OUR NEXT CONCERT (due to the length of this piece please note the start time of 7pm)

J.S. Bach: St Matthew Passion
Conductor: Christopher Fletcher
Soprano: Catherine Hamilton
Alto: Alison Kettlewell
Tenor Solos: Nicholas Hawker
Tenor Evangelist: Neil Jenkins
Bass Solos: John Hobbs
Bass Christus: Darren Jeffery

Sunday 14 April 2019, Concert 7:00pm
Location: Plymouth Guildhall

Tickets available:
£17 in advance, £19 on the door, £5 under 16s/students
Tickets available from choir members and from:
Choir ticket manager: 01822 853791
Plymouth: Framing Centre, 83 Hyde Park Rd.
Tavistock: Mainly Stationery, 9 Duke St. 01822 618500
To book tickets click the Book Online button on the right.

CHRISTOPHER FLETCHER  Conductor

Christopher Fletcher considers himself to be both fortunate and privileged to have been Plymouth Philharmonic Choir’s conductor since 1996, during which time the choir has come to be recognised as one of the best in the South West. As well as the choir’s regular concerts with professional orchestras and soloists in Plymouth he has conducted the choir in cathedrals and churches all over Europe, including Notre Dame in Paris.

Christopher was born in Leeds. At an early age he began to show considerable musical talent. At the age of ten he won the Northern Choirboy’s Championship in Harrogate singing Hear ye Israel from Mendelssohn’s Elijah and two years after this he became the first boy treble in the Bradford Diocese to be awarded the R.S.C.M. St. Nicolas Award.

In 1978 Christopher was awarded a scholarship to study at Trinity College of Music, London. After graduating Christopher moved to South Devon, since when he has been actively involved in choral singing, church music and teaching. He has been organist and Master of Music at Plymouth R. C. Cathedral since 2001, previously holding a similar post at the Parish and Priory Church of St. Mary, Totnes.

In addition to Plymouth Philharmonic Choir, Christopher is also currently conductor of the Stanborough Chorus, Kingsbridge, and is a former conductor of The Lupridge Singers, The Chagford Singers and the South Devon Choir.

As well as being in demand as a workshop teacher, Christopher helped to found the annual Rotary Club Come and Sing in1999.This is now an annual event which, under his direction, regularly attracts two hundred singers from all over Devon and beyond.

In 2008 he was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship by Rotary International.

Soprano: Catherine Hamilton
Alto: Alison Kettlewell
Tenor Solos: Nicholas Hawker
Tenor Evangelist: Neil Jenkins
Bass Solos: John Hobbs
Bass Christus: Darren Jeffery

J.S. Bach: St Matthew Passion

This monumental St Matthew Passion is hailed as the greatest setting of the Passion story in western music, but surprisingly it was not until almost 100 years after its premiere that Bach’s music got the recognition it deserved.

Composed in 1727, it is a setting of sections of St Matthew’s Gospel, designed as part of Good Friday Vespers for the strict Lutheran stronghold of Leipzig. Following its premiere, it received two subsequent performances in 1736 and the 1740s. After that it was not performed again until its revival in Berlin in 1829 by Mendelssohn, which marked a renaissance of Bach’s sacred vocal music.