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 Founded in the early 1960s, the choir
performs 2 major concerts each season, plus additional smaller works
either around Christmas or during the summer months. With a membership of
50, the Hexham Orpheus Choir operates a no-audition policy which has
always provided a platform for people of various musical backgrounds to
come together and perform a wide variety of choral music, from Renaissance
to contemporary sources.Over the years, the choir has appeared at various venues such as Hexham Abbey, the Queen Elizabeth High school and churches in the region. Many of the choir members also belong to other choirs in the area, with some members also performing as soloists in their own right. Our conductor Glenn Davis also leads the Priory Singers, Tynemouth, enabling us to join forces and perform larger choral works from time to time. The choir has a very active social calendar, and new members are always made very welcome.  OUR CONDUCTORGlenn Davis Choral music has been a major part of Glenn's life since singing in the school choir of Newcastle R.G.S. under Jack Wolstenholme. After years as a choral singer Glenn was given the chance to direct a small and highly successful madrigal group (the Tynemouth Consort) between 1974 and 1982, and has been the choral trainer and conductor of the Priory Singers since its formation in 1979. In January 1998 Glenn took on the directorship of the Hexham Orpheus Choir, and was keen to take up their suggestion of joint concerts, offering the opportunity for both choirs to combine for works requiring larger forces than either could manage individually. The result to date has been two performances: Rossini's Stabat Mater and Brahms' Song of Destiny in Hexham Abbey in 2000, and an equally successful Elijah two years later in the hall of King's School, Tynemouth, attracting an audience of over 300. Over the whole period he has developed his own and both choirs' standards of performance, particularly after his experience of summer schools in choral conducting at Canford with Simon Halsey (now the Priory Singers' Honorary President), and the late Simon Johnson. He is a regular member of the Association of British Choral Directors and sings with the Sinfonia Chorus. He has recently attended the two-week orchestral conducting course at Canford under an international team of teachers led by George Hurst.  OUR
ACCOMPANISTMargaret Huntington Born in Birmingham, Margaret first began studying piano whilst at the King Edward VI High School, and later continued her active interest in music by studying piano with Joan Scourse and singing with Joan Gray, whilst at the same time obtaining her BSc degree in Maths and Physics at the Royal Holloway College, University of London. After graduating, Margaret moved back to Birmingham, taking up her career in computer programming; however, with music being her great love, she immediately joined local choirs and started singing lessons with Margaret Duckworth. Her marriage to David Huntington brought about a move to the North East, and in 1974 Margaret obtained her singing FTCL with Mary Bullock, followed in 1984 by her piano teacher's LRAM. Since then, she has become a busy teacher, accompanist and director, as well as running the AB exams for the Newcastle area in her capacity as Hon. local representative for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In January 2000 she was appointed accompanist for the Hexham Orpheus Choir, and in September of the same year became musical director of Voices in Harmony. |