Minerva's Nexus

Up, and to Walcot Street for first rehearsals.

I loved the performance of Paul Carr's Requiem for an Angel so much that, with a little gentle prodding, I joined the choir!

The Bath Minerva Choir directed by Gavin Carr rehearses every Saturday from 10:30 til 12:30 in rooms below the Nexus church at the Cleveland Place end of Walcot Street. They are a non-auditioning choir and, from first experience, a friendly bunch. As, apparently, a tenor, I was welcomed with open arms; it appears tenors are as rare as rocking horse droppings.

And good tenors even rarer than a self-effacing pop star; the Choir has high performance standards, and it will be interesting to see if I survive the course to the concert in July. Gavin gave me a quick test before confirming earlier assessments by placing me in the Second Tenors.

From the first, we were thrown into the deep end with a medley of 20th century Sondheim show music pieces - a marked contrast to the deeply reflective Requiem music of the Choir's last performance but equally fascinating and challenging in their own right.

Though I had sight-read pianoforte pieces as a child and sung in the school choir, it was a whole new experience to follow multi-part choral texts; I struggled at times to 'sing from the same page of the song sheet' (or even the same notes as my fellow tenors).

Yes it was a taxing but also an immensely rewarding two hours. Even at first read through, the immense sense of being part of a single-minded unity, many voices joining in one was incredibly powerful and moving.

Though if my Liverpudlian friends had heard my mangled rendition of "You'll never walk alone" I fear I would suffer the same fate as Bojo at their hands.



Minerva's nexus
Aria, Recitative,
Accompagnato