It was with some sense of trepidation that Royston Choral Society returned to in-person rehearsals in September 2021 after 18 months of near-silence as a result of the coronovirus pandemic. We began rehearsing just half of the choir each week to allow for social distance but were fortunate after a few weeks to be able to move rehearsals to Bassingbourn Village College where we were able to rehearse in a large and well ventilated hall.
The decision had also been made at the start of the season to employ a permanent accompanist. We saw that as the next step in our process of continually trying to improve our standards. We were very fortunate to be able to engage Michael Smith who had already proved himself very capable as our occasional accompanist over the last few years.
It made sense to keep things simple for the initial return and so we performed just one concert in the Autumn term. That was held in St Mary's Standon in early December and consisteed of Haydn's Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo 'Little Organ Mass and Part 1 if Handel's ever-popular Messiah. Sadly, because of another engagement, Michael was actually unable to be our accompanist for the concert and so Robin Walker was the organist and we were also joined by the bass Julian Godlee (amongst other soloists) who has sung with us on a few occasions since.
On-going concerns over the virus made for a different concert experience - with open doors and no refreshments - but we were back making live music. What a joy!
In March we returned to St Mary's in Ashwell and performed Mozart's Requiem along with anthems by Brahms, Mendelssohn and Mozart.
The concert was extremely well received and benefitted form particularly fine orchestral playing.
In the summer we returned to Chrishall Parish Church and performed a concert with some lighter songs but that was primarily centred around Mass in Blue by Will Todd. This was a very different experience for many of the choir. We were certainly challenged and it was all part of our learning process. Joined on the day by an outstanding Jazz trio and soprano soloist the concert received rapturous applause.
