Saturday 16th January 2021 • 10am - 8pm
Join composer Matthew Coleridge and the St Woolos Sinfonia for a glorious day of music making in the beautiful Cathedral of St Woolos, in Newport, South Wales.
You'll spend the day learning this amazing piece of music, before singing in an atmospheric evening performance with the professional orchestra, and conducted by the composer!
A fascinating mix of ancient and modern, St Woolos Cathedral is a beautiful and intimate venue for music making. The Norman nave gives way to a modern chancel, with a striking rose window by John Piper. Music is a vital part of the Cathedral's life, with a flourishing choir, a fine pipe organ and its own professional orchestral-in-residence, the St Woolos Sinfonia.
Singer ticket with loan of vocal score on the day
Singer ticket with advance purchase of vocal score (includes p&p)
Audience ticket for the evening concert performance
Newport Cathedral is a 5-10 minute drive from Junction 26 of the M5. Parking is available in several public car parks nearby. Street parking nearby is very limited.
It’s a short (but steep) 10-minute walk from Newport Bus Station up Stow Hill to the Cathedral.
Newport is well served by Rail transport, with regular trains to Cardiff, Swansea, Bristol and beyond. It’s a short but steep 10-minute walk from Newport Railway Station up Stow Hill to the Cathedral.
Singer registration, tea & coffee.
Morning workshop around the piano with composer Matthew Coleridge. We'll learn our parts, and hear insights and about the writing of his Requiem. There will be mid-morning refreshment breaks, and some sectional rehearsals.
Break for lunch.
Afternoon rehearsal, with St Woolos Sinfonia and our professional soloists.
Evening concert performance.
After the workshop, we'll be giving a formal concert performance of Requiem (and other works, TBC) at 7pm. Please bring suitable concert attire.
Ladies: black, long-sleeved top; black skirt or trousers.
Men: blacks shirt and trousers (no tie)
St Woolos Sinfonia – the professional standard orchestra in the city of Newport and Orchestra -in-Residence resident in its cathedral – strives to bring the joy of fine classical music, not just to music lovers, but also to people and communities who may not have had the opportunity to discover it for themselves.
Since 2014, the exceptionally gifted New Zealand conductor, Tianyi Lu (2017/18 Gustavo Dudamel Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Assistant Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and since August 2019 Welsh National Opera’s “Female Conductor in Residence“) has taken the St Woolos Sinfonia as Guest, and lately as Principal Conductor, to highly acclaimed concert performances, to the utmost delight of the audiences and musicians, such as the wonderful 2018 Spring concert.
Supported by its Patrons & Friends, the orchestra always takes pride to support talented young musicians giving them the opportunity to play in the orchestra, supervised by its enthusiastic and experienced professional musicians. Testimony for this is a happy collaboration with undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, over many years.
Whilst busy with mainly symphonic and chamber music portfolios, St Woolos Sinfonia is very experienced in working with choirs and would be very happy to collaborate with choirs and choral societies to provide enthusiastic and high quality, yet affordable orchestral support for their concerts.
Composer and conductor Matthew Coleridge (b.1980) is an exciting voice in the British choral music scene. His first choral composition - the Corpus Christi Carol - was recorded by a cappella group The Queen's Six, appearing on the cover CD of BBC Music Magazine's Christmas edition in 2015.
His highly melodic and very approachable compositional style often blends elements of plainsong and medieval music with shimmering modern harmonies - weaving simple melodic lines into rich tapestries of sound.
Requiem (composed 2014-15) was hailed by the late Sir Neville Marriner as "a valuable addition to the 21st century choral repertoire". Is is regularly performed by choirs across the UK, and overseas.
Matthew's 'Requiem in a Day' choral workshops are very popular amongst choral singers, giving them the opportunity to sing this wonderful piece in some of the UK's most prestigious church buildings.
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A valuable addition to the 21st century choral repertoire
Sir Neville Marriner
This was no ordinary 'come and sing'! A work of exquisite beauty
Music in Portsmouth review, 2020
You are a true tunesmith - well-crafted and inspiring music!
Dr David Price - Master of the Chorister, Portsmouth Cathedral
Beautiful... I find myself entranced by the openness of this music.
Paul Carr - composer
A glorious piece to sing - a lot of us were in tears by the end of it
Teresa Stubbs - Buckfast Abbey workshop 2019
A singular voice - and that is an exceedingly rare thing!
Michael McGlynn - Anúna
A joy and privilege to sing this most beautiful piece of music under the direction of the composer himself
Heather Harvey - Buckfast Abbey workshop 2019
Thank you for a wonderful day. You were so encouraging and patient. I can't imagine not singing your Requiem again. I absolutely loved the day!
Monica Kent - Louth workshop 2019
We were enthralled by the pure beauty of your Requiem. Parts of it were quite exquisite and we loved the fact that you, the composer, were directing us with such skill and clarity of conducting. Thank you so very much for a phenomenal day
Jeanne Apsland - Buckfast Abbey workshop 2019