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CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2024
Friday 6 December, 2024 at 7:00pm
St Andrew's Church
Maple Road
Surbiton KT6 4DS
(Doors open at 6:30pm)
Britten's Ceremony of Carols
Vaughan-Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols
and more.
Teddington Choral Society and its Music Director Julian Collings are delighted to announce their forthcoming Christmas concert.
The evening will feature two beloved settings of Christmas carols by treasured English composers: A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten and Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Ralph Vaughan-Williams. Both compositions often performed during the Christmas period will get you into the holiday mood and will immerse you in a magical and thrilling atmosphere. The programme will also include a variety of other Christmas favourites.
The audience will have the opportunity to join the choir for some Christmas carols singing.
The choir will be accompanied by baritone James Geidt, Keziah Thomas at the harp, Peter Jaekel at the organ. (See below for more details)
Phil Culling will accompany at the piano.
Booking:
Tickets £15 (under 16s free)
Online: eventbrite.co.uk
At the door based on availability
** Drinks will be available for purchase during the event.
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Acclaimed by the New York Concert Review as ‘Stupendous…totally original and engaging’, at her Carnegie Hall debut recital, British harpist Keziah Thomas enjoys a reputation of a lively and engaging performer and educator. At the heart of her work is the belief that the power of music is for everyone, a value which drives a diverse freelance career.
Keziah’s creative programming strives to expand the repertoire and platform for the harp, and she is as equally comfortable performing at major venues and festivals throughout the world such as touring Japan for Aoyama Harps and giving recitals for Astral Artists in the USA as producing educational concerts and playing in healthcare settings as a Breathe resident musician.
In recent years, Keziah has developed a particular interest in arranging which had led to the creation of the first solo transcription of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the album of which was released on Convivium Records in 2022 to critical acclaim.
Her previous album Crossing Waves included newly commissioned works by British composers, James Young, Huw Watkins, and Andy Scott and was hailed as an 'imaginatively programmed, winningly played recital' by the BBC Music Magazine.
Keziah is principal harp with the Covent Garden Sinfonia and her work as a chamber musician with the Aoyama Trio and 4 Girls 4 Harps has been described as having ‘Scrupulous attention to the harp’s dynamic and rhythmic possibilities’ by The Times.
The winner of the London Harp Competition, the Camac Harp Competition and the Contemporary Record Society Performing Artists Competition, Keziah Thomas was taught by Danielle Perrett, Daphne Boden and Alison Nicholls and holds an ARCM diploma and bachelor’s degree from the Royal College of Music and a PG Certificate in Performance Teaching in Higher Education from the Guildhall School.
Keziah is a creative educator and entrepreneur and is the founder of two popular harp programmes; Retreat to the Harp, a series of workshops and study weekends that bring together those who share her love of the harp and Little Harp Social, the group learning programme for adults. Keziah is Professor of harp at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Guildhall School.
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James Geidt, Baritone.
James Geidt is a recent graduate of the Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music, having previously been a Choral Scholar in the choir at New College, Oxford.
As a student at the Royal Academy of Music, James was a soloist for the RAM/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Series, was a finalist in the Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks award and also won the Joan Chissell Schumann Lieder Competition. James was an Opera Prelude Young Artist in 2023.
Operatic roles to date include Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Garsington Opera, the Lovec in Dvořák’s Rusalka for Garsington Opera at the Edinburgh International Festival, Gaspar in Donizetti’s Rita for Opera South, The Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for the Vache Baroque Festival, Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Le Comte in Massenet’s Chérubin, Forester in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, L’horloge Comtoise and Le Chat in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges all for Royal Academy Opera. James was recently awarded the Simon Sandbach award from Garsington Opera for an outstanding contribution in their 2024 season.
In concert, James has appeared at the Birmingham Symphony Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Palau de la Música Catalana, Cadogan Hall and the Three Choirs Festival. Recent performances include the role of Peter in Elgar’s The Apostles at the Three Choirs Festival, Elijah for Epsom Choral Society, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Bach’s Weihanachts Oratorio for the Hampstead Collective. Future performances include Handel’s Messiah for the Exeter Philharmonic Choir, Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs for Ealing Choral Society, Handel’s Messiah in Southwell Minster and Handel’s Messiah for the Oxford Bach Choir and Peter in Elgar’s The Apostles, also for the Oxford Bach Choir.
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Peter Jaekel, Organ
Peter Jaekel studied at the Royal Academy of Music where his tutors included John Scott (organ) and Geoffrey Pratley and David Willison (piano accompaniment). For seven years he was chapel organist at Bradfield College, Berkshire, since when he has been a freelance organist and piano accompanist. In 2007 he was appointed accompanist to Crouch End Festival Chorus and he regularly deputises for the London Symphony Chorus and London Philharmonic Choir. He has worked with some of the world’s finest conductors including Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Jurowski, Michael Tilson Thomas and Edward Gardner. He has held appointments as organist at Tiffin School and St Paul’s Knightsbridge. Away from classical music Peter has performed as pianist with the Ben Sanders Scottish Country Dance Band throughout Britain and abroad.
Peter is in huge demand as a piano accompanist. He is also much sought after as a vocal coach for contemporary music; repertoire includes operas by Jonathan Dove, Stephen McNeff and Tansy Davies. He has been principal repetiteur for Eastern Opera and has also worked for European Chamber Opera.
He has given performances of Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass and Arvo Part’s Credo with Crouch End, Handel Organ Concerti and Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony, and he has appeared at the Swaledale, Ryedale, Brighton and Deal festivals. His work has taken him to France, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Norway, the Baltic States, Hong Kong and New York. Recent performances have included the piano part in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with Crouch End at the Barbican and Jonathan Dove’s The Passing of the Year with the Arcubus Ensemble.