Saturday February 25th: This time the theme is ‘Old & New’, inspired by the turn of the year. Think of past pleasures and future adventures, dawn and dusk, birth and death – all sorts of beginnings and ends find expression in songs. Search out some interesting pieces and bring them along.
Also A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY! Our 4th annual Ansells Summer Music Weekend will take place from Friday 29th June – Sunday 1st July. More details soon.
As always, contact us at stephen@varcoe.com for information or to apply.
November 26th 2011 – ” High Days & Holy Days”, songs for celebrations and festivals.
With Christmas just around the corner, and the rest of the calendar full of red-letter days (whether secular, religious or just plain fun), bring along some songs for special occasions large or small, national or personal. Please email stephen@varcoe.com to apply or for more details.
The October ‘Mists & Mellow Fruitfulness‘ workshop is now fully booked, but as always there is a waiting list in case of cancellations, so do contact Stephen (stephen@varcoe.com) if you’d like to be added to this.
The theme was the Joy of Life, and in this extended version of our normal Song Workshops we had more opportunity to explore this repertoire.
Actor Timothy West with Stephen Varcoe and Christina Lawrie after the marvellosly entertaining ' Wine, Women and Song' programme which began the weekend's music-making. Baby Mairi-Anna is Christina's latest and greatest production, and the weekend's youngest participant - 6 weeks old hereSome of the participants in this year's workshop at Ansells
Please email stephen@varcoe.com for details. Find out more about our Song Workshops.
Spring is traditionally when a young man’s fancy does its thing, and naturally enough, a young woman’s as well. Since the majority of songs are about Love, a good number of them are Spring songs too. Bring along your favourites and hear what others have found. Find out more about our Song Workshops.
Songs to Share is now fully booked, but we have a waiting list in case of cancellations. Please email stephen@varcoe.com for details. Find out more about our Song Workshops.
Our next song workshop at Ansells Farm has the theme “Comedy & Tragedy – The Two Faces of Drama”. This workshop has been postponed from October 2nd until November 27th due to circumstances beyond our control.
Contact Stephen Varcoe (stephen@varcoe.com) to book a place. Find out more about our Song Workshops.
“… your weekends really are the most perfect experiences”…
A quote from one of the letters we received after this, our second annual festival, voted even better than last year’s by participants and audiences. Once again the weather gods were soothed by the prospect of mellifluous music into behaving impeccably, and the sunshine and warmth enhanced our theme of Travel, Holidays and Adventures. Eight students of singing spent all day Saturday, and Sunday morning, in intensive masterclasses with Stephen and accompanist Susi Morrow; then in the evening everyone relaxed, and members of the public joined us to enjoy picnics in the summery garden before two wonderful concerts, given by distinguished guest musicians.
Friday night’s concert, a complete sell-out, was a wonderful treat. Renowned actress Prunella Scales joined Stephen in a programme entitled ‘Travelling Hopefully’, an anthology of words and music from exotic travellers’ tales to hilarious holiday experiences, with songs to match.
‘Travelling Hopefully’, with Prunella Scales, Stephen Varcoe and accompanist Christina Lawrie
On Saturday, brilliant young husband and wife duo Marcus Barcham-Stevens and Christina Lawrie took us (and their violin and piano) round Europe on a musical adventure, and Stephen joined Marcus as narrator for a performance of Alan Ridout’s delightful ‘Ferdinand the Bull’.
The final concert on Sunday afternoon saw our eight singing-workshop participants presenting a varied programme of songs to an enthusiastic audience, followed by tea and homemade cakes in the garden.
Singing workshop participants and musicians
It’s clear that we’ve started a new Alphamstone tradition, and we’re already planning for next year’s festival, when we hope to equal (or even exceed?) this year’s triumph – dates to be announced later!
We hosted the first Song Workshop of the year on Feb 13th entitled “Love in Adversity”, which was fully subscribed and greatly enjoyed.
The next one is on Apr 24th, exploring songs by composers with significant anniversaries this year – Mahler, Wolf and Barber among others. Contact Stephen (stephen@varcoe.com) to book a place. Find out more about our Song Workshops.
Then ADVANCE NOTICE, a date for the diary! Our Ansells Summer Music weekend this year runs from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon 2nd – 4th July. More details soon, but places for eight singers to work with Stephen towards presenting a short concert before an audience on the Sunday afternoon.
Our forthcoming Song Day, November 28th, entitled ‘The Animal Kingdom’ is already fully subscribed.
However, if anyone is interested, please email stephen@varcoe.com to put your name on our waiting list, and of course, receive notification about future dates.
