'Collegium at 25'
Collegium Singers enters its 25 year as a chamber choir singing a work which has long been associated with much larger choral forces.
Ein deutsches Requiem is most often performed with full orchestra, however at the request of his publisher, Brahms created a version of the score to be made available for chamber performance with piano accompaniment (four hands one piano).
This version of the work travelled to England for its British debut at a private residence in London, presented in English and without the Fifth Movement.
Brahms himself conducted around 30 singers and two pianists at that event. The English translation used then has been lost, so we shall be singing the original German texts drawn from verses of the Lutheran Bible.
The choir will be led by Tomos Watkins who has recently graduated with distinction from his postgraduate conductors' programme and will be joined by two talented young opera students, Freya Holliman and Jack Bowtell, from Cardiff to perform the Soprano and Baritone solos. The pianists will be our well-known local musicians, Alison Pink and Karen Paul.
The choir came into being in 1992 as a selected semi-chorus for a performance of The Dream of Gerontius under the late Dr John Cole. The group performed its first independent concerts in 1993, was formally constituted under the name Taunton Camerata in 1994, rebranding as Collegium Singers in 2009.
During the 25 years and prior to the appointment of our current Musical Director Tomos Watkins, there have been just four Musical Directors; Hugh Potton (1994- 1996), followed by Adrian Carpenter (1996-1997), Paul Ellis (1997 -2008) and Peter Leech (2008 -2017) and in that time the group has developed into a responsive and cohesive team, keen to tackle new repertoire and idioms either a cappella or accompanied by professional instrumentalists as appropriate.
Collegium Singers is centred on Taunton and currently comprises 24 members (including 2 or 3 founder or near founder members) and has performed in Somerset, Devon, Dorset and Oxford in recent years and will undertake a tour to Switzerland next April.