A report from Adrian Hopkinson, Chair, WKCS
August 2025

This has been a busy year for the choir. Our concerts so far have involved a wide variety of musical experience from the expansive sound of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem to the exciting spontaneity of the first performance as a work for an SATB choir of George Lloyd’s In Memoriam with the Cubbington Silver Band; this was a new arrangement by our Musical Director, Alex Silverman. Alex took on the role of MD in January of this year and has, amongst other things, also introduced us to the opportunities presented by the works of women composers – the haunting melody of Clara Schumann’s Gondoliera featured in our spring concert, and this was followed by the excitement of Ethel Smyth’s ‘Gloria’ from her Mass in D in the summer concert. Reviews of some of our concerts are currently on our News & Events webpage.

Welcome new joiners, some from the now disbanded Collegium Warwick choir, boosted the ranks especially of sopranos and basses, and this helped produce a glorious sound, thanks too to the good acoustics available at Holy Trinity Church, Leamington for both the Brahms and summer concerts.

We look forward to the new 2025-2026 season, our autumn concert includes Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, a popular choral work not performed before by WKCS, and the warm-hearted central European Mass in D of Dvořák, plus in December, we will again present that time-honoured favourite: Messiah, with an ensemble and additional choristers from All Saints’ Church, Leamington.