more arts.

Emmbrook Sports & Social Club, The Club House, Lowther Road, Wokingham RG41 1JB

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The Whitty Theatre, Luckley House School, Luckley Road, Wokingham RG40 3EU

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Wokingham Music Club - a great place to go on a Friday night.

DATE	LOCATION	FEATURING	TICKETS
Friday, February 15th	Whitty Theatre	Mari Wilson in concert	£20 in advance
Friday, March 8th	Emmbrook S & S Club	The Sting Operation and The Police Academy	£16 in advance
Friday, March 29th	Whitty Theatre	Los Pacaminos - Live	£SOLD OUT

Tickets in advance from www.ticketsource.co.uk/wokinghammusicclub (Booking fee applies) or on the door.

Food and drink available.

The Wokingham Music Club is open on the 3rd Friday of each month and some Mondays, too.

The Holt School, Holt Lane, Wokingham RG41 1EE

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Wokingham Choral Society: 'Choral Workshop'

Wokingham Choral Society invites you to take part in a Choral Workshop, featuring Gospel-style music, including Quincy Jones' arrangement of 'Hallelujah Chorus' from Handel's Messiah - 'A Soulful Celebration'.

The workshop will be led by tenor Anthony Harris.

Anthony trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is a tenor. He sings the classical repertoire, both Oratorio and Opera and has a lot of experience working with both youth and adult choirs.

He is involved in the training of singers as a choral and workshop leader and singing teacher, including The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain as well as other Choral Societies and Choirs.

Anthony led the WCS Choral Workshop in 2018 and provides an unforgettable experience!

Doors open at 10am and the workshop begins at 10.30am. There will be a break at 12.45pm - bring your own packed lunch. Tea, coffee and cake will be provided in the afternoon break.

Cost: £20 including music to keep.

Book your place now by downloading and returning the Booking Form before Friday 22nd February.

Find out more about us at: www.wokingham-choral-society.org.uk.

Reading Concert Hall, Blagrave Street, Reading, RG1 1QH

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Reading Phoenix Choir Annual Concert: 'Golden Phoenix'

Every year Reading Phoenix Choir performs a concert in Reading's grand Concert Hall. In 2019 this concert will be held on 9th March 2019 and, as a major event the choir's 50th season, is designated the Golden Phoenix concert.

Come and hear some special anniversary pieces and the first performance of the winning composition in the Walter Hussey Composition Competition, which will be announced at this concert.

Music to be performed at the Golden Phoenix concert will include pieces by Anton Bruckner, Herbert Howells, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Eric Whitacre, Ola Gjeilo, Bob Chilcott and Morten Lauridsen. There will also be a guest appearance of You are Wolf during the concert.

Tickets: £15 to £23 online from Reading Arts Box Office or call 0118 960 6060 or buy direct from the Choir, by post or via a member of the choir, from Monday 3rd December 2018 until Mon 25th February 2019 at slightly reduced prices. See here for details.

GOLDEN TICKETS: A Golden Ticket can be purchased from the choir which covers entry to the Golden Phoenix concert, the Choir's Gala Concert in July 2019 and provides other benefits. See here for more details.

More information: www.readingphoenixchoir.org.uk.

All Saints' Church, Wiltshire Road, Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 1UE

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Trinity Concert Band: Spring 2019 Concert

The award-winning Trinity Concert Band return to All Saints Church, Wokingham on Saturday 16th March for an exciting concert featuring vocal duet Indigo May.

Previously members of The Swingle Singers and regular performers on P&O and Cunard cruise lines, these two accomplished sopranos will perform a range of music with the band, including Bring Him Home, West Side Story, All By Myself, The Prayer, and Come What May. In honour of St Patrick's Day, the pair will also perform a stunning a capella medley of Celtic songs.

Featuring a range of music spanning centuries and genres, this is an evening not to be missed! .

Tickets: £12 in advance or £13 on the door. Children under 16 get free entry. Advance tickets are available via the band website www.trinityband.co.uk, or by calling the box office on 0118 4492099 or by email.

For more information about Trinity Concert Band visit our website at: www.trinityband.co.uk.

Holy Trinity Church, Cookham SL6 9SP

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Wooburn Singers: 'Music for Passiontide - Valediction'

The Wooburn Singers welcome you to their Spring 2019 concert.

The programme includes:

• Parry: Songs of Farewell
• Dubois: Les Sept Paroles du Christ (The Seven Last Words of Christ)
• Debussy: Trois Chansons
• Debussy: Danses sacrée et profane

Solists: Aileen Thomson, soprano; Nick Pritchard, tenor; Brian McAlea, baritone.

With Tomos Xerri, harp; James Brown, organ.

Conductor: Tom Hammond-Davies.

Tickets: £15 (Under 18s £Free) available from the box office on 01628 482093 or on the door or online from thelittleboxoffice.com/wooburnsingers or by email.

More information: www.wooburnsingers.org.uk.

St Mary's Church, Henley-on-Thames RG9 2AU

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Tamesis Chamber Choir Concert: 'All the day through'

Our spring concert is a whole day's worth of music in just a couple of hours! We will be singing music related to times of day.

The first half will feature morning, noon and afternoon music, and the second half will create the calm of an evening. We will be singing music by Arvo Pärt, Rheinberger, Saint-Saëns, Whitacre, Rutter, Chilcott, the King's Singers, Will Todd and others, and even an excerpt from Les Misérables!

The programme includes:

• Macmillan: O radiant dawn
• King's Singers: You are the new day
• Rutter: If I take the wings of the morning
• Pärt: Morning Star
• Chilcott: Morning has broken
• The Kinks: Sunny afternoon
• from Les Misérables: One day more
• Esenvalds: Only in sleep
• Whitacre: Sleep
• Todd: At evening

This concert will wake you up, keep you going and then get you ready for bed, all in the space of an evening.

St Mary's in Henley is a lovely venue that we haven't visited for a while. It doesn't have parking of its own, but there are various town centre car parks in Henley that are within a few minutes' walk, including Greys Road and the station car parks.

Musical Director: Louise Rapple with Judith Creighton, piano.

Tickets: £12 available online at www.tamesischamberchoir.co.uk or from Sarah Finch by email.

More information: www.tames.is.

St Paul's Church, Reading Road, Wokingham RG41 1EH

How to get there.

South Berkshire Singers: An Evening of Music & Meditation

South Berkshire Singers will be hosting an evening of Music & Meditation on Saturday, 23rd March 2019 from 7.30pm at St. Paul's Church, Wokingham.

Under the direction of Musical Director, Karen Phillips, the choir will perform:

• Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
• Gabriel Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine
• Robert Prizeman: Sanctus based on Pachelbel's Canon.

The programme will be interspersed with readings appropriate for the church season of Lent and Simon Dinsdale will be the accompanying organist.

Admission is free but there will be a retiring collection for the St. Paul's Lent Appeal.

More information about South Berkshire Singers: SouthBerkshireSingers.com.

Great Hall, University of Reading, London Road Campus, Reading RG1 5AQ

How to get there (then download the London Road Campus map).

Wokingham Choral Society: Antonín Dvořák - 'Stabat Mater'

Wokingham Choral Society welcomes you to their Spring 2019 Concert.

Dvořák's Stabat Mater was a work brought about by personal tragedy. In 1875, his young daughter Josefa died at only two days of age. The grieving father began work on the Stabat Mater, as a means of coping with his beloved child's death. It was to become a work of mourning and a work of healing, for the Stabat Mater is based on an ancient Roman Catholic poem, in Latin, that tells of the Virgin Mary's grief over the crucifixion of Jesus as she is standing under his cross.

With its original musical phrases filled with the romantic settings of its time and inspired by family loss of exceptionally large proportions, it still comes across as one of the most personal settings ever and provides an inspiring statement of faith and hope.

After the piece's December 1880 première, the response in England was so great that Dvořák was invited to conduct it here and thus started his rise to fame in the anglophone world.

Soloists: Robyn Parton, soprano; Stephanie Wake-Edwards, mezzo soprano; William Blake, tenor; Giles Underwood, bass.

With the Hampstead Chamber Orchestra, and Benedict Lewis-Smith, continuo.

Conductor: James Morley Potter.

Tickets: £15 (£5 under 18s & students) are available from Information Centre, Wokingham; Newbury Building Society, Wokingham; Jay Design & Print, Wokingham or by email or online from TicketSource (Booking fee applies) .

Find out more about us at: www.wokingham-choral-society.org.uk.

Wellington College Chapel, Wellington College, Duke's Ride, Crowthorne, Berkshire RG45 7PU

How to get there.

Crowthorne Choral Society Concert: 'Viennese Masterpieces'

Crowthorne Choral Society welcomes you to an evening of Viennese Masterpieces in the glorious setting of the Wellington College Chapel, featuring:

• HAYDN: Maria Theresa Mass
• MOZART: Missa Brevis
• SCHUBERT: Where Thou Reignest

Conductor: Simon Williamson, with George de Voil, organ.

Tickets: £12 (students £2), online at Eventbrite or on the door.

Parking is available on the Grand Drive and disabled / wheelchair access is available into the chapel.

More information: www.crowthornechoral.org.uk.

Reading Minster of St Mary the Virgin, St Mary's Butts, Reading, Berkshire RG1 2HX

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Reading Symphony Orchestra Spring 2019 Concert

Join Reading Symphony Orchestra for the Spring 2019 concert of our 2018-19 season!

For our Spring concert, we are delighted to welcome back Eloisa-Fleur Thom who will be performing Beethoven's dazzling Violin Concerto. Eloisa-Fleur, a prize-winning violinist, director and curator, has performed with stars as diverse as Maxim Vengerov and Radiohead and her playing is truly stunning.

The second half of the concert will feature Richard Strauss' monumental Death and Transfiguration. The music depicts a dying artist's memories of his life, from childhood innocence to the struggles of manhood and the attainment of worldly goals, to transfiguration at the gates of heaven.

The concert will begin with Rossini's sparkling Semiramide overture and end with Johann Strauss II's Emperor Waltz.

Join us for this fabulous concert in the heart of Reading!

The full concert programme:

• Rossini: Semiramide overture
• Beethoven: Violin concerto (Soloist: Eloisa-Fleur Thom)
• R. Strauss: Death and Transfiguration
• J. Strauss: Emperor Waltz

Conductor: Stefan Hofkes. RSO Leader: Kitty Beales

Tickets: £15, £12.50 concessions, £5 students and under 18s, available from the RSO box office: 0118 946 2667 or by email or online from www.wegottickets.com/event/461981 or on the door (subject to availability).

More information: www.rso.org.uk.

Wesley Church, Queens Road, Reading RG1 4BW

How to get there.

Reading Festival Chorus Concert: 'Lenten Reflexions'

Reading Festival Chorus invites you to thei next concert.

The choir, under the musical direction of Greg Hallam, will be performing a seasonal programme to include:

• Bach: Komm Jesu Komm
• Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri
• Plus works by Gorecki, Purcell and Tunder.

Conducted by Music Director Greg Hallam.

Concert tickets: £15 (Under 18s free) available by calling 0118 947 8081 or by email.

More information: www.readingfestivalchorus.org.uk.

St Swithun's Catholic Church, Firgrove Road, Yateley, Hampshire GU46 6NH

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Yateley Choral Society 40th Anniversary Concert: Fauré Requiem

Celebrate Yateley Choral Society's 40th Birthday with this festive anniversary concert.

In 1979 the fledgling choir in Yateley sang Fauré's Requiem and this piece has reprised in Yateley programmes ever since.

In this concert, alongside Fauré's Requiem the choir will sing Handel's triumphant coronation anthem The King Shall Rejoice and a collection of European Sacred Romantic music, including Mendelssohn's Verleigh uns frieden and Fauré's gorgeous Cantique de Jean Racine.

As well as accompanying the choir, The Anniversary Chamber Orchestra will perform Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.

Conductor: Quintin Beer. With soloists Stephanie Hershaw, soprano; Max Loble, bass; and The Anniversary Chamber Orchestra.

Tickets: £15, Students £5, under 16s free can be purchased either on the door or by calling 01276 682749 or from Discoveries or St Swithun's Parish office.

More information: visit our website www.yateley-choral.org.uk.

The Beaconsfield School, Wattleton Rd, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire HP9 1SJ

How to get there.

Wooburn Singers: 'Come and Sing' Verdi Requiem (RE-SCHEDULED)

This event was re-scheduled from 2nd February owing to the winter weather.

Wooburn Singers next Come & Sing day is a chance to sing:

• Giuseppe Verdi: Requiem

A brilliant day awaits you singing Verdi's iconic Requiem. If you've never sung it before or if you have and would love to sing it again, now is your chance to join a group of experienced singers and spend the day rehearsing it under the baton of musical director, Tom Hammond-Davies.

Then enjoy a run-through performance with professional soloists & instrumental ensemble from Slough Philharmonic Orchestra at the end of the day (friends and family welcome).

Conductor: Tom Hammond-Davies. Accompanist: Simon Howat with professional soloists & an instrumental ensemble.

Cost: £20 (£15 group rate, students £5) including coffee / tea, and loan of score if required. Ploughman's Lunch option available for £6 (must be pre-booked and prepaid).

You can register for the day by downloading and returning to us the booking form (Word file) or get it from our website here or contact us by email.

More information: www.wooburnsingers.org.uk.

Royal British Legion, Eversley Road, Reading, Berkshire RG2 9PR

How to get there.

 

Live Country Music

Enjoy "Live" Band Country Music to either dance to or to listen to by the UK's top professional bands every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at The Royal British Legion, Arborfield.

Dress smart casual or western.

Admission on the door: £7. No children under 14. No line dancing. No membership required.

Now in our 32nd year! For more details see www.h-bar-c-country.co.uk or call H-BAR-C Country on 0118 989 1354 or 07720 353879

Cantley House Hotel, Milton Road, Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 5QG

How to get there.

Throughout the year Cantley House Hotel is offering a series of events featuring dinner and entertainment (mostly musical!)

For more information contact Emma on (0118) 978 9912 or contact us by email to book your place.

Performing in the Berkshire
and Hampshire areas

Beech Hill Concert Band

The Beech Hill Concert Band was formed in the late 1990s by a group of professional, semi-professional and amateur musicians, mainly from the Reading area, to give them the opportunity to play music in rehearsal and at concerts they would not play in their every day music environment.

It was also decided to give concerts, free of charge, for the benefit of local charities. In this they have been very successful, giving many concerts and raising thousands of pounds.

We play a variety of music such as songs from the shows, film themes, marches, orchestral music, swing music and modern pop classics and our programmes try to cater for all audiences, ensuring that there's something for everyone.

The band comprises mainly amateur musicians who love to make music for the sake of it, so we don't charge for our services but we do have a professional MD and often need to hire professional musician to fill key parts when our members are unavailable. The costs for these people (£100-£150) have to be recovered from the concert revenue but otherwise the income from concerts goes to the organisers and their chosen charities.

More information: visit the band's website www.beechhillband.co.uk.

Music Room, St. Gabriel's, Sandleford Priory, Newbury RG20 9BD

How to get there.

Sandham Singers Welcomes New Members

Sandham Singers are led by Janet Coxwell.

If you would like stimulating weekly rehearsals and the opportunity to perform a wide repertoire of music then please contact us by calling Jane Pike on 07780 767408 or contact her by email.

More information about Sandham Singers on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sandhamsingers.

d:two, 55-57 Market Place, Henley-on-Thames RG9 2AA

How to get there.

 

Henley Choral Society is looking for more men to join its tenor and bass sections - and there are no auditions.

Dynamic new Musical Director Benjamin Goodson explains: 'The men in our tenor and bass sections do a magnificent job - but we need more. If you are a man who sang at school or college and want to get back into singing, or has always wanted to sing and never found the right opportunity - then here is your chance.'

Henley Choral Society consists of over 100 non-auditioned singers and, as well as bringing top high quality concerts to the local community, aims to encourage the next generation of singers.

Benjamin Goodson continues: 'there are no auditions to join HCS - all you need is a love of music. Our group is large enough to accommodate all abilities and we provide lots of support. Men of Henley and the surrounding area - come back to singing! We would love to hear from you.'

Call Membership Secretary Wendy Hawkins on 01491 576929 or contact Wendy by email or contact Benjamin Goodson direct by email.

More information about Henley Choral Society: www.henleychoralsociety.org.uk.

Bulmershe School, Chequers Way, Woodley RG5 3EU

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Would you like to sing with Thames Valley Chorus?

Under the inspiring leadership of Musical Director, Liz Croft, Thames Valley Chorus (TVC) is going from strength to strength. The chorus now has over 40 singers with many having joined through one of our highly enjoyable and successful 'Learn to Sing' courses.

Singing in an engaging and entertaining four-part barbershop style, TVC performs with energy, commitment and enthusiasm appearing at a wide range of private and public events throughout the region. As well as performing locally TVC also enjoy taking part in competitions in different parts of the UK as well as having trips abroad, most recently to Cork and Düsseldorf.

If our type of singing appeals to you then come along to one of our Tuesday evening rehearsals where you can be assured of a warm welcome. Also keep an eye out for our next 'Learn to Sing' course. If you are interested in joining TVC or finding our more about us call Phil on 0118 9774257 or contact us by email.

For more information about TVC: www.tvchorus.co.uk.

Charvil Village Hall, 9 Park Lane, Charvil RG10 9TR

How to get there.

Tapestry Choir is an all-female choir based in Berkshire.

We are an intimate group of fifteen voices and are currently looking for new members in all voice parts.

As a group we focus mainly on classical repertoire written for female voices from the 19th and 20th centuries, including pieces by Holst, Britten, Poulenc and Debussy.

We currently put on three concerts a year, as well as a summer concert.

We rehearse on Tuesday mornings in Charvil between 10.45am and 12.15pm during term time. If you are a reasonably confident performer, can read music and are interested in joining us we would love to hear from you.

Please contact Sarah Latto by email for more information.

More information about us: www.tapestrychoir.org.uk

Charvil Village Hall, 9 Park Lane, Charvil RG10 9TR

How to get there.

Suzanne Newman leads a choir for girls between the ages of 10 and 18. The choir is called Jewel Tones.

We sing folk songs, popular songs and songs from music theatre. We have a few spaces in the choir.

For more information about Jewel Tones contact Suzanne Newman on 0118 934 0589 or see: www.jeweltones.co.uk.