The Emsworth-based Renaissance Choir presents its German Classical Masters concert on Saturday, March 29 at 7.30pm at St Peter’s Church, Petersfield, GU32 3HS (conductor: Peter Gambie; organ: Mark Dancer).
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always lovely
00:06to speak to Simon O'Hay. Simon, you are the Chairman of the Renaissance Choir and it's
00:10a fascinating choir, isn't it? A busy choir that does some really interesting things.
00:16Tell me a little bit about its purpose, what does it exist to do?
00:20Well it's basically, its purpose is to keep the tradition of Renaissance music alive.
00:27Doesn't mean that we don't do other areas as well, but basically we were founded with
00:31that purpose in mind. Also to promote lesser known music, making it accessible. And finally,
00:38I think quite honestly, is to be able to establish links between music, artists and writers,
00:45whether the art form is secular or sacred. So I think we've got a sort of rich tradition
00:53of doing that. If you go back also to our early days, we actually, we were pioneering
01:01in bringing the music of Rodrigo to the UK, where he wasn't very well known.
01:07How far back does the choir go?
01:11It's going to be 50 years old next year, so 1976. And next year we're going to be celebrating
01:17that with all sorts of things, but I'll keep my powder dry on that one.
01:23I love an anniversary, so let's chat about that nearer the time. But tell me from your
01:27points of view, you so evidently enjoy it. What's the fun, the satisfaction for you?
01:33Well, I mean, to be honest, I'm not the most accomplished singer in the world at all, but
01:39I do love having demands put on me. So I don't like being with people who are worse than me,
01:47and I'm probably one of the worst singers. So I love having a few demands. I like the fact that
01:52a lot of the music is a cappella, which means basically unaccompanied. So that makes quite
01:57big demands on all our singers.
01:59Yeah. Well, obviously with the pandemic, we're talking about the anniversary,
02:03choirs were particularly badly hit by the pandemic. How are you doing? Are you good for numbers?
02:08We are short of lower voices, so particularly basses. It's been quite difficult to attract
02:17them into our ranks. And yeah, so I think it would be lovely to be able to have a few more
02:25ladies and men. There are some ladies with lower voices as well, but particularly in the bass line.
02:31But otherwise, as you look towards that anniversary, you're doing pretty well by
02:34the sounds of things.
02:35Yeah. I mean, we've got a strong following in Emsworth, in Petersfield and in Southsea,
02:42Portsmouth. So we've got three key venues, and we're able to also expand into other areas. So
02:51this year, we're going to Malta and Gozo for a week, and we're singing in four different venues,
03:00including the Co-Cathedral, which is one of the main churches in Malta, which we're incredibly
03:05excited about.
03:07Well, good luck with everything, as always.
03:09Thank you. Thank you very much. Nice. Thank you, Phil.