Here are a selection of press reports & reviews received for past concerts.

"Music for Christmas" - December 2004

Britten - War Requiem  - November 2004

Mozart - Regina Coeli, Ave Verum Corpus, "Coronation" Mass; Handel - "The King Shall Rejoice"; Haydn - Trumpet Concerto - July 2004

Brahms "German Requiem", Bruckner "Psalm 150",

Strauss "Four Last Songs - April2004

Mendelssohn "Elijah" - November 2003

Music for a Summer Evening - July 2003
A Night at the Opera - November 2002
Haydn "Creation" - November 2001
Verdi "Requiem" - May 2001

MUSIC FOR CHRISTMAS - JOYOUS OCCASION - December  2004

HUTTON & Shenfield Choral Society's first vocal Joy to the World as the Music for Christmas concert certainly brought joy to to Brentwood Centre's packed audience.

Each pair of Christmas songs ranged from the quietly hallowed to joyous exhilaration, the Director, Tim Hooper, at his flamboyant best.  These contrasts reflected the skills of the choir.

Shenfield St Mary's Primary School Choir energetically participated with a range of Christmas songs.  With the arrival of Father Christmas they gained their reward with a gift each, as did every child in the audience, after their rendering of Away in a Manger.  An unforgettable moment.

The Aurelian Ensemble delighted with their range and expertise throughout.

More joy was added to the evening when The Chelmsford ballet Company, in full costume, performed the ritual dances from The Tales Of Beatrix Potter.  The mice courtship dance and the love affair between Pigling Bland and Black Berkshire Pig, created by choreographer Gillian Toogood and performed by Tanya Davenport and Alice Ryder, were excellent.

The evening ended in fine style with roudy audience participation.  Tidings of Joy indeed!

Aleene Hatchard, Brentwood Gazette

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Britten - WAR REQUIEM

CHALLENGES OF REQUIEM TO REMEMBER - November 2004

IN choosing to perform Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem at this season of Remembrance, Hutton & Shenfield Choral Society set itself possibly its greatest ever challenges. The obvious one, of balancing the books, in view of the enormous resources required, was overcome with the help of a bequest from a former member.  By far the greatest challenge however was to bring off a performance of this masterpiece worthy of the composer’s musical inspiration and the harrowing poetry of Wilfred Owen. We need not have worried.  Under the assured guidance of conductor Tim Hooper, the performers held the audience spellbound as ever more imaginative music for the Requiem texts and ever more heart-rending setting of the poems were presented. The splendid soloists stood comparison with the original creators of their roles.  The immaculate diction and poignant interpretation of the men, tenor Mark Wilde and baritone Simon Preece, and the finely controlled power of soprano Carolyn Cook were exemplary. The Aurelian Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra excelled themselves with their confident solos and shattering ensembles.  The Southend Boys’ and Girls’ Choirs, directed by Roger Humphrey, sounded as accomplished as ever. By no means least, credit must go to the Choral Society for tackling what must have seemed such daunting music in the early stages of rehearsal and seeing it through to such an impressive standard.  The long silence at the end and the ensuing acclamation from the audience should have left them in no doubt as to the high quality of the performance.

Bruce Pennick, Brentwood Gazette

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Mozart - Regina Coeli, Ave Verum Corpus and Coronation Mass; Handel - The King Shall Rejoice; Haydn - Trumpet Concerto - AWAY WIN FOR CHORAL SOCIETY - July 2004

THE society ambitiously "played away" by selecting a venue outside Brentwood and, judging by the large and enthusiastic audience, it seems to have paid off.  Careful selection of a (mostly Mozart) programme must, of course, have helped to pack Chelmsford's workmanlike cathedral on a cool summer evening. And, unusually for a society which does much to promote 20th century music, all the works were at least 200 years old. It gave us a chance to hear music by Mozart from three stages of his short life. With anyone else but a genius, of course, the antiphon Regina Coeli (K 108), composed when he was just 15, would have exposed his immaturity. Not a bit of it. This beautiful choral piece, enhanced by the soprano Bibi Heal, is as finely wrought as any of his later works. It was no surprise, either, that a group of singers in love with their craft handled the popular motet Ave Verum Corpus (K618), written in just a day, with equal precision. and respect. The final Mozart piece brought in all the princi­pals, Ms Heal, mezzo Susan Marrs, tenor Gareth Malone and baritone Dawid Kimberg, for a finely interpreted working of the Coronation Mass in C Minor (K317) which was particularly moving in the spine-tingling credo. Earlier, the choir gave us Handel's anthem The King Shall Rejoice and Simon Sturgeon-Clegg, a member of the youthful chamber orchestra, performed the Haydn Trumpet Concerto in E flat major. As always, it was all brought together by the so­ciety's music director Tim Hooper who must be very satisfied with his "away win".

Roger Watkins, Brentwood Gazette Top of  Page

Brahms "German Requiem", Bruckner "Psalm 150", Strauss  "Four Last Songs"- April 2004

The Brahms German Requiem can hardly be bettered as a means of displaying the technical and musical skills of performers and as usual, Hutton & Shenfield Choral Society, under the spirited direction of Tim Hooper, revelled in the opportunities provided.

On this occasion they were partnered by the excellent Forest Philharmonic Orchestra, who were similarly motivated to provide the ideal accompaniment. In spite of their large numbers they managed to support the choir rather than compete with them, at the same time sounding at all times like an orchestra with its own identity and musical credentials.

In addition to moments of hushed but vital intensity, the choir and orchestra are repeatedly required to build huge musical edifices, which can easily degenerate into a continuous noise. Tim Hooper kept a tight control on these developments so that there always seemed more to come as the climax was reached, and these mountains of sound were balanced by some beautifully sensitive phrasing in the quieter sections. Perhaps the most telling of these was in partnership with soprano Jennifer Smith in her solo item. She herself managed to invest all her expertise and experience in a genuine performance.  Jacques Eugene Imbrailo, gifted with a true baritone voice, gave similar inspiration in his spine­-tingling solos.

Jennifer Smith had previously partnered the orchestra in a finely detailed performance of the Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, with ravishing violin and horn solos, and everyone took advantage of Bruckner's setting of Psalm 150 to 'clear their tubes' effectively at the beginning of the programme.

Brentwood Gazette Top of  Page

Mendelssohn "Elijah" - November 2003 AN EVENING OF MUSICAL PROMISE

FROM the opening  bars of Mendelssohn's Elijah, with its sombre brass and woodwind chords, Elijah's introduction to the story and the subsequent orchestral overture, I knew the evening was full of musical promise.The Aurelian Ensemble provided solid support for the large choruses.  A sensitive chamber-like approach to accompany the vocal solos was equally impressive.The choir communicated their understanding of the drama of the text well.  Tim Hooper's energetic conducting left the audience in no doubt as to his commitment to the music and its drama.

Janette Ruocco, Brentwood Gazette Top of  Page

Music for a Summer Evening - July 2003
The sound of summer goes out with a bang"This was the last of what has become that traditional end-of-season frolic
Hutton & Shenfield's Summer Evening Music. Next July's concert will be an altogether more serious affair in Chelmsford Cathedral. So it was good to hear the tradition go out with a bangThe first item, Rodgers & Hammerstein on Broadway, showed once again what a highly disciplined and able choir this is. A dozen or so popular show songs were reeled off with professional panache, impeccable diction ('there is nothing like a dame'!) and no sense that was a body of serious singers doing us all a favour - they were evidently enjoying themselves, and so were we.Sharing the programme was the Ken Turner Big Band and they, too, gave us the benefit of a highly professional performance: two sets of popular big band classics. Interesting to speculate on what heights choirs could reach if they also had a repertoire of well-known pieces which they had performed time and again, enabling them to concentrate on immaculate rhythmic precision and instinctive balance - all without a conductor! The band featured unanimous crunchy reeds, wild brass and some fluent solo spots above a driving rhythm section.The Spirituals from Tippett's A Child of Our Time, the evening's "serious" item, always present enormous balances problems, parts being divided then coming together, each needing to know how important every note is. Go Down Moses was the most effective of the five, possibly because it presents fewer such problems. For the Grande Finale members of the band transformed themselves the quintessential pit orchestra to accompany a lively medley from Guys and Dolls.

Congratulations and thanks to all - the band, the soloists, accompanist Tim Smith and conductor Tim Hooper: a thoroughly enjoyable evening."

Brentwood Gazette Top of  Page

A Night at the Opera - November 2002
Opera triumph for Hutton & Shenfield Choral Society. THE Overture from The Force of Destiny by Verdi made a rousing start to this concert by the Hutton and Shenfield Choral Society. The singers were backed by the Aurelian Ensemble, of which all sections, particularly the woodwind, were in excellent form under Tim Hooper.Cavaliera Rusticana supplied the second item in the guise of the Easter Hymn and the choir supplied a wonderful sound here while the impact of soprano Naomi Harvey won a sustained last note made for an intensely dramatic finish.Ensemble leader Bradley Winand gave us the perfectly restful contrast of the violin solo in the Meditation from Thaïs before the buoyant solemnity of the Procession from Die Meistersinger and the further drama of Sachs' Chorale.The climax of this concert came before the interval: the exquisitely performed duet from the end of Act 1 of La Boheme. Naomi Harvey sang the part of Mimi, a role that she has just sung this autumn for the Welsh National Opera. Wynn Evans sang the part of Rodolfo comfortably, his voice well modulated and powerful as required.The second began with the prelude from Act III of Lohengrin, the famous tune on the French horns taken up by trumpets and trombones. In March of the Toreadors from Carmen the excitement of the crowd before the bull fight was effectively conveyed by the chorus before another contrast with a return to Cavaliera Rusticana for the Intermezzo, a showcase for the Ensemble's string section.The soloists returned for the drinking song from La Traviata by Verdi before the choir threw themselves into the sympathetic Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi's Nabucco. Disciplined

The hammers wielded by the percussionist in Verdi's Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore were another highlight before the tenor was fetched back by the conductor for Nessun Dorma. The final item brought the most disciplined singing from the different divisions of the choir and two pairs of heralds appeared on either side to trumpet in the Triumphal Scene from Verdi's Aida.

Brentwood GazetteTop of  Page

Haydn Creation - November 2001
"Hooper is creating a good impression”"Hutton & Shenfield Choral Society's new musical director, Tim Hooper, made his debut in one of the oratorio circuit's seminal works with great style. Hooper... drew a performance of immense beauty and verve from an in-form choir and the Aurelian Ensemble.....It was conducted with impetus and brio as well as tenderness and perception."

Brentwood GazetteTop of  Page

Verdi Requiem - May 2001
"Praise for the unsung heroes""Choral societies all over the world are rising to the challenge of marking the 100th anniversary of the great Italian composer's death with performances of his most famous non-operatic work. Often, it has to be said, there is great praise for the principals, usually professional singers, but only the polite bravi for the unsung heroes and heroines who make up the chorus. Not so on this occasion, however. The four principals who fronted the Hutton & Shenfield Choral Society's reading were marvellous, of course, but the chorus, augmented by Southend Bach Choir, was a real triumph."

Brentwood Gazette