Cheltenham Bach Choir is travelling to Göttingen in October to perform a massed concert with their longstanding ‘twin’ choir, the Göttingen Stadtkantorei and the Göttingen Symphonieorchester.
The Bach choir will depart on Wednesday 24 October and the group will number about 50 singers and almost all will be accommodated in families once in Göttingen. Some of the personal links across the two choirs go back well over 30 years.
The Stadtkantorei came to Cheltenham three years ago and performed Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah with the Bach choir, under the baton of their conductor Bernd Eberhardt. The compliment is being reciprocated this time as the conductor will be Stephen Jackson – Cheltenham Bach Choir’s own Music Director, who is also Music Director of the BBC Symphony Chorus.
The concert will take place on Saturday 27 October in the Johanniskirche in Göttingen and the programme will include Edward Elgar’s The Music Makers, and two pieces – Missa Angelorum and Ave Maria – by Carl Rütti. Deborah Miles-Johnson, mezzo-soprano, will be the soloist in The Music Makers.
For those who won’t be in Göttingen, there is the chance to hear the choir at a closer venue, as they will preview their Göttingen programme in All Saints Church, Cheltenham at 7.30pm on Saturday 20 October.
Cheltenham Twinning Association 