekly rehearsals in order to achieve the highest possible standards of performance.
3.5. A typical season contains works for a cappella choir, works for choir and soloists with organ or piano accompaniment, and works for choir and soloists with orchestral accompaniment.
3.6. The Choir has a long-standing link with the Wormser Kantorei of Worms, Germany and every two years gives a joint concert with the Wormser Kantorei, which alternates between St Albans and Worms.

4. Achievements and performance

4.1. Our 2023-24 season opened with a concert on 11 November 2023 in St Saviour’s Church, St Albans on the theme of ‘Freedom and Remembrance’ to mark Remembrance Day. The programme comprised Francis Poulenc’s wartime cantata ‘La Figure Humaine’ and Gabriel Fauré’s ever-popular ‘Requiem’. The Choir was accompanied by members of Ealing Symphony Orchestra in the Fauré and the concert was conducted by John Gibbons. It was the Choir’s second performance of the Poulenc and the performance benefited greatly from greater familiarization with the complex chromatic harmonies of Poulenc’s style. The concert attracted a reasonable audience and was well received.
4.2. Instead of a concert in the busy period before Christmas, the Choir opted to give a concert on Epiphany, 6 January 2024, with the title ‘Star of Wonder’. This concert was also held in St Saviour’s Church where, unfortunately, there were problems with the heating system. Some portable heaters were hired to take the chill off and mulled wine was served before the concert to warm the sizeable audience that had braved the weather to come and listen to us. The cold inside the church gave the occasion an authentic feel for Tallis’ mass ‘Puer natus est nobis’, which formed the bedrock of the programme. The Choir was also delighted to perform, in her presence, ‘Polaris’ by 13 year-old Rebecca, who won the junior category of the BBC Radio Carol Competition that Christmas and lives in St Albans.
4.3. On 9 March 2024 the Choir returned to the Lady Chapel in St Albans Cathedral. The concert opened with Stanford’s double choir setting of the Magnificat, followed by Frank Martin’s ‘Mass for Double Choir’. The second half opened with a setting of Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘I shall know why’ by the Choir’s Music Director, John Gibbons, and George Lloyd’s setting of Psalm 130 ‘Out of the Depths’. It concluded with a moving performance of Vaughan Williams ‘The Lark Ascending’ in the choral arrangement by Paul Drayton, with the solo violin part played by Jenny Wigram, a member of the Choir. The audience for the concert was somewhat smaller than that for the Choir’s concert in the Lady Chapel in 2022, but the performance received very positive feedback from those present, especially for Jenny Wigram’s wonderful playing in ‘The Lark Ascending’.
4.4. On 27 April 2024, the Choir was back in St Saviour’s Church – this time for a performance of Bach’s ‘Mass in B minor’ with four young soloists, Eleanor Bray (soprano), Nina Vinther (mezzo soprano), Dominic Bevan (tenor) and Ted Day (bass), and a period ensemble made up of some of the finest early music players in the UK. The concert was conducted by John Gibbons and the Choir gave a powerful and moving performance of a work that is recognised as a pinnacle of the choral repertoire. The large audience showed its appreciation afterwards with enthusiastic applause for all the performers.
4.5. Our next concert, on 8 June 2024 in the hall of Homewood Road URC, represented the Choir’s first foray into holding a children’s concert and had input from a number of Choir members, who devised and led different items involving singing and, in some cases, movement as well. Due to a clash with another event for children in St Albans that afternoon, only a relatively modest number of children participated in the concert, but those that came greatly enjoyed themselves.
4.6. The Choir’s final concert of the season, entitled Fête Française, was held in the recently refurbished St Peter’s Church in St Albans on 6 July 2024. The programme of French music by Ravel, Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Lili Boulanger, together with Gabriel Jackson’s remarkable ‘La Musique’, was interspersed with piano duets performed by Fingers Crossed. The soprano solo in ‘La Musique’ was sung by Fleur Moore-Bridger, a former member of the Choir, and the concert was conducted by John Gibbons. The unfamiliar music may have accounted for the rather small audience, but the feedback from audience members afterwards was very appreciative.

5. Annual General Meeting

5.1. The Choir held its Annual General Meeting on 9 July 2024 at The Crown, 144-146 Hatfield Road, St Albans AL1 4 JA.

6. Financial Review

6.1. The Choir has three accounts with Metro Bank, St Albans – a current account, a deposit account and a fixed term deposit account.
6.2. The Choir’s principal sources of regular income are members’ subscriptions (including Gift Aid) and income from ticket and programme sales. Its main areas of expenditure include professional fees, venue hire, publicity, music hire and purchase.
6.3. In 2023-24, the Choir received grants from the Williams Church Music Trust and the Postcode Places Trust. The Choir is very grateful to both funds for their generous support of its activities.
6.4. The Choir’s Independent Examiner is Mr David Stokes.

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ST ALBANS CHAMBER CHOIR - SEASON 202>2024 ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2024 LY17J ij -161J6 4612 -MS

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ALBANS CHAMBER CHOIR - SEASON 202024 Intowe *#d ExpMdll•Te anxtyjts 235 46J 242 257 6350 4970 Iso 20 i) WqbN 37fy 12¢S3

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