Late Summer Concert 2025

Cawthorne Choral Society welcomed an enthusiastic audience to their late summer concert in their home venue and rehearsal space, Cawthorne Village Hall. Under the innovative leadership of MD Chris Why the choir offered a vibrant and imaginative programme which did not fail to delight.

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Perfect for a late summer evening, the first section featured the Rose as a motif, opening with a beautiful setting of Christina Rosetti's poem ‘The Rose’ by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo. The choir’s hugely talented young assistant MD Charlie Trueman then offered a solo of Faure’s ‘Lydia’, followed interestingly by an echo of the same piece performed by the full choir. 

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It has become a feature of Cawthorne’s concerts that they offer the opportunity to some very talented young musicians to join them as guest soloists and they welcomed again Gabriel Rhodes, who had joined them in the Spring Concert, this time with a selection from Myrthen by Robert Schumann. Cawthorne’s own soprano Sue Wright then performed the beautiful ‘Aurore’ by Faure before the choir showed their technical excellence with American Morten Lauridsen’s complex piece Chansons des Roses. 

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In a complete change of mood for the second section of the concert, the choir further showcased their skills through the liturgical music of Bruckner, Elgar and Beach. Written in the main for the splendour of a cathedral setting, these pieces nevertheless worked wonderfully in the intimacy of the village Hall which, with its pitched roof & reverberant acoustic, coped well with the soaring harmonies, particularly of the Elgar and Bruckner. Ending this section, the Amy Beach Choral Responses were especially well handled with the choir producing a beautifully moving dynamic entirely suited to the tone of the pieces. 

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The final section of the concert offered a further contrast with Britten’s ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ movingly performed by guest tenor soloist Nico Shaw who went on to perform a Schumann duet Liebesgaeten, with soprano Olivia Hunt. The choir coped well with the complexities of a rather playful Brahms piece before ending with a very beautiful love song, Ecstasy, again by Amy Beach. 

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The audience were warmly enthusiastic in their appreciation of Cawthorne Choral Society’s handling of a complex and extremely enjoyable programme. The choir’s Christmas Concert is at All Saints Church, Darton on 20th December.