About
Us
Who
would possibly sing music by Mozart, Abba, Lloyd Webber,
Bizet, Rodgers &
Hammerstein, Handel, Elton John and The Beatles
all within one concert? Well, that would be Concentus
Chorale!
Concentus Chorale is one of the latest singing groups to be formed within the town and held its inaugural rehearsal on 5 September 2005 when 45 people came along wanting to try something new! Since then we have gone from strength to strength and our current membership is averaging around 100 singers.
‘Concentus’ is an Italian Word meaning “Voices in Harmony” and the predominant aim of the choir is to do just that; sing together in perfect harmony but in a carefully controlled way while expressing the music we are performing and ensuring that it is done in a way that radiates warmth, feeling and passion. Any group can sing together but to sing collectively as one with an equally shared passion is by far the most difficult and challenging objective to achieve.
The choir was
formed in recognition of constant requests to be something ‘different’ to
the many other choirs with which Eastbourne is blessed. Of those choirs, many
perform a regular theme or style of music such as Oratorio, Spiritual, Religious,
Modern or Easy Listening but few, if any, regularly perform concerts involving
all of these styles within one programme and it is this feature which makes
us ‘so different’ from the rest!
Our ‘Celebration of Christmas’ concerts which will once again be performed this year in Seaford and Eastbourne (see Forthcoming Events) herald an extremely wide range of music and they involve the singing of items both past and previous including Zadok the Priest, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Ave Verum Corpus, Jingle Bells, How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings (Brahms Requiem), Rhythm Of Life, The Twelve Days Of Christmas, Battle Hymn Of The Republic, Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer, Joyful Joyful and the Hallelujah Chorus to name but a few.
In June and July we present our ‘West End Musical Spectacular’ concerts (see Forthcoming Events) which gives us the opportunity to explore the depths of the musical theatre and opera houses. Previous repertoire includes show stopping songs and medleys from Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Lion King, Mamma Mia (Abba) Chicago, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story and Oliver whilst popular opera choruses include music such as Chorus of Hebrew Slaves, Anvil Chorus, Pilgrims Chorus, Easter Hymn, Grand March-Aida and well known music from additional operas including Carmen, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and many others too!
As well as performing our major concerts we were flattered to be asked to sing on Eastbourne Bandstand and the choir have regularly performed to large audiences throughout the summer season. We have also sung at many other local venues and private functions and our singing doesn’t stop there either as during the lead up to Christmas you will find us singing in Freshwater Square, Willingdon and the Arndale Centre, Eastbourne where you can listen to a wide variety of Christmas music which will well and truly put you into the festive mood! On top of this you will also find us touring the streets of Eastbourne whilst Carol singing; so once again it looks as though we will be wrapping up our Christmas presents at the very last moment?!
Whilst thoroughly enjoying ourselves in singing in front of such wide ranging audiences, it also gives us the opportunity to continue our fund-raising activities and ensure constant support to our chosen charity, the locally based JPK Project. Please do visit our Charity Support section which will provide you with up to date information regarding this very worthwhile cause.