Autumn Concert October 2025

Audlem Voices Concert Report 10th October 2025

It was a pleasure to gather in the Methodist Church for this concert and we were treated like royalty by Nancy May and her team. After a warm welcome from Revered Obeth, we opened our concert with our signature
introduction ‘We are the choir’ sung to the tune of Schubert’s Marche Militaire.

Our next two items were introduced by our Musical Director, Jenny Collis-Smith; a beautiful song by Sting and arranged by Roger Emerson called ‘Fields of Gold’, followed by the first of two songs in the programme by
Jenny’s favourite composer, John Rutter. This one, called ‘The Music’s Always There With You’ is a poignant reminder of the power of music to evoke happy memories and celebrates the joys of making music together.

Ann Whalley then introduced us to ‘Hallelujah’, a song by Leonard Cohen which became popular after it was performed in Shrek. Next came our second contribution from John Rutter, introduced by Joanna Allman: ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’ with well-known hymn words by F. S. Pierpoint, who wrote them in celebration of the countryside around Bath where he lived at the time he was writing.

Geraint Davies informed us that the words of our next piece ‘Panis Angelicus’ were written over 700 years ago by St Thomas Aquinas and set to music by the French composer Cesar Franck towards the end of the
nineteenth century.

By contrast, our next piece, ‘This is the Moment’,introduced by Myra Logan, is taken from a modern musical called Jekyll and Hyde and tells of the moment when Jekyll celebrates his efforts which will lead to his transformation into Hyde; fortunately, at this stage he doesn’t realise the consequences of his actions.

By now, the interval, with the promise of tea and cake, was fast approaching, and Bea Schouten introduced our final two songs of the first half. These were ‘Moon River’, with words by Johnny Mercer and music by Henry Mancini, and ‘Higher and Higher’ recorded by Jackie Wilson in 1967.

Suitably refreshed with tea, coffee and copious amounts of cake, generously provided by members of the choir and the Methodist church, the audience resumed their seats for the second half. This opened with a medley from ‘Oliver’ introduced by Jenny, although it needed little introduction with all the well-known songs from the show included. Jackie Thompson, Vicky Turner and Yvonne Parker shone as soloists.

Liz Grundy introduced the next song, ‘Anthem’, from a much less frequently performed musical, ‘Chess’, with words and music by Benny Andersson, Tim Rice and Bjorn Ulvaeus. This was followed by Audlem’s answer to the Andrews Sisters, in the form of Yvonne, Jackie and Bea, who sang Chattanooga Choo Choo, accompanied by Jenny on the piano and introduced by Yvonne.

Our next two pieces by Simon and Garfunkel were introduced by Steve Elliott. The first was an acapella version of ‘The Sounds of Silence’ arranged by Taco Sorgdrager; Steve recommended those who enjoyed hearing our performance to look up the Tangerine Daze version of the song on Youtube, where all four parts are sung by the same person. This was followed by probably the most well-known of Simon and Garfunkel’s songs ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water.’

Chris Elliott introduced the ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’ by Gabriel Faure and explained that he had written this piece as a competition entry whilst he was studying music aged only 19. Both audience and choir alike were delighted that Jenny accompanied this piece herself on the organ – a very special treat!

Our penultimate piece of the evening, ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice, was introduced by Val Mackin, and then it was time for votes of thanks and presentations of bouquets. Bea, as Chair of Audlem Voices, thanked the choir for all their hard work in learning all the music, some of which was pretty challenging, and those members of the choir who had also volunteered to introduce a piece or two of the music and done the relevant research to make their introductions interesting. Members of the Methodist Church were thanked, in particular Nancy May, without whom the evening would not have achieved such great success. Naomi Newman is a treasure, without whom we would be lost, and of course the same goes for our indefatigable Musical Director, Jenny Collis-Smith. Lastly of course, those in attendance were thanked for their support and reminded that they could come back for more at our Christmas Concert in St James’ Church on Friday 12th December.

Finally, it was time for our closing piece of the evening, ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ – a very fitting end to a thoroughly enjoyable evening!