About us
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We are a mixed community choir enjoying singing in four parts.
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We are of varying singing and music reading ability and we sing with sheet music.
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We pride ourselves on being an inclusive, non-judgemental and non-discriminatory group of singers.
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We enjoy having good relationships with local churches.
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We are a registered charity and keen to support local fundraising events.
Meet our team
History
We were Formed in 2008 as the brainchild of Grazina, our Musical Director and her husband John, our former chair. They were inspired by the tv programme ‘The Singing Estate’. Littlemoor Community Hall was our first home and we have now evolved to a choir of over 30 singers – what a long way we have come!
We embrace two musical programmes each year, singing on average over 35 different songs, around 12 of which will be new to us. , We rehearse over 37 weeks and perform at four concerts.
Through Grazina’s contacts in Lithuania we have enjoyed two visits to sing at her hometown of Panevezys - (2008 and 2017). We were particularly delighted to be invited to sing in the International Festival organised by The Panevezys District Youth Orchestra under the direction of Kestutis Planciunas, Musical Director
We enjoyed being part of the London 2012 Olympic cultural programme.
In 2015 we travelled to Jersey to support the Jersey Evacuees Association and sang as part of the island’s celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of their liberation following the second world war.
We have welcomed the Panevezys District Youth Orchestra to the UK, and we were joined by some of our friends from Lithuania for our 10th anniversary celebrations in 2018.
We have had the pleasure of singing at the Weymouth Mayor's Carol service on a number of occasions.
Repertoire
Our ever-expanding repertoire includes a wide variety of songs - classical, contemporary, musical shows, swing and popular music from choral favourites such as Vivaldi's Gloria, Gershwin & Porter to Abba, Coldplay and, even... the Barry Manilow classic ‘One Voice’!
Grazina Ellis
Musical Director
We are fortunate to have Grazina as our musical director. She is the inspiration for our choir. Grazina is a mezzo soprano classically trained in Lithuania who has sung all over the world professionally. Our musical director is very much the driving force as we hopefully improve concert by concert. She is passionate about improving us as a choir and has a particular talent for discovering some fascinating pieces of music interesting to sing and enjoyed by choir and audience alike.
Tom Davis
Accompanist
We are delighted to welcome Tom as our accompanist. Tom is a keen performer, teacher and repetiteur. He loves music of all styles and is passionate about community music making. He studied music at Bath Spa University and graduated with an MMus in Piano Performance in 2015. Huge thanks for your help and support
Debbie Shaw
Chairperson
Our rock and terrific leader. We would be so lost without her organisational and diplomatic skills and her good humour. Debbie has been our chair for 9 years now And has overseen our most successful years.