Winchester and County Music Festival 2010

Winchester & County Music Festival was created some years ago to enable local choirs to join together to perform annually in two elite venues – Winchester Cathedral and Romsey Abbey. The choirs involved in this Festival are all drawn from the local communities, it is a privilege for those involved to work on great pieces of music with fine soloists and talented orchestras and in two such wonderful venues. In 2007 we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edward Elgar with our concert at Winchester Cathedral which inspired Anne Jales and Patsy Eade to write poems.

The 2009-10 WCMF season began not with the usual workshop but with a successful 'Come & Sing' involving all seven choirs associated with the Festival. In Handel's 250th anniversary year the choice of music was naturally MESSIAH and on Saturday 10 October the nave of Romsey Abbey was filled with choral voices, accompanied by organ and chamber orchestra. The afternoon rehearsal was followed by a splendid evening performance with the choirs joined by fouroutstanding young soloists: Sophie Pentecost (soprano), Sarah Shorter (alto), David Burrows (tenor) and Jimmy Holliday (bass and 'Hampshire Young Singer of the Year'). Directing the event was Robert Fielding, organist of Romsey Abbey and conductor of one of the participating choirs, the Winchester City Festival Choir. Friends provided an audience in the space remaining and a collection was made on the day for 'Voices for Hospices' which regularly benefits from fund-raising MESSIAH performances.