March 2010: 10th Anniversary concert - Out of DarknessOn 27th March 2010 in Kendal Parish church the New Millenium Chorus and Orchestra performed two pieces on the theme "Out of Darkness" conducted by Roland Fudge, with tenor soloist Nicholas Hurndall Smith. The performance began with a new piece, commissioned by CCI to celebrate its tenth anniversary, by local composer Roland Fudge, entitled ‘Celestial Light’, which includes a choir of children from local schools and a rock band; and was followed, after the interval, by Gerald Finzi’s setting of Wordsworth’s ‘Intimations of Immortality’.
Click here for a review of the performance
July 2008: Vaughan Williams FestivalA series of concerts, recitals and talks, beginning in Cartmel Priory on the Friday evening and continuing throughout the weekend in Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre and Parish Church made up this marvellous weekend of English music. More than 200 people were involved in a celebration of the life and music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and a huge number went along to listen. The central events of the weekend were a concert in Kendal Parish Church on the Saturday evening, and a Festival Mass at Cartmel Priory on the Sunday.
Click here for pictures and a review of the performance
July 2007: Poulenc Gloria & Berlioz Messe SolennelleOn Bastille Day, July 14th, an appreciative audience was treated to a thrilling concert of French choral music in Kendal Parish Church by an obviously enthusiastic New Millennium Chorus and Orchestra, inspiringly conducted by Ian Jones. The concert began with the setting of the Gloria by Francis Poulenc, and in the second part of the concert we heard a much less familiar piece: the Messe Solennelle by Hector Berlioz.
Click here for pictures and a review of the performance
November 2005: Benjamin Britten War RequiemOn the evening of Saturday 12th November we filled Kendal Parish Church to its capacity with combined choirs and orchestras of 230 performers and an audience of over 500. It was a powerful and moving performance.
Click here for pictures and a review of the performance
2004: Voices Raised and Carl Orff Carmina BuranaVoices Raised was all about giving young people between the ages of 11 and 18 the opportunity to discover the joys of singing through group workshops with some of the finest vocal professionals working in the UK today. On June 26th, the young singers joined with the New Millennium Chorus for a barnstorming performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in the Kendal Leisure Centre.
For pictures and a review of the performance written for the Westmorland Gazette, go to the Carmina Burana page. For pictures of the Voices Raised workshop day on 24th June, go to Voices Raised
July 2002: Vaughan Williams A Sea SymphonyTo celebrate the Queen's Jubilee CCI staged another rarity for South Lakeland . A Sea Symphony is a huge choral and orchestral evocation of the sea and all its deeper significances for the human race. Once again the New Millennium Chorus and Orchestra joined forces with 2 young soloists to delight a capacity audience in the Parish Church.
July 2001: Gerald Finzi CentenaryMusic lovers from all over the country and abroad gathered to celebrate the music of this most lyrical and retiring of English composers in a series of concerts, recitals and talks beginning in Cartmel Priory on the Friday evening and continuing throughout the weekend in Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre and Parish Church. Young performers were much in evidence and local singers and players rubbed shoulders with top professionals in a weekend of sheer delight which culminated in a choral and orchestral concert at which, once again, the audience filled the Parish Church . One visitor, who had known Finzi, wrote: “How I wish Gerald had been with us for this weekend of delight.”
March 2000: Beethoven Missa SolemnisSome 800 people flocked to Kendal Parish Church to hear a performance of this towering masterpiece never before performed in Kendal. Organised by CCI it was performed by the New Millennium Chorus and Orchestra with 4 young soloists from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. The performance was rapturously received by the audience and highly praised by the Westmorland Gazette critic who wrote: "the chorus met every challenge. This was an inspired occasion".
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