The Singers in rehearsal 4 - December Rose

The Singers, a chamber choir based in Newcastle upon Tyne, rehearsing Percy Lovell's carol, December Rose. This is a setting of words by Siew-Yue Killingley.

December rose without the thorns of summer,
Coming so quietly late in the year,
Surviving wintry gales, saved from blight and frostbite,
Coming so silently to blossom here.

Mysterious rose, brighter than summer colour,
Coming, like God's own child, late in the year,
Restoring light to us, shining in the darkness,
Coming, like God's own child, to sojourn here.

Percy Lovell was a lecturer in music at Newcastle University and was a conductor of various local music groups including Newcastle Bach Choir.

Percy died in 2004 and The Singers are including this carol in their 2009 Christmas Candlelit Concerts to mark the fifth anniversary of his death.

Siew-Yue Killingley came to Newcastle in 1970 and taught linguistics at Newcastle University. She was very active in the arts and wrote poetry and plays as well as playing the flute. Siew-Yue died in 2004 and a Memorial Trust has been formed in her memory to support part-time students in the arts and humanities in the North-East of England. Her work is published by Grevatt & Grevatt.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• The
• Singers
• Chamber
• Choir
• Newcastle
• upon
• Tyne
• Carol
• December
• Rose
• Percy
• Lovell
• Siew-Yue
• Killingley
• rehearsal

[matthewdunf]

thanks for posting this: if I may say so, it sounds pretty good! The pictures of the roses are beautiful

Matthew

[thetenor1000]

Agree with Steve; beautiful sound quality Donald and the rose finishes the whole thing off perfectly. Hopefully, we'll put more items on here in the future. Nick

[cappellanorth]

sorry...meant to be an exclamation mark at the end of last message ....doh !!!

[cappellanorth]

Hi Scott hope you are well too ...it's a lovely setting and we sang our little hearts out in the freezing cold 1....brrhh...XX

[ScottBSW]

Just lovely as ever. Thank you for putting this (and the others) up here. Am having a good time in the USA, but I do miss singing with the group ... hope everyone is well.

xx

[stevelocks]

Thanks Donald, that was gorgeous and the rose really made me laugh - an excellent touch!

Steve