Concerts & Events

HARMONIA, of Bridgwater Choral Society 

The Summer Concert is scheduled for 18th May in St Mary’s Church Bridgwater at 3.00pm. This will be a most enjoyable afternoon, a culmination of the year’s work. Tickets will be available from the door.

If you are interested in either coming along to join us, or to offer your help and support in any other way, please email the secretary or conductor: Sue Pow, Secretary, hydeparkpows@yahoo.co.uk, Jackie Ayres, Conductor, jackieanddavidayres@hotmail.co.uk. Do come and give us a try. We rehearse every Wednesday evening from 7.00 until 9.00pm in The Salvation Army Hall, Moorland Road, Bridgwater. Please email first. 

HARMONIA, of Bridgwater Choral Society SINGING DAY SATURDAY 9TH MARCH 2024 

Come and join us for a sociable, uplifting and satisfying musical experience. The choir is bouncing back after the pandemic, and has doubled in size, with several very successful and enjoyable concerts. They have been recognised by Classic FM, who have added them to their Carol playlist, and are making an excellent sound, as well as becoming a very sociable and bonded group. 

Our conductor is Jackie Ayres, who graduated from the Guildhall School of Music London, and is a very experienced professional musician and teacher. 

A Singing Day is planned for Saturday 9 th March 2024 from 10.00 until 4.00, and anyone who is interested will be made very welcome. The repertoire will include John Rutter’s Feel The Spirit, Cantique de Jean Racine by Fauré and secular song arrangements. 

There will be vocal coaching, and help with music reading for those who feel they need it. Music, Tea and Coffee included. The cost will be £15. 

If you are interested in either coming along to join us, or to offer your help and support in any other way, please email the secretary or conductor: Sue Pow, Secretary, hydeparkpows@yahoo.co.uk, Jackie Ayres, Conductor, jackieanddavidayres@hotmail.co.uk. Do come and give us a try. We rehearse every Wednesday evening from 7.00 until 9.00pm in The Salvation Army Hall, Moorland Road, Bridgwater. Please email first. 

Review of the concert at Nether Stowey by audience member Paul Smith

Harmonia performed its joyful Christmas concert to a full house in Nether Stowey‘s Church Hall on the 9th December.

The programme included well-known works by Bach, Berlioz, Handel and Rutter together with a number of rarely heard seasonal pieces. Carols were mainly sung by the choir, though the audience joined in several more familiar ones, all ably conducted by Jackie Ayres and accompanied by Stephen Bell on piano and Kate Ayres on cello.

Particular highlights were pieces from Handel’s ‘Messiah’, including the scene-setting Pastoral played by oboe, flutes, cello and continuo; J.S. Bach’s ‘Minuet’ played by Celia Smith on flute; and Bob Chilcott’s ‘Shepherd’s Carol’, sung by Mary Morgan. This latter piece of breathtaking beauty was followed, appropriately, by a moment of magical, transcendent silence. 

A Spanish visitor was heard to comment that he had expected a good overall performance but that it had been altogether on another level -‘estupendo’ - ‘wonderful’ and indeed it was.

Refreshments following the concert were accompanied by a number of young musicians performing perhaps for the first time to a large audience.  Thanks must also be given to those ‘older’ musicians accompanying throughout the concert on piano, oboe, flute and clarinet, which added so much to the occasion.  

Paul Smith 

Previous concerts and Events