Friends of The Vox - Newsletter Autumn 2022

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Newsletter One Autumn 2022

Welcome to the first newsletter from the

Friends of the Vox

There is so much to share; there have been so many really exciting things bubbling away over the past few months. It has been so hard to bring all our plans and thoughts and ambitions and passions together and focus them so that we can actually make all these dreams become reality. But we truly believe that here, under our newly established charity “The Friends of the Vox” we can now do that.

As our logo says, the Friends of the Vox will promote new music around the world. It will do this initially by supporting two Kent-based choirs both conducted by Dr James M Meaders (Jamie!).

Vox Populi is a mixed voice (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) choir who meet weekly and perform twice a year. The choir welcomes all singers and has bursaries available for students to cover termly fees. Vox Anima Chamber Choir (VACC) is an auditioned 16 voice female ensemble. Fulfilling one of the objectives of the Friends of the Vox, both choirs promote the music of living (or contemporary) composers.

Overseen by six Trustees and driven by Jamie, the Friends of the Vox is in a wonderful position to be able to make a difference, to many lives at home and overseas, through music. The Friends of the Vox promises integrity and authenticity in all it does.

Do read on to learn about our choirs, our hopes, and how you can support us.

Charity number 1200317

The objectives of the Friends of the Vox are for the public benefit:-

It will advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of choral music by means of, (but not exclusively):-

• presenting public concerts and recitals;

• nurturing one (or more) amateur choir(s) under the direction of a professional choral conductor to perform works to a higher standard of artistic merit;

• providing bursaries to enable young people and people from disadvantaged backgrounds to join one (or more) choir(s) or receive vocal lessons”

The Friends of the Vox Trustees are:

The two choirs currently being nurtured by the Friends of the Vox are both conducted by Dr James M Meaders and are both based in Kent:

Vox Anima Chamber Choir – a 16 voice auditioned female choir

Vox Populi – a mixed voice (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) non-auditioned choir.

Both ensembles promote the music of living composers.

Vox Anima Chamber Choir (VACC) is a female ensemble that was established by Jamie back in 2018. It started off with around 11 12 singers and, as the news of our sound, vocal approach, repertoire (and conductor!) spread around Kent, numbers built up to the 16 voices that we are today.

As with other ensembles, our “in person” rehearsals were silenced for many months during the Covid times. Back in April 2020 we were set to formally announce our patron Cecilia McDowall as well as introduce a sponsorship package that would enable our friends, families, businesses and music foundations to support us in our musical plans.

But…during the silent times we got together on Zoom; we talked about our favourite pieces in our repertoire, analysing the composer, the lyrics, the style of the music, the setting we REALLY got to know the back story to our music. Although we couldn’t sing together, we continued to grow as an ensemble together. We dreamed of all the things we would do when we got back together again “in real life”…we were anxious as to how that moment would be. Would we actually be ABLE to sing? Would we crumple into soggy wrecks of emotion in front of each other, just SO relieved that we were finally together again? Could we pick up where we had left off when we last sang together?

The answer to those three questions was a resounding YES! (including the slightly soggy wreck one!). Guided by Jamie and accompanied by our dream man on the piano Richard Hammond Hall we re-found our individual voices and, most importantly, our ensemble voice. There was SOME tearful emotion for sure, but yes, we picked up where we had left off…..

Hold onto your hats…..this season we have already or will….

• Launch our new website www.VACC.org.uk do go and have a look and get to know us better!

• Give the premier performance of our first commissioned work

• Join with local singers to celebrate the start of the Christmas Season

• Share our own Christmas music in concert

• Embark on our first overseas tour performing in Atlanta, Georgia and New York, New York

• Make a professional recording of some of our repertoire

• Join with choirs from around the world to perform with the Vox Anima London Singers (www.VoxAnimaLondon.com) in London

• Host a visiting female choir Concentus (www.concentus.org) from upstate New York who will join us for workshops, rehearsals and performances in Kent

The dates of all our events are on our website and also on the calendar page at the end of this newsletter.

The best way for you to support us is to come and hear us in concert. Don’t just take our word for how much you will love the music we bring to you, come and listen. Jamie ensures our performances are as meaningful an experience for the audience as they are for us the performers.

If you want to support us even more please read onto the next page!

Our 2022 – 2023 season!

Please support Vox Anima Chamber

Gold

news on social media

the

to your friends and

events

make to us if you give individually and you are a tax

the Gift Aid box on any donation

Choir by:• Setting up a monthly or quarterly standing order via the Friends of the Vox. Please email alex@voxanimalondon.com for more information on setting this up • Taking an advertisement in our concert programmes • Becoming a Sponsor at one of the levels below Platinum Sponsor - £2,500.00+ Diamond Sponsor £1,500.00
Sponsor - £500.00 Ruby Sponsor - £250.00 Silver Sponsor £100.00 You can read how the different levels of sponsorship support the different areas of our work and music outreach plans on our website www.VACC.org.uk • Sharing our
sites; emailing it
families; getting
dates of our concerts and
into your calendars as soon as you have them! • Ticking
you
payer yourself

Vox Anima Chamber Choir and Vox Populi

– 2023 season

• Sunday 30 October 2022, 5pm at St Augustine’s Chapel, Tonbridge, Kent, VACC give the world premier performance of the SSAA version of LUX: The Dawn from on High composed by Dan Forrest

• Sunday 27 November 2022 VACC join local singers at an Advent Service in St Mary’s West Malling

• Saturday 3 December 2022, 6.30pm – Vox Populi – Concert at St Mary’s West Malling

• Saturday 17 December 2022, 6.30pm VACC Concert at St Peter and St Paul’s, Yalding

• Wednesday 11 January 2023 First rehearsal of term for Vox Populi at West Malling Primary School, Norman Road. 7.45pm 9.45pm. Newcomers welcome!

• Monday 13 February 2023 VACC in Concert with choirs from Mercer University, Morningside Presbyterian Church, University of South Carolina, at Morningside Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia

• Friday 17 February 2023 – VACC – Concert at St James’ Episcopal Church, Madison Avenue, New York, NY

• Saturday 6 May 2023 Vox Populi Concert time and venue TBC

• Saturday 10 June 2023, 7pm VACC Concert with Vox Anima London, Southwark Cathedral

• Sunday 9 July 2023, 3pm VACC Concert with Concentus from Rochester, NY at St Augustine’s Chapel, Tonbridge, Kent

Calendar
2022

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