Portishead
Choral Society was formed in 1955 with Winston Jackson as Hon. Conductor
and Chairman. Subscriptions were set at five shillings, they rose to
7s 6d in 1957 and 15s in 1958 - and we think we know about inflation!
The first concert, in Holy Week 1955, was The Passion of Christ
by Sir Arthur Somervell.
The
10th Anniversary concert in 1965 included two works by Gordon Jacob,
Highways and News from Newtown (Portishead was expanding
at the time and the motorway was being built) with the composer in the
audience. As a result he dedicated The Diverting History of John
Gilpin to "Mr Jackson and the Portishead Choral Society"
and we gave the work its first performance in December 1965. 1976 saw
our first performance of a commissioned work; The Valley of Seclusion
by Malcolm Drummond, son of our then President, Brigadier Drummond -
a great old Portishead character.
In
1990 we celebrated our 35th Anniversary with a performance, by an augmented
choir conducted by Ian Sloan, of Verdi's Requiem in the Colston
Hall, Bristol. A more recent highlight was a performance of Vaughan
Williams' Sea Symphony in 1995.
The
2004 - 2005 saw us celebrating our Golden Jubilee. Our Spring concert,
entitled Music for Lent featured an a capella setting
of the Mass, The Neretva Mass, written especially for us by our
conductor, Jonathan Coore. Our Jubilee Concert was in Clifton Cathedral
where we sang Robert Latham's setting of Psalm 150 which was
commissioned for the occasion. The main work was Karl Jenkins' The
Armed Man. A Mass for Peace. The season ended with a most enjoyable
Jubilee Dinner.
During
the season, one of our long-standing members, Freda Scrase wrote a brief
Reminisence of Portishead Choral Society.
