Derwent Singers mark 40 years on a high note

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Derby has always boasted a great deal of musical talent, attracting audiences from all over the region to concerts and shows. Orchestras and musical groups, opera companies and choirs, musical societies and bands all contribute to a rich entertainment mixture – and among the most highly regarded are the Derwent Singers who, this year, celebrate their 40th anniversary. Pat Parkin reports.

The Derwent Singers pose for the camera at the Leamington Spa Musical Festival in 1980, with conductor Barrie Sims proudly clasping the cup they had just won

The Derwent Singers are renowned in the Derby area for their outstanding talents which have been entertaining countless classical music lovers for 40 years.

Now, as a thank-you for their devoted support and to mark their anniversary, the choir are staging their second major concert event in four months, when they are to perform Bach’s St John Passion on Tuesday, March 18, at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Bridge Gate, Derby.

It will be a memorable date in the calendar for the audience as well as the performers, for their founder director, John Nixon, is making the long journey from America where he has been living for many years, to return to his roots and hear how the choir he helped create is performing today.

For Josie Lugg, of Littleover, it will be an especially memorable day for she and her late husband, Alan Lugg, joined the choir when John Nixon was conducting and she is now the longest serving member.

Josie taught music in Derby area schools for decades and joined the soprano line in 1971.

“A particularly memorable concert I recall was in June 1974, when, under John Nixon, we joined the Sitwell Singers to perform the Monteverdi Vespers for the first time in Derby and the audience was queuing from the cathedral right down into the Market Place.

"More recently, in 2001, we were invited to sing in Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris, with our director, Chris Monks, which, again, was a wonderful occasion.

“Of course, we have performed many exciting concerts over the years.”

Since the 1970s, Josie has sung under the successive batons of Kate Baxter, Barrie Sims, Martin Ryman, John Jenkins, John York Skinner, Peter Collis, Christopher Monks and the present conductor, Richard Roddis.

All highly talented, they each made a valuable contribution towards the reputation of what most music lovers continue to regard as Derby’s leading classical choir.

The original group was built on 16 voices, four to each part, singing mostly unaccompanied but, occasionally, backed by a small orchestra formed for the purpose.

Longest-serving member Josie Lugg

In those early days, with their reputation still to be established, the choir would take almost any engagement so as to get performance experience.

Local instrumentalists, such as flautist Graham Smith and violinist Jean Alington, were very supportive and gave their talents on a regular basis. John Rooks and C Daly Atkinson provided expert harpsichord and organ accompaniment when required, with John already well-known for his skills in building, as well as playing, harpsichords.

Part of the process of honing the choir’s distinctive sound and building its expertise was to take part in music festivals and, over the first few years, the Singers competed at Derby, Matlock, Hull and Blackpool, where the adjudicator, John Carol Case, awarded them the Rose Bowl for vocal ensemble performance.

Membership of the choir has inevitably changed since the 1960s and its numbers have grown to 28 but, despite this, the ethos of the choir continues and its performance standards remain among the highest.

Said Josie: “It is a very professionally-run group. Everyone has to be good sight-readers and prepared to rehearse and practise at home, as well as rehearsing together once a week for two hours.

“It is very hard work but very rewarding, and we are delighted that, after singing went into the doldrums for a time, we are now attracting many more younger people who really are making a valuable contribution.”

She is especially pleased about this having taught choral singing to children for many years when she was a teacher at St Alban’s RC School at Chaddesden and Findern Village School.

“I think it is very good training for young people because it demands good discipline and gives a sense of working together. Many of my old pupils say they have very happy memories of singing in their school choirs,” she added.

Over the years there was a close link between the Derwent Singers and staff at Bishop Lonsdale Teacher Training College, Mickleover (now part of Derby University) . Among those who became the choir’s conductor was the late Barrie Sims, who was head of music at the college and also ran the Saturday morning Derby Music Workshop for young people in Derby schools.

The Derwent Singers with conductor Richard Roddis at their 40th anniversary concert in Derby Cathedral in November

Among Derwent’s many memorable concerts, regular audience members will recall a powerful and convincing performance of Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil, sung in Russian to a packed St Mary’s Church in Derby and, more recently, a sparkling concert in Lichfield Cathedral, in aid of The Elimination of Leukaemia Fund, in which the programme included Vivaldi’s Gloria.

For their 40th season, director of music, Richard Roddis, decided to programme two major concert events.

The first in November 2007 was in Derby Cathedral and included Britten’s St Nicolas and Finzi’s in Terra Pax. The next takes place at Easter when he has chosen the superb acoustics and splendour of St Mary’s to stage Bach’s St John Passion.

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