In rehearsal, December 2002

About the Southampton Philharmonic Choir

The Southampton Philharmonic was founded in 1860, making us Southampton's oldest music society. We are noted for performing both from the established choral repertoire and also contemporary works. "First performances in Southampton" have included the Berlioz Requiem, Bartok's Cantata Profana and works by Stravinsky, Sir Michael Tippett, Sir William Walton, Gordon Crosse, Jonathan Harvey and Dominic Muldowney.

After the appointment of Professor Peter Evans as conductor in 1965 the Philharmonic was joined in its rehearsals and performances by the University Choral Society who have, according to the critics, added "youthful tone" especially among the female voices.

In 1972 we commissioned a new work Cantata VII On Vision from the composer Jonathan Harvey, and the first performance was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 along with Haydn's Harmoniemesse. Then in 1976 we undertook a live broadcast of Britten's War Requiem with the Salisbury Cathedral Choristers and both the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. This was one of the last broadcasts of his music heard by the composer before his death.

During the 1970s we performed a wide range of established choral masterpieces such as the Beethoven Missa Solemnis and the Berlioz Grande Messe de Morts. 20th Century works performed by the Choir included Bartok's Cantata Profana, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, Debussy's La demoiselle élue, and music by Kodaly and Szymanowski.

The choir works with professional soloists and has an strong relationship with the New London Sinfonia.

The Society has in its time been conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, Sir Charles Groves, Carl Davis and David Hill, the Organist at Winchester Cathedral. We have been fortunate to be able to work with soloists of the calibre of Dame Janet Baker, April Cantelo, Jill Gomez, Heather Harper, Alfred Deller, Thomas Hemsley, Philip Langridge and Robert Tear.

In 1985, in recognition of our varied programme and regular inclusion of contemporary works, the Philharmonic Society received an Enterprise Award from the National Federation of Music Societies.

Under the direction of David Gibson we have added smaller scale concerts of Christmas and Summer music to our programmes. We have also performed a number of works new to the Society, such as Rachmaninov's The Bells and Janacek's Glagolitic Mass.

For the Millennium we commissioned a new work The Fall of Jerusalem by Dominic Muldowney, with libretto by James Fenton. This work was commissioned jointly with the Leeds Festival Chorus, and both Societies performed this new oratorio in March 2000 in the presence of the composer. Many of our members said that this performance was the highlight of their choral singing careers.

Carl Davis President The choir is delighted that in 2002 Carl Davis agreed to become its President. The invitation was sent after a successful concert for BBC Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night, in which Carl led the choir. In June 2002 Carl conducted the choir in a Charity Gala Concert for a performance of Mozart's Requiem at Southampton's Mayflower Theatre in aid of the Wessex Cancer Trust. Carl believes strongly that all music has its place and this is reflected in his varied selection for concert programmes. From conducting in concert halls and improvised arenas to composing music for films, television series or silent films from the 1920s, ballets and musicals as well as an Oratorio, his versatility is extraordinary. Born in New York, his early years of work in the States gave him a broad musical background on which he still draws today. In 1959 the revue Diversions, written with fellow college student Stephen Vinaver, won him an Obie (Off-Broadway). When Diversions was presented at the 1961 Edinburgh Festival, and subsequently transferred to London, Ned Sherrin invited him to compose for That Was The Week That Was; other radio and television commissions then followed.

His musical compositions for television include the BBC's Pride and Prejudice, received with much acclaim world-wide. Other recent programmes, such as The Snow Goose, The World At War, Hollywood, Cold War, The Far Pavilions, The Naked Civil Servant and Good Night Mr. Tom, are but a few of Carl's scores.

His feature film scores include The French Lieutenant's Woman, Champions, Scandal, Ken Russell's The Rainbow, King David, Widow's Peak, and Mike Leigh's Topsy Turvy.

He has composed a unique series of scores for restored prints of The Silents originally commissioned by Channel Four in 1980 with Abel Gance's Napoleon. In 1983 the French Minister of Culture awarded Carl the order of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres after a screening of Napoleon in Paris. A further restoration this remarkable film was screened at the Royal Festival Hall in June 2000 with Carl’s revised and extended score.

Live cinema performances of other classic films continue to take place around the world. Recently, Carl has visited Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany, Israel, USA, Canada and Malaysia to present one or more of the fifty “Silent” scores that he has composed over the last twenty years. In June, 2002, he premiered The Freshman with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra at the Annual Silent Film Gala, presided over by Dustin Hoffman.

Carl's association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra has led to regular presentations of these classic films from the Silent era. Since 1997 these have included Ben Hur, Flesh and the Devil, Old Heidelberg, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and more recently Intolerance. The Crowd was shown in February this year and The Big Parade is scheduled for November to coincide with Remembrance Sunday,

In 1993 Carl was invited to be Artistic Director and Conductor for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's Summer Pops Season, a position he held for eight seasons. As part of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's 150th anniversary celebrations, Carl and Paul McCartney together wrote a full length work entitled Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio premiered and conducted by Carl at the Anglican Cathedral, Liverpool in June 1991 and subsequently around the world.

Carl has recently renewed his association with the RLPO and together they are presenting a number of popular themed concerts at venues not only in the North West, but also in other parts of the country, including Leeds Castle. Following their success in past years with Ben Hur and The General, in June 2002 the RLPO presented the Harold Lloyd comedy Safety Last.

With the Philharmonia Orchestra, Carl recently premiered his original scores for three of Charlie Chaplin's "Mutuals". These short films are considered by many to be among Chaplin’s best works.

Carl's numerous recordings reflect the breadth of his musical enthusiasm. They include the scores for many of the silent films, the latest of which Phantom of the Opera prompted one reviewer to remark: “…he has composed a lush score full of emotion. You'll want to rush out and see the film."

Carl loves composing music for dance. His principal works include A Simple Man and A Christmas Carol for the Northern Ballet Theatre; The Picture of Dorian Gray for Sadler’s Wells and Alice in Wonderland for the English National Ballet. The Scottish Ballet commissioned Carl to compose the music for the ballet Aladdin which had its première in December 2000, and he completed a one act ballet based on his music for the TV series for Ballet Central's current UK tour of Pride and Prejudice; First Impressions.

Carl has diversified into radio with his own show. He first recorded a thirteen-week series entitled Carl Davis Classics for Radio 2 in 1997.

He made his debut in 1999 at the BBC Proms with a concert of film music with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Since 1983 Carl has been conducting the annual open air concerts at Leeds Castle and to commemorate these concerts he has recorded three albums, the Leeds Castle Classics in 1992, Classics for a Summer Evening in 1997 and A Classical Celebration for 1999.

Carl has also recorded many classical albums with various orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic and the Philharmonia. Particular ones with the R.P.O. feature his own compositions; they include The World at War, Pride and Prejudice and other Great Themes and, most recently, The Silents. At the beginning of this month, as part of the William Walton centenary celebration, Carl premiered Christopher Columbus – Walton’s last major work to be restored.

He has been honoured on both sides of the Atlantic for his work as a composer and conductor. In 1992 he received an Honorary Fellowship from Liverpool John Moores University and in 1994 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Arts by his old College in New York, Bard, and in 2002 he is to be made an Honorary Doctor of Music by Liverpool University for his work with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Carl now lives in London. He is married to the actress, Jean Boht and they have two daughters, Hannah and Jessie.

David Gibson Conductor

David Gibson began his musical education as a chorister and then lay clerk at Chichester Cathedral before taking up organ scholarships at the universities of London and Sussex.

His conducting career began during postgraduate study with coaching from Laszlo Heltay and an invitation to conduct Elgar's Enigma Variations at the Gardner Arts Centre in Brighton. After further study with George Hurst, he worked with many well-known conductors including Norman del Mar, Sir Charles Groves and Roger Norrington.

Currently David is conductor of the Basingstoke Choral Society, associate conductor of the Guildford Choral Society and director of the Occam Singers.

As an opera conductor he has been closely associated with Opera South since its inception, and has conducted opera throughout the UK and many other countries, notably with the D'Oyly Carte company. He has worked a great deal on radio, from singing the solo treble part in Bernstein's Chichester Psalms to conducting in a performance of Berlioz' The Trojans on BBC Radio 3. He has worked occasionally on television as an organist and as a conductor.

David is much in demand as a vocal trainer and as an accompanist in recitals, as well as his lifelong association with opera. Under his direction the Southampton Philharmonic Choir has continued its tradition of performing major works from the standard repertoire, such as Mendelssohn's Elijah, and also 20th century pieces including Rachmaninov's The Bells, which we sang in Russian! Particularly memorable was a Philharmonic performance of Verdi's Requiem which David conducted in Winchester Cathedral, and which we sang entirely from memory.

Wessex Cancer Trust Over the past few years we have enjoyed a strong link with the Wessex Cancer Trust. We are delighted to have been able to support them in many ways. Wessex Cancer Trust was the nominated charity of Sara Champion, a long time choir and committee member. Sara tragically died after a two year battle with the disease.

We have helped the Trust in many different ways:

• The Choir entered two teams into the Aqualap 2005 event, a sponsored swim, and raised over £900, one eleventh of the total raised
• Christmas card sales last year raised over £168
• The Charity Gala Concert, with our President Carl Davis
• Bucket collections after each concert