About Us

History

was formed when friends in a local choir wanted to pursue their love of singing throughout the holidays. Twelve years later the objectives of these founders - to reach the highest possible standard within their capability - has encouraged new members with similar ambitions to join, resulting in the successful choir seen today.

We are a choir of mixed abilities, from sight-readers to those who learn by ear, and there is a great sense of camaraderie and mutual support within the choir to ensure every person is confident with their part.

Every member contributes to the organisation and success of the choir, creating a friendly and dedicated environment in which to enjoy our singing. This democratic approach is also taken into our performance where we sing, not only from memory, but also without a conductor. This unique method of choral singing results in a highly communicative performance that continues to surprise and delight new audiences, as well as adjudicators.

The comments received from such performances has resulted in a determination to continue performing in this manner, even as we tackle more complex music, thus resulting in many more hours of rehearsal than are required by a conducted choir. The following comments received from the adjudicators of the single voice semi-final at Sainsbury's Choir of the Year 2000 reflect the type of responses to this unique performance method:

"I do admire the team spirit that enables you to work so convincingly together without a 'dominant presence'!"  Richard Sisson, Pianist and Composer

"I like the way you listen so carefully to each other - I think it makes each singer take more personal responsibility and that helps colour the sound."  Mary Hammond, Singing Teacher and Vocal Coach

"A beautiful performance of a challenging and varied programme. You all sing from the heart in a wonderfully direct way . . . "  Iain Burnside, Performer and Broadcaster

Achievements

As well as producing our own concerts and performing at the request of other organisations and charities, both at home and across the country, Impromptu

has entered various competitions, winning classes at many local music festivals. In the last eight years we have taken on the challenge of entering competitions further afield in order to meet and compete with other choirs from throughout the country and overseas. In 1995, we were overall winners at the Bournemouth Music Festival, receiving the Nynex Trophy for 'Adult Choir of the Year'. We have also won classes at Blackpool (1996), Cheltenham (1997), Southend (1998 and 2002) and were placed second in our class at the Cardigan Eisteddfod (1999).

In 2000, we finally realised our dream of entering Sainsbury's Choir of the Year and were delighted to reach the semi-finals at our first attempt, thus receiving a nationwide performance on BBC2. In 2002 we won both our classes at Portsmouth and were awarded the "Florence Cassidy Memorial Trophy" for the "adult choir who made the greatest impression on the adjudicator". Our most recent success was at the prestigious "Mrs Sunderland Music Festival", Huddersfield in March 2003 where we were placed third in a high calibre mixed class of 12 choirs. We were highly delighted with our success as we were the highest placed single-voice choir in the class.

Repertoire

We like to offer our audience a wide range of songs so that there is "something for everyone" at our concerts. Our repertoire therefore consists of 16th century madrigals and motets; spirituals; folk songs; popular songs; contemporary songs; and songs from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and 20th Century periods. Our traditional format has been to sing a number of different songs rather than whole works due to the limited number of works available for female voices, the issue of unconducted orchestral accompaniment and the huge demands on memorising such works. However, more recently we have been addressing this hole in our repertoire and have performed "A Ceremony of Carols" by Benjamin Britten with harp, are about to perform "Gloria" by Antonio Vivaldi with string quartet, organ, trumpet and oboe and plan to tackle "Stabat Mater" by Giovanni Pergolesi in the future.

Social

Even as we have grown and members have come and gone, the choir's continued success is due to the friendships and strong team-work that evolves from the mutual love of singing. Being such good friends, we therefore enjoy "playing hard" as well as working hard and over the years have held various social events, such as Christmas and New Year parties, dinners, quiz nights, treasure hunts, picnics and walks and there is a regular group who visit the pub after the weekly rehearsal! We enjoy each other's company and weekend trips away for a competition or concert are a good opportunity for more choir bonding. Partners and parents provide valuable support throughout the year and many travel with us on our weekends away.

Singing Workshop Summer 2007

Musical Director - Debbie Walton

A founder member of Impromptu, Debbie has been heavily involved in the choir's musical direction from the beginning and in 1997 was officially appointed the choir's Musical Director. She studied music at Kingston University and graduated in 1998 with First Class Honours, Impromptu playing a performing role in part of her final exams.

Accompanist - Philip Aslangul

Philip joined Impromptu as our accompanist in 1996. He trained at the Guildhall School of Music on both cello and piano and is in demand both as a teacher and an accompanist. He has a strong involvement in chamber music, including live radio broadcasts with the Burlington Duo.

(click group pictures to enlarge)
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