Past programmes

March 2024 – Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle
Programme

December 2023 – “Musica sacra dall’Italia”
– Verdi: ‘Ave Maria’ & ‘Stabat Mater’ (from 4 Sacred Pieces)
– Puccini: ‘Salve Regina’
– Vivaldi: ‘Magnificat’
– Tchaikovsky: String Quartet Op. 11 (Andante cantabile)
– Christmas carols by Vaughan Williams, Karl Leuner, Richard Terry, John Rutter
– Christmas carols for choir and audience (arr. Jonathan Palmer)
Programme

June 2023 – “BRITISH MUSIC FOR A SUMMER’S EVENING”
– Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast’
– Handel: Coronation Anthem ‘The King Shall Rejoice’
– English songs for tenor voice by Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten and Ian Venables
Programme

March 2023 – Haydn: The Creation
Programme
Review by Jonathan Palmer

December 2022 – Christmas Concert
– Handel: ‘Awake the Trumpet’s Lofty Sound’ (from ‘Samson’)
– Handel: ‘Your Voices Tune’ (from ‘Alexander’s Feast’)
– Mozart: ‘Coronation Mass’ in C major, K. 317
– A selection of Christmas music
Programme

June 2022 – “Opera, Jazz, and More!”
– Folk songs, jazz arrangements and solos
– Famous, memorable tunes from the great operas
Programme

March 2022 – “IN TUNE WITH HEAVEN”
– Mendelssohn: Hymn of Praise (extracts)
– Britten: Three Folk Song Arrangements
– Parry: Blest Pair of Sirens
– Vaughan Williams: O Be Joyful in the Lord
– Jonathan Palmer: She Walks in Beauty (extracts)
Programme
Review

December 2020 – “Gloria! A Celebration of Singing Together Again”
Review by Jonathan Palmer

In January 2020 PCS began rehearsing for a concert which was to include Mendelssohn’s “Hymn of Praise” and Parry’s “Blest Pair of Sirens”. The Choir clearly relished the excitement of the music and preparation went well with the choir producing an excellent sound. As the Covid 19 pandemic developed PCS decided to cancel rehearsals until such a time as meeting together was safe again.

December 2019 – A Baroque/Romantic Christmas:
– Das neugeborne Kindelein: Buxtehude
– Christus: Mendelssohn
– Messe de Minuit: Charpentier
– Magnificat: Durante
– Carols for Choir and Audience

June 2019 – From Russia with Love including:
– Liturgy of St John Chrysostom: Rachmaninov
– Russian Folk Songs: Shostakovich
– Polovtsian Dances: Borodin
– Russian Songs

March 2019 – La Plus Belle Musique Sacrée Française
– Fauré: Requiem
– Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine
– Lilli Boulanger: Hymn to the Sun
– Franck: Panis Angelicus

December 2018 – Awake the Voice!
A collaborative Christmas-themed concert with Nailsea Choral Society and Chew Valley Choral Society
– Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Christmas Carols
– Finzi: In terra pax
– Palmer: Awake the Voice!

November 2018 – We Will Remember Them
– a concert to commemorate the end of WW1

June 2018
Music from the Americas including:
– Ariel Ramirez: Missa Criolla
The choir and its conductor and soloists are to be congratulated on providing a challenging but also very entertaining evening of mostly unfamiliar music, interpreted with gusto and no little finesse.” Peter Hawkins

March 2018
– Handel: Messiah
Review

December 2017 – Festive December Concert
Excerpts from:
– Bach: Christmas Oratorio
– Mendelssohn: Elijah
– Borodin: Prince Igor
– Orff: Carmina Burana
Carols for choir and audience

June 2017 – Music from Venice and the Mediterranean
– Music by Monteverdi, Gabrielli and Schutz
– Well-known songs from France, Spain, Italy and Greece
Review

March 2017 – A Classical Celebration
– Mozart: Kyrie K341
– Schubert Magnificat D486
– Beethoven: Choral Fantasia Op 80
– Haydn: Mass in Time of War
“I had no idea there were such resources in Portishead. The choir produced a wonderful programme of music that displayed the enormous talent that surrounds us. BRAVO!” Ian Hawkins

December 2016
– Poulenc: Gloria
– Opera choruses and Christmas carols

June 2016 – An English Summer Serenade
– Music by Morley, Gibbons, Purcell, Parry, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten
– John Rutter: A Sprig of Thyme
Review

March 2016 – A Grand Tour of the Baroque
– Rameau: Les Indes Galantes (excerpts)
– Vivaldi: Gloria
– Bach: Air from Suite in D
– Purcell: King Arthur (excerpts)

December 2015
– Rutter: Magnificat
– Palmer: Happy Returns
Three Carol Arrangements

June 2015 – An Evening at the Opera

March 2015
– Haydn: Te Deum
– Mozart: Ave verum corpus
– Mozart: Requiem

December 2014
– Handel: Zadok the Priest
– Bach: Magnificat in D
– Palmer: Awake the Voice

June 2014
– German: Merrie England

March 2014
– Gounod: St Cecilia Mass
– Bach: Sleepers Wake

December 2013
– Handel: Messiah Part 1
– Christmas Carols

May 2013
– Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb
– Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
– Dvořák: Mass in D

December 2012
– Karl Jenkins: Gloria
– Christmas Carols

May 2012
– Dyson: Three Songs of Courage
– Holst: Five Partsongs, Op 12
– Vaughan Williams: Five English Folksongs

March 2012
– Bach: St John Passion

December 2011
– Vivaldi: Gloria and Magnificat in D
– Christmas Carols

May 2011
– Puccini: Messa di Gloria
– Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs

March 2011
– Brahms: A German Requiem

January 2011
– Handel: Messiah
– Christmas Carols

May 2010
– Haydn: Little Organ Mass
– Fauré: Requiem

March 2010
– Rossini: Petite Messe solenelle