Christmas season 2024 - that’s a wrap!

It’s been a busy week for the singers, parents, conductors, accompanists and volunteers of Farnham Youth Choir! 

The combined choirs of Farnham Youth Choir

On Wednesday, 4th December FYC’s Senior Choir performed in Farnham Town Council’s annual Civic Christmas Carol Service, hosted by the Mayor of Farnham, Councillor Brodie Mauluka. The service began with Once In Royal David’s City including the traditional treble solo verse beautifully sung by Max Wilson. In addition to the readings and audience carols, the varied programme included ‘Wolcum Yole’ from Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, the much-loved Carol of the Bells, a great new arrangement of Gaudete by FYC alum Suzzi Vango and Errollyn Wallen’s haunting Peace On Earth. The choir, who were expertly led by their Artistic Director Patrick Barrett and accompanied on the piano and organ by Matthew Rickard, were delighted to receive compliments from the Mayor and audience on their impeccable performances.

Next up was the gala concert featuring all three FYC choirs - Training Choir, Junior Choir and Senior Choir - on Saturday 7th December at the Medici Theatre, Weydon School. The packed house was treated to brilliant performances by Junior Choir, conducted by Margaret O’Shea and accompanied by Susan Norman, of the evocative songs The Bat and The Firefly by Andy Beck as well as an extremely joyful rendition of Oh Come All Ye Faithful arranged by Masa Fukuda.

Junior Choir

FYC’s Training Choir, conducted on this occasion by Sally Hollyer, were not to be outdone and their performance of A New Star was equally joyful, followed by two slower and atmospheric songs about snow, with an impressive performance in Italian of the carol Dormi, Dormi to finish their set. The singing was interspersed with readings by young people and adults in keeping with the concert’s theme of ‘Peace on Earth’. One of the many highlights of the evening was John Williams’ Somewhere In My Memory (from the film Home Alone) sung by the combined choirs, followed by an exuberant rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas with actions, to round off an evening of high-quality music-making.

Training Choir

The final performance of the Christmas season was given by the Senior Choir on Monday, 9th December at Farnham Castle. This event, for invited guests including the Mayor of Farnham, raised money for The Vine Centre who support adults and families that are socially isolated, long-term unemployed, homeless or poorly housed, suffering with mental health, addiction or learning difficulties. Derek Carpenter, Chair of Farnham Castle Charity & Trust, said: 

The good the FYC does for our community goes a lot deeper than simply a happy smiling audience on the night. A lot of disadvantaged people will benefit indirectly, and for some time, from the choir’s wonderful performance. 

We wish all our singers, families and supporters a wonderful Christmas and peaceful New Year.

An interview with composer Gareth Treseder

Gareth Treseder works regularly with the Monteverdi Choir, Polyphony, the BBC Singers, the Eric Whitacre Singers and London Voices. He composed the carol, ‘En Natus Est Emanuel, Dominus’ for Joanna Tomlinson which was premiered by Farnham Youth Choir in 2022 and which the Senior Choir performed again at their Christmas concert on 7th December 2024.

Gareth Treseder

Singer and choral composer

How did you come to compose ‘En Natus Est Emanuel, Dominus’’?

When she was Artistic Director of FYC, Joanna Tomlinson was kind enough to programme several of my works for the Senior Choir. I was keen to write a piece as a thank you to Jo, and also to showcase FYC's extraordinary musical talents. I wanted to write a joyful piece that celebrates Christmas and that I would have enjoyed singing when I was a teenager.

Why did you choose this text?

‘En Natus Est Emanuel, Dominus’ tells the story of Christ’s birth with joy, rather than solemnity, and this was my objective in writing this piece. I want the singers to feel as though they are having a party when they sing it! Also, the English translation scans almost identically to the original Latin text, so choirs singing this piece have a choice between the two languages.

What was your journey towards becoming a choral singer and composer?

I was lucky enough to sing in Swansea's St Paul's Parish Church choir for twelve years, starting as a six-year-old chorister. The choir's director, the late Dr Ian Graham, taught me music theory, piano and singing, which in turn provided lessons for numerous life skills like organisation, preparation, and hard work. I then went to the University of Bristol to study music and continued singing with choirs there, as well as being a Lay Clerk at Bristol Cathedral. (Lay Clerks are professional singers in cathedral choirs). That’s really where I learned about the importance of writing music that choirs would be able to pick up and sing quickly. There is rarely enough time for rehearsal for a choral evensong, so I really learned to write music that could be easily sung.

Which composers inspire you?

I love Stanford, J.S. Bach (obviously), Haydn, Mozart, and Poulenc - their music seems to me to be divinely inspired. Their sound worlds are extremely focussed, but nonetheless each produces a musical language that is easy to access.

Do you have a favourite Christmas tune?

While I love the famous version of ‘Away in a Manger’ by William Kirkpatrick, there is a setting arranged by Reginald Jacques of a traditional tune from Normandy in France that I love. I can hear it over and over again - a valuable thing in a Christmas carol.

I also love ‘The Angel Gabriel’, more for nostalgic reasons. I remember opening the associated carol book as a child - they were always covered in wrapping paper to protect them - and I remember singing this one with a smile.

What will your Christmas look like?

I’ll be working - singing - nearly every day in December. I am fortunate that several of my works will be premiered this Christmas. One of which will involve me singing in the premiere itself. ‘Shepherds in the Fields Abiding’ will be performed in Swansea's Brangwyn Hall by the BBC National Chorus of Wales - a choir with whom I once sang as a Choral Scholar whilst studying at Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. The performance will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Christmas Day itself will be a family occasion as I will be celebrating with my wife and three children.

You can find out more about Gareth here: www.garethtreseder.com

Day Six in Auckland - Sightseeing Sunday 21st July

Volcanic caves.

The Sky Tower

St Matthew in the City - Sacred Music competition

Auckland Town Hall - Secondary Schools competition

Our hotel!

At the top of the Sky Tower

Our last day in Auckland was a well earned day off, sightseeing. We caught the ferry over to Rangitoto Island - a dormant volcano - and then our singers raced each other to get to the top. We also enjoyed exploring the caves and several geographers among us were fascinated by the black volcanic rock.

Everyone was hungry when we arrived back in Auckland and the singers enjoyed finding their own lunch and doing some shopping, while the tour adults enjoyed an excellent lunch in an Italian bakery.

We met up at 4pm to go up the Sky Tower from where we enjoyed amazing views over Auckland and also seeing our competition venues & hotel from the sky.

Day Five in Auckland - Awards Ceremony! Saturday 20th July

FYC WON 2 GOLD MEDALS!!! What an exciting day!

The day started with an early coach transfer to the Spark Arena, for the awards ceremony! All of the choir’s hard work paid off, and we couldn’t be happier with our achievement. Patrick and senior leader Freya went up to the stage to collect our gold medals, while the choir celebrated from where they were sat. Once everyone had calmed down a little from the excitement, we headed off to Howick (30 minutes on the coach from the city centre) for the final friendship concert of the World Choir Games. Finally, we ended the day at the Spark Arena once again for the closing ceremony.

Day Four in Auckland: Second competition Friday 19th July

This morning we managed to scramble together a last-minute rehearsal space and piano so the choir could add some finishing touches to their repertoire for the Secondary Schools competition. The space was a dance studio with mirrors along a wall - very useful for seeing everyone’s performance faces! We’re very grateful to KBB Music for the piano & Dynasty Studios for their space.

We went on stage for the competition performance at about 5pm, after dodging the showers in some very stylish ponchos. There are some pictures here from the warm up room and then from the performance itself. Melanie was photographing from the wings, so couldn’t get good angles on every singer, but we hope there will be more pictures from Interkultur. The choir performed brilliantly, including all of the last minute performance details that had been worked out in the studio in the morning. The audience response was huge with lots of congratulations as they walked off stage.

There was a well deserved group hug as Patrick and Matthew congratulated the choir on their performance, before dinner and soiree (an FYC tradition where the singers entertain each other and the tour adults with fun cabaret acts). Details of what happened in the soiree performances will, according to tradition, remain within the choir, but there were tears of laughter and tears of joy. A very memorable evening!

Day Three in Auckland Thursday 18th July

Today was busy with a friendship concert and rehearsals. We also managed to sneak in a little time for swimming and shopping. Not loads of pictures today - although it was a beautiful day in Auckland. We also got the chance to watch some of the performances in the second part of our category - our senior singers were watching intently, making copious notes & trying to predict the winners. A couple of these photos were from yesterday’s competition performance - thanks to the Interkultur Facebook page.