Forthcoming dates Booking is open for events up to and including December 2020. 

26–29 March 2020: The Scratch® Tantalising Trieste. This trip is completely sold out, with a wai ng list.

10 May 2020: The Scratch® Mozart Requiem. A perennial favourite returns to the Royal Albert Hall, coupled with Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and the Overture to Don Giovanni. Gavin Carr conducts. 12 July 2020: Hallelujah Handel! A choral and orchestral extravaganza celebra ng the work of the master. Favourite choral and instrumental works, with anecdotes from Handel himself.

4–9 August 2020: The Seventh TRBC Summer School. To celebrate the 250th year of Beethoven’s birth, Brian Kay will coach singers in the Mass in C and the Choral Fantasia; also Morten Lauridsen’s Lux aeterna.

24–27 September 2020: The Scratch® Hungarian Rhapsody. An early autumn visit to one of Europe’s most beau ful ci es, with a performance of Messiah in the neo‐classical basilica of St Stephen. Brian Kay directs. 15 November 2020: The Scratch® Youth Messiah/Messiah from Scratch®. Two performances, each unique in its own way. Messiah from Scratch® (7.00pm) is wonderfully exci ng and seriously good: no rehearsal – just turn up and sing. Our award‐winning Scratch® Youth Messiah offers something similar to singers aged 7–25, although they do get a rehearsal! 30 November–4 December 2020: The Scratch® Christmas in Cologne. A welcome return to Cologne a er nine years, with a Christmas‐themed programme directed by Jeremy Jackman. Expect lots of singing, a shopping experience second to none, glühwein and chocolate tas ng. An irresis ble combina on.

Dear TRBC Members This newsletter comes with our March mailing, enclosing leaflets for three new events before the end of the year. Why not join us for: The Scratch® Youth Messiah and

Messiah from Scratch® at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 15 November. Tickets for Messiah from Scratch® will fly off the shelf as ever: if you fancy singing your favourite choruses from a place not half-way around the Rear Circle, join us for July’s Hallelujah Handel!, when a better seat will be assured.

a long-overdue reprise of our hugely popular Cologne Christ-mas Market trip in early Dec-ember (more on page 2).

the TRBC Summer School in August which pays tribute to Beethoven on his 250th birthday.

There’s also news of the Royal Albert Hall’s 150th anniversary (page 4); and of a solution to lunchtime queues at RAH concerts (page 3). Best wishes to all from

The TRBC Team

News and information for Members of

THE REALLY BIG CHORUS www.trbc.co.uk

Issue 34: Spring/Summer 2020 published twice a year by Scratch Concerts Ltd, PO Box 4211, Bath BA1 0HJ

If you have sung in our Really Big blockbusting Royal Albert Hall Messiah, you will know what an incomparable thrill it is – it certainly is for me! But you have to book early to get the best seats, and every year hundreds of singers are turned away. We can’t offer you another complete performance of Messiah, but we can give you a second chance of singing some of the best-loved choruses from Handel’s greatest oratorio, including ‘For unto us a child is born’, ‘Worthy is the lamb’, the ‘Amen’ chorus and, of course, ‘Hallelujah’! But there’s more: a rare opportunity to perform choruses from Handel’s other great choral works – Judas Maccabaeus, Alexander’s Feast, Israel in Egypt, and Samson – along with that most uplifting of Handel’s Coronation Anthems, Zadok the Priest: All in all, a wonderful evening’s singing. As if that weren’t enough, there will also be popular orchestral items and arias, including that great royal wedding favourite, ‘Let the bright seraphim’. And the music will be interwoven with stories and anecdotes

from Mr Handel himself (in the guise of BBC Radio 3’s Chris de Souza, suitably costumed and bewigged). All it needs to make the evening complete is YOU. Join me at the Royal Albert Hall on 12 July for a summer celebration of the life and work of Mr George Frideric Handel. I look forward to seeing you there.

Turn to the back page for more details about Hallelujah Handel! including how to order rehearsal CDs. Leaflets are included in this mailing – if you have already booked, pass your leaflet to a friend and spread the word.

Meeting Mr Handel Brian Kay invites you to share his enjoyment of one of the world’s favourite composers.

Our details in brief Address and email. Send booking forms or queries to us at PO Box 4211, Bath, BA1 0HJ, UK. Email us at members@trbc.co.uk, but never send credit card details as email is not secure.

Website. All about us at: www.trbc.co.uk. TRBC on Facebook. To join the community, see the panel below. TRBC on Twitter. See the panel below for how to follow us. Travel partner. Specialised Travel Ltd deals with bookings and looks after all the travel logistics for our trips overseas: www.STLON.com. Telephone booking line. This service, applicable to our May and July Royal Albert Hall concerts only, is operated by Blackwell’s Music Shop on 01865 333582.

For those who do not have a local music shop, we recommend: >> Blackwell’s Music Shop in Oxford, which offers a special 10% discount on scores for TRBC Members. Telephone 01865 333582 or email printed.music@blackwell.co.uk (never include your credit-card details in an email – it is not secure). >> ChoraLine with its convenient note-learning app for mobile devices which puts a complete choral repertoire at your fingertips. Download from www.choraline.com. >> Presto Music which now distri-butes the rehearsal CDs/MP3 files, with your individual voice-part highlighted so that you can learn from the comfort of your armchair or car. Telephone 01926 886883 or www.prestomusic.com.

Sing with us!www.trbc.co.uk

Anyone can join this group which is called ‘The Really Big Chorus Singers and Supporters’.

For regular updates why not follow us @ReallyBigChorus and tweet about us to your friends?

Our suppliers

In 2011 we organised the first of a series of pre-Christmas trips, combining singing with

shopping in some of Europe’s most famous Christmas markets. The first of these, to Cologne, was a runaway success, and we are delighted to offer a very similar trip at the end of this year. We depart for Cologne on Monday 30 November, returning on Friday 4 December and thus avoiding (we hope) a clash with any UK Christmas concerts. Those who came with us in 2011 will remember chocolate-tasting, more different and varied Christmas markets than in almost any other city, virtuoso playing from the brass quintet and prob-ably one of the most enthusiastic concert audiences we have met overseas. They will also remember the inspired conduct-ing of Jeremy Jackman (pictured right) – ‘a revelation and an absolute joy to sing with’ in the words of one delighted participant. ‘His enthusiasm is infec-tious, and you just have to sing for him!’ We too are delighted that Jeremy has agreed to direct these few days for us, and we look forward to working with him again in the coming months. A specially prepared booklet of Christmas items will be supplied for the

trip, avoiding the need for multiple pieces of music. There will be excerpts from Messsiah, traditional carols in English and German, an exuberant setting of Gaudete for soprano, chorus and brass, and an arrangement of O Holy Night written specially for TRBC by Jeremy and performed by us in both Bruges and Nuremberg. In addition to a final concert, we will sing in the Cathedral for mid-day prayers, and on stage at one of the markets. There will be chocolate tasting, a city walking tour and the usual (optional) musical feast, but no other arranged excursions in order to give you plenty of time to explore the seven Christmas markets, each with its own particular character.

Wonderful as Mozart’s Requiem is, it is too short to be a complete concert on its own. At the Royal Albert Hall in May, the Requiem will be performed in the second half of the concert; for the first half you can sit back and be entertained by the orchestra.

The concert begins with the overture to the opera Don Giovanni, its arresting opening chords and slightly menacing introduction being the only clue to the darker side of the story. For the rest, the music seems to illustrate the care-free attitude to life and love demon-strated by the licentious Giovanni. We follow the overture with one of Mozart’s best-loved concertos, the Clarinet Concerto in A. Our soloist is Anna Hashimoto who delighted the TRBC audience with her playing six years ago. Since then she has performed all over the world with leading orchestras and chamber groups, and released three acclaimed CDs. Writing in the magazine of the Clarinet & Saxophone Society of Great Britain of her most recent CD ‘A Touch of Britain’, Stephanie Reeve wrote: ‘Hashimoto plays with maturity in the serious works and energy and joviality in the lighter pieces … all performances are delivered with energy and passion.‘ We look forward to welcoming Anna to the RAH again in May.

Mozart in May More details about the Royal Albert Hall Concert on Sunday 10 May.

Christmas in Cologne

Keeping in touch Our Facebook group now comprises 1,575 Members, with upwards of ten more people joining most weeks. Could we reach 2,020 in 2020? – it’s a useful place to exchange information, swap tickets or ar-range informal rehearsals, and to discover more Members in your locality. In addition to the usual exhortations to be polite to and respectful of others, we simply ask that you don’t use the group to publi-cise yourself or any events run by other choirs (unless there is a direct connection to a TRBC event). You are asked to answer a couple of questions before your request can be approved. This is simply to try and stop people from joining who are not genuine, or who might not even be real! If you’ve not had approval after a week, check Facebook to see if there is a message from us. We have even more followers on Twitter – current-ly 2,741 and counting: how long before we get to 3,000? It can be difficult to contact so many singers with news and changes of details, but we will always post information on the website, on Facebook and on Twitter so it is to your advantage to keep your eye on these various media. (Do you remember when everything had to be done by post?) If you tweet to friends and family about the enjoy-able things you do with TRBC, make sure you include our ID @ReallyBigChorus in your tweets, enabling us to re-tweet to the rest of our followers, or just to say thank you for the mention.

A reminder about under-16s Because the RAH is a licensed venue there are special rules governing performances by children, even if they are in the one-to-one care of a parent or guardian. Please don’t let this stop you bringing children to sing alongside you, as it is important for them to learn early on just how enjoyable choral singing can be. Simply tell us if there are any under-16s in your party; we will then ask you for a few basic details, and will fill in all the paperwork ourselves.

Two rehearsals at the Royal Albert Hall on the day of a concert always entail a break for lunch, and the RAH caterers (rhubarb) have had difficulties devising an efficient way to feed a lot of singers in the time-frame. rhubarb have now proposed a pre-paid order scheme which should mean quick service and no need to queue at the till. You can pre-order a ‘snack-pack’ comprising a choice of sandwich (with dietary options) plus crisps, fruit, chocolate, water and tea or coffee. Where the sandwich ordered is vegan, vege-tarian or wheat free, the rest of the snack-pack will be tailored to that particular dietary requirement. The collection point is Bar 1871 (previously known as the Heineken Green Room) from 1.00pm. There will also be seating there, and in the Berry Brothers & Rudd Bar on the other side of the Hall. Snack-pack order forms for the Mozart Requiem concert on 10 May have already been uploaded to the Mozart ‘Details for Singers’ page on the website (visit https://www.trbc.co.uk/events/this-seasons-events/mozart-requiem-2020/ and scroll down to Food), and posted on social media. We will also copy the form on the back of the letter sent with your tickets, but please return any paper forms to rhubarb, NOT to us. Snack-packs must be pre-ordered: you won’t be able to purchase them on the day, and no other food will be available at Bar 1871. If you would prefer something other than a snack-pack, the usual RAH lunch-time fare is available either from the Café Bar at Door 12 or from the Verdi Italian Kitchen (table reser-vations are essential for the latter).

Heads up for those travelling with us to Trieste Our sold-out trip to Trieste is coming up at the end of March, and final details of the travel arrangements are due to be mailed to participants by Specialised Travel Ltd, no later than Wednesday 11 March. If yours have not arrived by Monday 16 March, please get in touch with Vanessa: 020 8799 8350 or scratch@STLon.com. Remember that Trieste has cobbled streets, so comfortable walking shoes are essential – no-one wants to spoil a trip with a sprained ankle!

Singers who lunch . . .

Charity update It’s a little while since we’ve reported on the money raised for the charities who partner us at our Royal Albert Hall concerts, so here are the totals for 2019, with thanks to everyone for your generosity. The British Heart Foundation raised almost £6,500 at Messiah from Scratch®, with more to come once the programme advertising revenue has been received. At the Scratch Youth Messiah, WaterAid added £2,188 to their fund for water projects in Malawi. Given the smaller numbers in the Hall, and the fact that over 1,000 of them were children, we think that is a very respectable total! The sum raised in July 2019 for the Royal National Institute for Blind People, was just shy of £5,000, a total they described as ’fantastic’. Following the Verdi Requiem in May 2019, Norah Reed from the Barry Reid Cancer Trust emailed to say: ’The programme sales and bucket collection raised £5,010 which will go towards the appointment of our next cohort of PhD students, each of which costs £85,000 over three years. This is a challenge in fundraising terms, so a big THANK YOU!’

Post-Brexit travel It is possible that, in the future, there may be new regulatory requirements for travel to Europe. We aren’t crystal-ball gazers, and Specialised Travel will inform you of any actions you are required to take as soon as they know. The most helpful thing you can do is to check that your passport is up to date, with at least six months validity at the date of travel.

Sending snail-mail? Please don’t write to us at

Englishcombe Lane. Letters sent there may take ages to

reach us, as it is NOT the street address ‘behind’ the PO Box number. Use the

PO Box address (top of page 2) and your mail will arrive promptly.

SCRATCH CONCERTS LTD registered in England and Wales No. 2740803 · VAT No: 133 0052 73 Registered Office (NOT to be used for correspondence): 141 Englishcombe Lane, Bath BA2 2EL

The Really Big Chorus and Concerts from Scratch are operating names of Scratch Concerts Ltd

The essential Handel: all you need to know about our summer spectacular. Scores. All the choruses for this concert are included in a single convenient book: Great Handel Choruses chosen by Brian Kay (so they are bound to be eminently singable) and published by Novello. The list of choruses to be sung is as follows: Alexander’s Feast: ‘The many rend the skies’ (p.12) Judas Maccabeus: ‘See, the conqu’ring hero comes’ (p.101) Judas Maccabeus: ‘Hallelujah, Amen’ (p.117) Messiah: ‘For unto us a child is born’ (p.126) Messiah: ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ (p.141) Messiah: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, Amen’ (p.157) Samson: ‘Let their celestial concerts all unite’ (p.184) Coronation Anthem: ‘Zadok the priest ‘(p.237) Practising. Presto Music has produced a special rehearsal CD for us, with rehearsal material for all eight choruses, so learning the music couldn’t be easier. Order your copy via this shortened link: https://bit.ly/2SmiNrH (you can specify your voice part). Or you can go straight to the order page with one click by visiting Hallelujah Handel on our website where you will find links to Presto Music. There are discounts for ordering 10 or more CDs, so if you are coming as a choir (what a good idea!) we suggest you order in bulk. Workshop. If you are not confident practising on your own, join Brian Kay’s workshop in central London on Saturday 20 June. Book on the form at the same time as your RAH tickets; you can turn up on the day, but it is more expensive.

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Anniversaries What we don’t know about Beethoven (left) by the end of 2020 probably won’t be worth knowing, as musical organisations the world over vie to shed new light on the life and work of this ground-breaking genius on the occasion of his 250th birthday. The exact date of his birth in Bonn is unknown, but his baptism is recorded as taking place on 17 December. The Really Big Chorus has scheduled two Beethoven choral works for study and per-formance at our Summer School in August. Brian Kay will doubtless have a lot to say about both the Mass in C and the Choral Fantasia, and you can be assured of superb piano play-ing from Maria Marchant in the latter work. Morton Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna will provide stylistic contrast – if you don’t know this beautifully evocative work, it’s time you did! Moving into 2021, the Royal Albert Hall will be celebrating 150 years since the open-ing of the Hall by Queen Victoria on 29 March 1871. The Hall’s first few months saw daily organ recitals on the newly completed Willis organ, with performers including Saint-Saëns (below left) and Bruckner; the list of eminent conductors included Gounod and Sullivan. Our own concert on Sunday 11 July will give more than a passing nod in the direction of these historical programmes. The organ will take centre stage in Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony and in the arrangement for choir and organ of Widor’s famous Toccata, written for TRBC by the late Sir David Willcocks (our Principal Conductor for 30 years). Brian Kay, our current Principal Conductor, will direct, and the featured choral work in the first half of the concert will be Fauré’s Requiem. You can also expect one or two Victorian musical curiosities – details in September. Sadly for us, the Hall’s own anniversary promotions have squeezed out our May concert in 2021, so be sure to join us in July. The Scratch® Youth Messiah and Messiah from Scratch® will feature as usual in the run-up to Christmas.