CHOIR'S NEW MUSICAL DIRECTOR READY TO SPREAD HER WINGS WITH DEBUT CONCERT

One of Chester's top choirs is set to stage a special summer concert under the baton of its new musical director.

Chester Bach Singers will stage the concert entitled "Taking Flight" at the Wesley Church Centre in St. John Street Chester on Saturday 14th June at 3pm. The concert will showcase music on the themes of flight, air and nature. It will be the first public performance for the choir under the baton of its new musical director Emma Baker who took up her role in April following the retirement in March of long serving musical director Martin Bussey after more than 38 years with the choir.

The concert will include a mixture of well known choral pieces such as Parry's "Blest Pair of Sirens" and "My Soul There is a Country" paired with works such as "The Cloths of Heaven" by Rebecca Dale, one of the rising stars of composition here in the UK. 

Speaking about working with Emma Baker, Helen Crich, Chair of Chester Bach Singers said:

"We have hit the ground running with our new Music Director, Emma Baker, rehearsals for our annual Summer Concert are proving  to be stimulating and challenging! We shall introduce our audience to new songs that they will undoubtedly fall in love with, as we have. These, combined with works from more established composers, will make for an exciting afternoon at the Wesley Church Centre in Chester."

Emma Baker said:

"For my first concert with CBS, I wanted to choose a wide variety of repertoire to help me to get to the know the choir better. I also wanted to choose a theme that was reflective of the energy coming from these singers when I had the opportunity to watch them perform Bach B Minor Mass for Martin Bussey this past March. This concert explores the imagery we associate with that word using pieces about sparrows, larks, stars, forward motion, heaven, and, ultimately, our own sense of ascension or fulfilment. The repertoire chosen to express these different facets of flight is a mixture of well-known choral gems. While the variety in the programme was initially a tool for me to learn more about the capabilities within the choir, the end result is a concert that will truly have something for everyone. If you love the standard repertoire, but also want to branch out and find something new, join us to hear some rarely performed Howells alongside names you may not know such as Hailstork, Sigerson, and Narverud. If you are drawn to choral music especially for the text, then come to listen to some beautiful poetry by Vaughan, Milton, Frost, Paz, Yeats, and Blake. Many choral concerts feature great poetry, but I think this one is an especially beautiful marriage of "Voice and Verse" as Milton would say! This programme has the ability to truly uplift those who encounter it, both performers and audience members alike."

In addition to her work with Chester Bach Singers, Emma serves at the musical director for Di Voci, an winning women’s chorus, and as an assistant director for the Hallé Workplace Choir programme. Prior to moving to the UK, she maintained a fulfilling portfolio career in Washington D.C. where she was the conducting fellow for both Choralis and the D.C. Concert Orchestra Society as well as director of music at Aldersgate United Methodist Church. Passionate about furthering the development of young musicians, Emma served as one of the choral directors for the Arlington Children’s Chorus as well as the Strings conductor for the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra. She continues to work in this vein as a choral director for the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool where she teaches music to students throughout the city as well as helping to train the cathedral’s choristers. Emma studied for her MA in conducting at the University of Birmingham where she studied with Simon Halsey CBE and her BM in viola performance at the University of Maryland where she studied with Katherine Murdock.

Full details of Chester Bach Singers upcoming concert at the Wesley Church Centre on 14^th June can be found at: 

www.chesterbachsingers.org.uk 

...where tickets can be booked online.