News

Music and food: two of life’s greatest pleasures. Now you can experience both with the Fairhaven Singers. We love to eat, drink and be merry almost as much as we love to sing. So it was only a matter of time before we produced a cookbook. The Fairhaven Singers Recipe Book brings you our favourite recipes, inspired by meals we have shared together at home and on tour. Several of our recent collaborators have also contributed recipes, including Dame Emma Kirkby and composers Will Todd and Thomas Hewitt Jones. Proceeds from sales of this little volume will help support our ever more ambitious musical plans for the future.

This cunningly-designed book has an inbuilt stand for easy consultation on the kitchen counter, and is packed with recipes, memories and photos of us enjoying food and drink world-wide. Tempt your palate with a feast for foodies and music-lovers alike! Buy your copy on our website now, for an introductory price of £8 until January 1, 2013.

Ralph going under the razor

During the interval of our concert at Queens’ College Chapel this weekend, our Musical Director, Ralph Woodward, and tenor Chris Young had their heads shaved for charity on the College’s Erasmus Lawn, cheered on by audience members, family and friends, before performing in the second half of the concert.

Ralph, before...

Chris, before...

Ralph wanted to do something striking to raise funds for the choir’s collaboration with the English Chamber Orchestra in March 2012, but he also wanted to support a charity that benefited both dogs and people, so he selected Dogs for the Disabled. “People have done sponsored runs and swims,” he explains, “but this was something I could do without getting wet or sweaty.” Chris had a more personal connection: “My Mum died from Motor Neurone Disease, so I thought it would be a good idea to join Ralph and support the Motor Neurone Disease Association.” Both were thrilled to have raised over £1000 from generous supporters, but they had very different reactions to the results. Ralph eagerly awaits the return of his hair… but Chris thinks he might stick with the new look for a little while: “Not sure what the kids at school will think, though!” (Chris is a teacher.)

Chris and Ralph, after!

More photos here.

It’s not too late to sponsor Chris and Ralph for this event. Our paypal donation system is temporarily down, but please contact us if you’d like to make a donation!

All photos in this post by Robyn Sorenson.

Photo by Robyn Sorensen

Our 2011 tour took us to the south of France from June 2nd through 5th, to the gorgeous seascapes of the Côte Vermeille.  We were based  in Collioure, whose warm Mediterranean sunshine inspired the vibrant colours of Fauvism.  (“No sky in France is more blue than the one in Collioure,” declared Henri Matisse.)  Unfortunately we also experienced quite a bit of warm Mediterranean rain… but not enough to dampen our spirits or to diminish the gem-like beauty of this seaside town. Each venue we sang in, from our formal concert in the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges to our impromptu performances on the waterfront, was filled with appreciative, engaged, responsive listeners. At Notre-Dame-des Anges we even received a standing ovation! Our audiences greeted our renditions of works by French composers with special enthusiasm, particularly Marc de Ranse’s lovely, surprising settings of French folk melodies (like ‘Frère Jacques’).  We returned to Cambridge with a higher standard for ourselves and even more enthusiasm for this repertoire – and we can’t wait to share this music with you this weekend in our sold-out summer concert!

Check out our tour album on Facebook for many more photos from Collioure…

Photo by Geraldine Morley

Photo by Robyn Sorensen

A sixteenth-century barber shop. Image courtesy FCIT.

While our lovely audience members are enjoying sparkling wine and strawberries by the river during the interval of our summer concert in July, our Musical Director, Ralph Woodward, and one of our tenors, Chris Young, will have their heads shaved for charity before returning for the second half of the concert!

The proceeds will be divided among three charitable causes: Dogs for the Disabled, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, and the Fairhaven Singers (these funds will be used to defray the costs of our performance of Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the English Chamber Orchestra next year).

Please consider making a donation using the “Donate” button below to sponsor Chris and Ralph as they go under the razor – even the smallest amount would make a difference for these worthy causes.

Rehearsing Haydn with Emma Kirkby and the City of London Sinfonia. All photos in this post by Samuel Mather.

We’re still buzzing from an exhilarating performance last weekend in St John’s College Chapel. There are many more photos on our Facebook Page, where you can also see what our audience had to say about the concert – and tell us what you thought if you were there. Check out what Dame Emma Kirkby had to say about us too!

Noel Garner of How to become a better artist also made some charcoal sketches of our final rehearsal in St John’s (click on the images below to read his blog posts).

Fairhaven Singers rehearsal, by Noel Garner

Local artist Noel Garner sat in on one of our rehearsals in Queens’ College Chapel recently and produced these lovely pastel and chalk sketches of the choir hard at work in preparation for our March concert.  Click on each individual image to read Noel’s blog post about it. You can see more about his work here: How to become a better artist.

Our concert with Emma Kirkby and the City of London Sinfonia is less than a week away!

Fairhaven Singers rehearsal, by Noel Garner

Fairhaven Singers rehearsal, by Noel Garner

Composer Carl Rütti

We’re thrilled to announce that we will present the world premiere of a new work by Carl Rütti, a wonderful Swiss composer with strong ties to the English choral tradition, at our autumn concert in November 2011!  Rütti writes in a musical language that has been described as “sensuous and exuberant by turns, combining dazzling rhythms and soaring melodies with distinctively lush harmonies” by Choir and Organ magazine.  The piece will be a setting of the Grace, the final verse of the Book of Revelation—a fitting close to a concert in the 400th anniversary year of the publication of the King James Bible. We can’t wait to see the finished product…

For more on our dedication to commissioning new music, click here.