Past Events

  • Christmas Concert with Southend Philharmonic Orchestra - December 5th 2009

We enjoyed a very full house with our musical celebration for the Christmas season. The evening opened with a lively orchestral piece, Mendelssohn's Italian, followed by traditional and modern carols.  Some accompanied by the full orchestra and others by the impressive sound of Crowstone's beautiful organ and an impressive contribution from a very responsive audience. An undoubted highlight of the evening was a performance of the Snowman by Howard Blake, which demonstrated the delightful variety of musical sound that can be created by the orchestra.  Our treble soloist was Joshua Wallen who gave us a very polished performance; the narrator was John Culley who kept the storey line in perfect pace with the music and created just the right atmosphere for this entertaining work.  

  • The music of Gabriel Faure - October 3rd 2009

The excellent acoustics and intimate ambiance of Southend High School for Boys made a good setting for the beautiful melodies, complex harmonies and subtlety of Faure's work.  The choir was ably accompanied by the Eastwood Ensemble who provided most of the music for the first half.  Particularly memorable was a very mature cello solo from Jonathan Duell, a 16 year old local lad who has a prodigious talent.
The Requiem is a favourite piece of choirs and audiences alike and we can only hope that our audience enjoyed the piece as much as the performers.  Our guest soloists Catherine Humphrey, soprano, and John Culley, baritone added their polished performances to great effect. 

  • Songs from the Great American Song Book -  May 9th 2009

St, Margaret's Church Hall, Leigh, A very good audience turned out for this performance.  They clearly enjoyed the variety of medleys from well known musicals, West Side Story, Guys And Dolls and others as well as a number of very familiar popular songs of years gone by like Chatanooga Choo Choo, Moon River, Catch a falling Star and many others.  The familiar melodies linger in the mind, echoing memories of the past.  A new departure for the choir was a barbershop quartet with Fats Waller's "Aint Misbehavin" went well.  We will try to do some more of this in the future and perhaps persuade the ladies to try something similar.

  • Christmas Old and New - 16th December 2008

The accoustics at St Peter's Hadleigh are very good for choral singing.  So in spite of a very cold night we had a good turnout for our Christmas concert which raised some valuable funding for the Church restoration fund.  We enjoyed a lively participation from the audience in the more traditional carols while the choir took on some less well known pieces, some of them composed and arranged by members of the choir, (thanks to Sally and Ray.)  Our special thanks also go to Claire Richardson who performed some lovely solos for us.  Her version of the 12 days after Christmas was as accomplished as it was amusing.  Thank you Claire.

  • 3 French Musical Masterpieces - 13th September 2008

We had a packed house at the Salvation Army Citadel for this concert which brought together the voices of Eastwood Chorale, Billericay Choral Society, the Lower School Choir from Southend High School for Boys, 3 talented soloists and the Eastwood Ensemble comprising 51 local musicians.  This was by some way the most challenging programme that we have attempted but judging from the positive response from our audience, the hard work put in by the choirs and our Musical Director was all very much worthwhile.

  • Charity Gala Concert - 19th July 2008

This was a very different evening's entertainment combining the talents of The Harmonie Concert Band, The Julie Noble School of Dance and Drama as well as Eastwood Chorale.  Rehearsals were very interesting as all three elements had been working with different musical arrangements.  However these obstacles were overcome and we enjoyed a wide variety of melodies and rhythms in a global musical tour with the band, a very attractive performance of tap, modern and ballet from the dancers while the choir weighed in with medlies from Miss Saigon and Les Mis.  Our finale was a combined effort with all three elements participating in "Get Happy."  What really made us happy was the thought that while the evening was enjoyable for the performers as well as the audience, we raised £1,200 for our two chosen charities, Little Havens Hospices and St Martin's Residential Care Home.

  • Handel's Messiah 1st & 8th March 2008

Combining again with Billericay Choral society we enjoyed two rousing performances of this very popular work.  Our soloists and the Eastwood Ensemble also did us proud with performances that demonstrated their talents and their obvious enthusiasm for the music.

  • Musical Christmas Fayre 1st December 2007

We made an early start with our seasonal celebrations this year with a lively concert of popular songs and carols and lots of participation from an appreciative audience.

  • Pop and Showstoppers 13th October 2007

This fun event comprised popular music from the Beatles, Beachboys and Frank Sinatra among others, as well as some big hits from musical shows that have been performed all over the world, such as Phantom, Chess, Miss Saigon and Les Miserables.

  • Joint Concert with Simply Brass 15th September 2007 

This was an interesting exercise in the sense that it is hard for a choir to compete with the sound level that a brass band can achieve.  However the programme gave us a mix of music that allowed Simply Brass to demonstrate their considerable abilities whilst the choir sang some of their lighter repertoire accompanied by the piano.  We also managed to co-operate on a few pieces, the band playing in a more restrained way whilst the choir rose to the challenge to produce a very pleasing result.

  • St Georges Day Concert - 21st April 2007

This was a musical celebration of St George's day with appropriately traditional music, some of it very familiar but not heard so often these days with plenty of audience participation our rousing rendition of old favourites such as Jerusalem, Rule Britannia complete with crashing cymbals.

This event was the most ambitious and the most successful event we have held,  We were joined  by  the Billericay Choral Society, members of the Southend Philharmonic Orchestra, and the following individual artists some of international repute.