RYV News and Events 2024
Our final concert of 2024 was Hark Hark, a winter concert, with the aim of not only singing, but also raising funds for local families in need, which we indeed we did, to the tune of £500, thanks to our generous supporters and loyal audience...
Our musical director Lester Simpson planned a splendid winter concert of joyous seasonal songs, music and stories for Raise Your Voices to enjoy singing in harmony, to (and with) the audience!
The programme was compiled from a wide variety of styles, origins and eras, with glorious harmonies and a mix of popular and rarer pieces - we enjoyed performing them all...​
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The lovely old church of St Mary's Wirksworth was our excellent venue for the event. The atmosphere and acoustics are perfect for our concerts and we look forward to being able to hire it again next year... so watch this space!!​
HARMONY WORKSHOP 5 October 2024
We were thrilled to be hosting this Harmony singing workshop with the acclaimed Graham Pratt who brought us some lovely songs to learn and we enjoyed his good humour, and expertise. He taught 7 pieces with delightful arrangements for four parts. It was a full and enjoyable day for RYV members and visiting singers alike, with such an inspired and inspiring leader.
You can visit his website from this link.
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This performance was a free event as part of the 2024 Wirksworth Festival and we enjoyed performing some of our favourite songs in the splendid acoustics of St Mary's Church, to a delightful audience who much to our surprise and delight gave us generous applause throughout and stayed for the full set!! (mind you, it was raining a little on and off...!)
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Let Music be in all our Hearts - our free drop in gig at the festival
Lester Simpson, the RYV Musical Director, writes and arranges much of our music portfolio and led this *colourful performance (you may notice we are *not in our customary black attire as Lester decided we should go for a more casual look at this festival gig! )
Photos courtesy of Phil Richards
Saturday June 22nd, at The Barley Mow, Kirk Ireton
We were delighted to be invited to sing at The Barley Mow music and dance event, following on from the Wirksworth Community Choir and the Morris Dancers. The weather was glorious and we performed in the lovely old walled garden with the fragrant perfume of mock orange and roses wafting cross in the balmy evening air. Our audience included one very keen and well behaved dog who barked appreciatively after every number except for "Harbour", so we assumed that particular canine was not a sea-faring fan! The pub put on a super spread of delicious sandwiches and we all had a thoroughly splendid time thank you ...
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Hang in there, the video below should load eventually...
Saturday June 15th - The Big Sing
We hosted another of our popular massed singing events for all keen singers -
from beginners to the more experienced - and had over 110 voices singing in harmony, raising the rafters in the town hall, making such a joyous sound.
Lester Simpson leading the room in 'Harbour '
Click here for the audio recording of our harmonies
Zee Muziq setting the bar high!
Click on the icon to download the full flyer
MORE DATES for your RYV 2024 Diary
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September 7th or 8th tbc - we are singing at the Wirksworth Festival Visit web link here
Saturday October 5th - hosting another popular Singing Workshop at Wirksworth Town Hall- leader yet TBC.
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Saturday 14th December - "Hark Hark" our RYV Winter Concert at 7.30 pm in St Mary's Church Wirksworth, and as usual, donations from proceeds will go to local charities.
MAY 4th - Farmer's Market
The market was buzzing Saturday May 4th and we squeezed in to perform in good weather to the aromas of the coffee stall next-door and all the lovely produce whetting our appetites to go and buy after our gig was over....and we even received little ripples of applause from kind onlookers who stopped by to listen.
JANUARY 2024 - We were fortunate to have our delightful visiting leader Lynn Dean come along for us in January while Lester took his hard earned vacation down under. We are indebted to her for her patience with us trying to sound like a choir again after the long break, and her invaluable advice to forget about singing from the diaphragm but to aim lower! So, we shall ever be mindful to clench our buttocks to improve our singing in future!!!