Cheriton Singers

Previous Concerts and Performances:

Friends and family enjoyed another successful Festive Concert on 3rd December where the choir performed a mixture of sacred and secular music suitable for the season. The choir also performed at Hinton Ampner House and the Flower Pots in Cheriton during December.

What a fantastic evening for our most recent concert on the 9th July, a perfect summer evening for our programme of show music and other popular classics. Thanks to all our supporters who attended the concert and particularly to Ben Cooper our Director and Chris Burton our accompanist. Thanks to everyone that supported our post lockdown concert on the 20th November 2021. We had an audience of over 100 joining us to hear Vivaldi's Gloria and Faure's Requiem accompanied by Chris Burton on the organ. Our soloists were superb and everything came together under the baton of our MD Ben. It was wonderful to be singing again for friends and family in our village church St Michael's.. The Choir's last 2019 concert was our ' Christmas Concert with a difference...' which saw an almost full Church and celebrated our 50th anniversary and, most appropriately, also featured performances by The Cheriton Players (as our choir was originally created in 1969 by members of 'The Players'). Our previous concert 'Songs From The Sonnets' featured Cheriton Primary School Choir and this was our new Musical Director, Ben Cooper's first (and very successful) concert with Cheriton Singers.  We were also pleased to welcome back Chris Burton (our previous MD) who kindly provided the piano accompaniment for us. Our previous concert was Faure's Requiem in 2018 with other reflective pieces accompanied by the Fiocco orchestra, which was a huge success and sell out performance which was very fitting, as it was Christopher Burton, our retiring MD's last concert with us. This was followed up by Carols at The Pots where there was standing room only and so another big success for the choir which concluded 2018 as these performances were preceded by Music through the Ages, which featured the hugely talented VoxSoc Choir from Winchester College and was performed to another packed church to great acclaim. Our concert in the autumn of 2017 was a different genre including light-hearted Songs From The Shows including The Lion King, Sister Act, Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music with the Cheriton Primary School Choir and accompanied by the piano, drums and bass guitar which created an excellent atmosphere.

Our concert in November 2016 was Brahms' Requiem accompanied by the Fiocco orchestra and soloists Jake Phillips and Milly Forrest from the Royal College of Music and was extremely well received. Our performances in April 2016 was a first for the Cheriton Singers as we sang in a Special Charity Concert at St Peters' Church, Winchester with the Radcliffe Male Voice Choir singing a range of contemporary and traditional music rounding off the concert with the two choirs singing the Hallelujah Chorus. Other recent concert performances have included Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Sparrow Mass, Faure's Requiem, Stainer's Crucifixion, Handel's Messiah (Part 1), Stanford's Te Deum, Britten's Choral Dances from Gloriana, Vaughan Williams' Five English Folk Songs, Kodaly's Missa Brevis - plus a large selection of light- hearted arrangements including 'Songs from the Shows' with favourites from Phantom of the Opera, Oliver! & West Side Story.

Weddings:

We have been pleased to sing for weddings at Cheriton, Odiham, Micheldever, Itchen Abbas, Beech Nr. Alton and St. Cross & Hyde in Winchester.  Please do contact us if you would like us to sing on your special day.

Special Events and Charity Functions:

We have been fortunate to have been asked to sing at Winchester Cathedral Evensong on several occasions in 2017 & 2018 which has added another dimension to the choir and was a great privilege for us all.  The April 2016 concert was a Special Charity Concert raising money for Southampton Hospital's Children's Ward & Canine Partners. In December 2014 we were invited to sing at Marwell Hotel, Fishers Pond for their Christmas functions on several occasions and once again performed at The Flower Pots Inn in Cheriton to help raise money for local charities and have sung carols at an Special Fund-raising Event in Kilmeston. Also in 2014 the choir sang in The Brooks Shopping Centre in Winchester to raise money for Help for Heroes charity.

A Special 'Thank you':

Cheriton Singers would like to express our sincere thanks to Gillian Gray-Knight and her team at Cheriton Village Stores for their continued assistance as our local box office and also to our many friends and helpers who ensure the smooth running of our concerts.