Friday 24 July 2015

Remembering a much loved conductor



Malcolm Cottle (1940-2014)  – A Celebration – 1 August 2015

London Concord Singers will be celebrating the life of the choir’s founder and musical director, Malcolm Cottle, in a concert at St Michael’s Church, Chester Square, London on 1 August 2015, at 6.30pm. Malcolm, who founded the choir in 1966, died 10 days before London Concord Singers’ Christmas concert in 2014. The concert went ahead as planned, with the programme selected by Malcolm, but the choir felt that it wanted to have an occasion when all could celebrate this much loved conductor. 

On 1 August 2015, the choir will be conducted by Matthew Collins the young conductor who has conducted the choir’s recent concerts, and will be joined by organist Jonathan Kingston. The programme includes music by Cecilia McDowall, Kodaly, Walton, Bruckner, Rachmaninov, Victoria, Howells, Elgar, John Rutter and Poulenc, along with a new piece by Robert Hugill.  Tickets are available on-line, and refreshments will be available at the reception which follows the concert.

Following a long standing choir tradition, former members will be joining the concert to sing in Elgar’s The Spirit of the Lord, the Te Deum from Herbert Howells’ Collegium Regale and Bruckner’s motet Locus Iste. The choir also hopes to be joined by members of Malcolm’s other choirs including the Latin Mass Choir from St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Chelsea, Alyth Choral Society and Southgate Progressive Synagogue. The programme has been chosen to reflect Malcolm’s wide range of interests and many pieces have particular significance for the choir. London Concord Singers has always sung a significant amount of contemporary music. John Rutter’s Childhood Lyrics were premiered by the choir and Cecilia MacDowell’s Regina Coeli is a piece which the choir has performed with great enjoyment. The choir has given a number of premieres of my music and Malcolm also conducted the premiere of my first opera, Garrett, so I am writing a work to be premiered in the concert.

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