Monday 11th December 2017, 7.30pm
Christ Church, Woking

Woking’s Epworth Choir performed its annual Family Christmas Carol Concert at Christ Church, Woking on Monday 11^th December 2017.  They were joined by St Andrew’s School Choir.

The concert was held in aid of yourSanctuary (formerly Surrey Women’s Aid), a Woking-based charity that has been working to prevent domestic abuse and undo the damage it does to individuals, families and communities since 1977. In addition to direct services for women, men and children affected by domestic abuse, yourSanctuary provides comprehensive prevention, advocacy and educational programmes. Their clients come from diverse communities, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, socio-economic groups and age brackets.

This much-loved annual carol concert conducted by the choir’s Music Director, Michael Waldron, included uplifting carols and Christmas music to celebrate the festive season.

Saturday 21st October 2017, 7.45pm
St Dunstan’s RC Church, Woking

An enchanting evening exploring some of the most beautiful and evocative French music in the repertoire, with works by composers including Faure, Franck, Saint-Saens and Vierne.

This concert was held in aid of Quest RDA, riding for the disabled.

Wednesday 28th June 2017, 7.30pm
Trinity Methodist Church, Woking

Our audience joined Epworth Choir for tea and cake and an evening of inspiring music. Programme included English part songs and folksongs, with works by Handel, Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Rutter.

Saturday 25th February 2017, 11am – 5pm
Trinity Methodist Church, Woking

In preparation for our Spring concert in Guildford on the 29th April 2017, Epworth Choir opened its doors for a day’s workshop on Rutter’s beautiful and accessible Requiem.

Conducted by Michael Waldron and accompanied by Laurence Williams, we were also joined by critically-acclaimed soprano, Augusta Hebbert. In addition to singing, she led elements of the workshop working on good singing and vocal technique in an applied setting. The day culminated with an informal performance of the work in the warm and pleasant surroundings of Trinity Methodist Church.

Augusta Hebbert

British Soprano Augusta Hebbert is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music, an ENO OperaWorks Artist and a Britten Pears Young Artist. She studies with American Soprano Sheila Barnes.

An experienced concert soloist in a broad repertoire, Augusta has collaborated with Richard Egarr in Handel’s Saul, Masaaki Suzuki in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Mark Padmore in Bach’s St John Passion and Julian Perkins in Daniel Purcells’s Judgement of Paris. Augusta is a founding member of La Nuova Musica, and roles include Galatea in an acclaimed perfumed performance of Handel’s Acis and Galatea at St John’s Smith Square, Amarilli (Il Pastor Fido) and Bellezza (Il Trionfo del Tempo) both for the London Handel Festival. She also features on their disc of Handel’s Dixit Dominus for Harmonia Mundi.

In opera she made her debut at Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse in Handel’s Belshazzar under Rene Jacobs, has toured the role of Countess (Mozart Marriage of Figaro) for ENO Opera Squad, worked with Louis Langrée, Ivor Bolton and Pablo Heras-Casado at Aix International Opera Festival, and with British Youth Opera, Bury Court Opera and Opera Settecento.

Current and future engagements include, The Tempest (Elizabeth Kenny/OAE, York Early Music Festival), Hasse Demetrio (Opera Settecento, Cadogan Hall), Casanova’s Conquest (Sounds Baroque, King’s Place), Haydn Nelson Mass (London Choral Sinfonia, Cadogan Hall), Rossi and Monteverdi (Early Opera Company, Spitalfields Festival), Madame Butterfly (Cover, Bury Court Opera), Cambridge Early Music Festival with Spiritato, and Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Saturday 29 April 2017, 7.30pm
Holy Trinity Church, Guildford

Epworth Choir held a concert featuring Rutter’s Requiem and Renaissance Masterpieces. They were joined once more by members of the Woking Symphony Orchestra and soloist Augusta Hebbert.

The Epworth Choir, which was established almost 60 years ago, has a long tradition of supporting local charities. For this concert, the choir raised funds for Action for Children, who help disadvantaged children through fostering and adoption, and by intervening early to stop neglect and abuse.

The choir’s Music Director, Michael Waldron, said “I am sure that music-lovers will thoroughly enjoy John Rutter’s beautiful Requiem, and we have chosen a collection of glorious Renaissance pieces for the other half of our programme. We hope to attract a sell-out audience and raise as much money as possible for Action for Children, which does such important work”.