3rd Birmingham Festival Choral Society Oratorio Competition.
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Bradshaw Hall.
26th November 2024
The final of the third BFCS Oratorio Competition was a wonderful celebration of song. The six talented finalists, introduced by Paul Wingfield, Head of Vocal and Operatic Studies at the Conservatoire, each performed three or four oratorio pieces, ranging from Handel and Bach to Tippet and Hindemith. The audience enjoyed discussing their favourites in the interval – should they judge on technique, difficulty of repertoire, communication with the audience, quality of the voice? Would their favourite three be the same as the three selected by the judges, David Wynne and Kevin Gill?
The judges, David Wynne (left) and Kevin Gill.
In the end, the judges were unable to choose between contralto Laura Toomey and soprano Beth Taylor and made them joint Prize winners!
The crystal trophy and cheques were presented by David Fletcher, the Chair of BFCS. We all look forward to hearing the results of the other part of the prize – a booking to sing at a future BFCS concert
Joint Oratorio Prize winners Beth Taylor (left) and Laura Toomey, with David Fletcher.
Tenor Joe Yates was a worthy runner up. The pieces he sang were:
Handel: Let festal joy triumphant reign, from Belshazzar
Haydn: A crystal pavement lies the lake, from The Seasons
Vivaldi: Peccator videbit, from Beatus Vir.
The six finalists
Laura ToomeyElissa StreetJoe YatesSophie HendersonMairi McGillivrayBeth Taylor
Left to right: Beth Taylor, Sophie Henderson, Laura Toomey, Joe Yates, Elissa Street and Mairi McGillivray.
The six finalists
The accompanists:
Jonathan French, accompanist for Sophie , Joe and ElissaSara Willander and Mairi McGillivrayAshley Wagner and Beth TaylorTomas Howell, accompanist to Laura ToomeyPaul Wingfield, Head of Vocal and Operatic Studies
On Sunday 14th July we gathered together in the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre for an wonderful afternoon of opera music. The choir sang a wide variety of opera choruses, from baroque composers Handel and Purcell, to Verdi and Wagner. Verdi’s Anvil chorus and Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves were particular favourites.
We had really enjoyed leaning these wonderful melodies over the past term – and the struggles of learning words in Russian, French, Italian and German finally seemed worthwhile. We all enjoyed being opera singers for an afternoon!
Click to expand any photo
One of the special delights of this concert was that it featured Ellen Smith, the 2023 prize winner of the BFCS Oratorio Competition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Part of the prize was a booking to sing at a BFCS concert, and this concert gave the perfect opportunity to showcase her wonderful skills in singing operatic works from composers such as Bizet, Handel and Walton.
The second soloist, Abigail Baylis, had also been a finalist in the Oratorio Competition, reminding us how high the standard was in that final. Her solos ranged from the pathos of Purcell’s Dido’s Lament to a fearsome bridezilla in It’s my wedding by Jonathan Dove.
The audience was treated to a surprise when one of our basses, Jason Schaub, whipped out a gold patterned jacket and came forward to sing the wonderful Tchaikovsky aria Vy tak pechalny, from Pique Dame! Jason also sang Verdi’s Alzati eri tu macchiavi in the second half. Very few of the singers had realised what a wonderful talent we have amongst us – Jason had been a professional musician and singer before taking up his academic career at the University of Birmingham.
In contrast, the talent of our accompanist , Kevin Gill, is well known to our singers and audience. Kevin can turn his hand to whatever style of music we perform – whether it be traditional choral masses and requiems, choral jazz or opera. While the choir took a rest to listen to the solos, Kevin was accompanying every single item in the concert to his usual high standard.
Another person who didn’t have a chance to take a break was our Music Director, David Wynne, who was conducting the whole concert. He also introduced all the items, and you can see from the expressions of the choir that there was plenty of humour!
The tenors and basses had their chance to shine in The Soldier’s Chorus from Gounod’s Faust, and the Priest’s Chorus from The Magic Flute by Mozart. Nick Lampert and Jason Schaub (basses) and James Bullin (tenor) also had short solos in the Waltz Scene from Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky.
The sopranos and altos had to change demeanor from being peasant girls to witches in their two choruses! They sang The chorus of the Peasant Girls, from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and Verdi’s Witches Chorus from Macbeth.
The final applause came and flowers were distributed to all the performers – but then an encore! A semichorus stepped forward from the choir, to be joined by Abigail and Ellen, and we sang the magnificent rousing Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni.
An E mail from an audience member who had travelled from London for the concert said “…soloists and choir were terrific and the Mascagni encore was even more thrilling, in my book, than the version I heard a few months ago at Covent Garden”.
What an ending to a wonderful concert!
Photo credit: Mike FordPhoto credit: Kyle Simms
Many thanks to Alfred White who took all of the photographs, except for the three otherwise labelled.
The second Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Oratorio competition, sponsored by Birmingham Festival Choral Society, took place on Monday evening, 30th October 2024. The six finalists treated the audience in the recital hall of the conservatoire to an evening of performances of the highest standard, singing music written by composers ranging from Bach and Handel to Durufle and Joubert.
BFCS’s big claim to fame is that we were the choir that performed the premiere of Elijah in 1846, so it was particularly good to hear three solos from that popular oratorio.
Ellen Smith, mezzo-soprano, was placed first, winning a financial prize, a trophy and a future engagement with BFCS. Ellen’s programme consisted of Es ist vollbract , from Bach’s St John Passion, Yet can I hear that dulcet lay, from the Choice of Hercules by Handel, and Pie Jesu from Durufle’s Requiem.
Second prize went to baritone Oliver Barker, who sang Lord God of Abraham from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, The Man he killed from the South of the line by John Joubert and Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries, from Handel’s Alexander’s Feast.
Tenor Joe Yates was placed Third, after singing Domine Deus from Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle, The enemy said, from Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Deposuit potentes from Bach’s Magnificat and finally If with all your hearts from Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Abigail BaylisDaniel MarlesGabriella Rea Fanyvesi
Tenor Daniel Marles and sopranos Abigail Baylis and Gabriella Rea Fanyvesi also delighted the audience with arias by de Lalande, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Mendelssohn.
All 17 performances were expertly accompanied by Jonathan French on the piano.
The adjudicator for the Oratorio competition was our BFCS Music Director, David Wynne. Many in the audience were glad that they were not in David’s shoes, as it was so difficult to chose between the singers! Tracy Piotrowska , BFCS Vice-Chair made the presentations.
Congratulations to all the singers for such great performances. We’ll enjoy following their future careers in music. We particularly look forward to working with Ellen when she takes up her prize as the soprano soloist at one of our future concerts.
Postscript May 2024: Ellen Smith and Abigail Baylis were the soloists at our ‘Opera in the Afternoon’ concert on Sunday 14th July 2024.
The competition for the second Birmingham Festival Choral Society Oratorio Prize, is to be held on Monday 30th October at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The competition will take place between 7 and 8.45pm in the Recital Hall. You are invited to be in the audience to support the singers and enjoy this special event in the BFCS calendar!
Talented singers from the Conservatoire will compete for the prize which includes a trophy, a financial prize and a future engagement to sing the solo part at a Birmingham Festival Society Concert.
The winner of the 2022 Oratorio Prize was Baritone Jia Huang, and an account of that competition can be found here.
Directions to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire can be found here.
The friendly Birmingham choir singing the world's best choral music.
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