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We are hugely delighted to announce that the amount raised from Requiem to Cancer 2022 for Cancer Research UK was a shade over £34,000 with the added bonus of another £4,500 on top of that from Gift Aid. It means that we have also fulfilled the ambition of raising £100,000 (before Gift Aid) over the three events.
A huge thank you to everyone who participated in and contributed to the third 24-hour event. * To Music Directors Jeremy Jackman, Mark Jordan and Neil Ferris who guided us through the music with wonderful good humour to keep us going, and extracted outstanding performances. * To Janet Wheeler who not only composed the beautiful life-affirming anthem for us but directed every performance of it throughout the event. * To our superb accompanists and players - pianists Michael Higgins, Simon Gregory, Nicki Rose, Dave Doidge and saxophonists Alastair Penman and Charlie Curtin. Fantastic support and so beautifully played. * To our soloists Kate Thomson, Katey Rylands, Chris Why, Frazer Scott, Clare Robertson-Hughes and Laurence Williams. You guys were amazing. * To our fantastic team of helpers who manned the bar and front door, shook buckets and all else in the background whilst the singing was going on - hugely appreciated. * And to you fabulous singers coming from all corners of the country and beyond for supporting the event and making it actually happen, whether you lasted the entire duration or dipped in and out. This just would not have happened without you. Your enthusiasm for choral music is what made all this possible. Thank you all so much. Simon would have been grinning from ear to ear. Ruth, Michael & Neil
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Take a browse on the Biographies page to see who has volunteered their services as soloists for this year's event. We are delighted to welcome back Jocelyn Somerville (sop, Brahms) who also sang in our first event and we look forward to hearing them all over the 24 hours.
A proposed schedule for the event has now been published. You can find this by clicking on the Schedule option in the navigation at the top of any website page. Please note that this is 'proposed' and can only give approximate timings. Things can (and will!) change during the event. Thanks, all.
After a two-tear hiatus due to the Covid pandemic, the decision has been taken to proceed with the the event in 2022. Conditions were just not suitable or stable enough in 2020 or 2021 to consider staging it - the safety and health of our participants being at the very core of those decisions. Whereas there is still some level of uncertainty in 2022, we feel there is enough support to proceed - so we are!
Sadly, the decision has been taken to postpone Requiem to Cancer 2020, originally planned for the end of September this year. We are working to arrange a suitable alternative date in late September next year 2021. As soon as we have a confirmed date we will let you know.
We are sure that all singers, friends and supporters will appreciate why we have had to do this, especially as, even with a gradual return to ‘normal’ life, it looks as if choral singing in large numbers may be one of the last group activities to return where everyone would feel comfortable participating in them. For sure this decision has not been taken lightly as we want to continue to support Cancer Research UK and to honour our commitment to Simon. For those of you who have already registered and made a donation to CRUK in anticipation of participating this year, be assured that your registrations will be carried forward automatically to next year and you will have a place. Meanwhile, if you would like to register for next year or make a further or new donation to CRUK then please use the Apply link above or the Donation link on the Home Page respectively. Thank you for your continuing support and we look forward to meeting up with you all when we can. Ruth, Michael & Neil You are now cordially invited to register your participation in Requiem to Cancer 2020. The APPLY page is now visible on this website (see at the top). We look forward to seeing you in September!
We can now reveal that the music for RtC 2020 is this wonderful selection. The first main session will kick off with Cecilia McDowall's fabulous new 'Da Vinci Requiem' that was commissioned by Wimbledon Choral Society and received its world premiere in the Royal Festival Hall in May 2019. This is a very accessible work and will be directed by Neil Ferris. To guide us through the early hours and morning of Saturday, Mark Jordan will add his personal touch to the sublime Mozart Requiem so that we can do justice to the work, albeit after a long night and probably a good breakfast! At some point we'll also fit in a run-through of the Fauré for some light relief, which Mark will also lead for us. And finally to finish off the whole session (and probably finish us off as well), Jeremy Jackman will light the boilers under the Brahms 'Ein Deutsches Requiem' and we'll give every last breath we have left to deliver this one as well.
So, something new, something(s) familiar and something big. Oh, and don't forget we'll also have Janet Wheeler's new life-affirming anthem as well. Will this all work for you? We do hope so. 🙂 Applications for participating in RtC 2020 will open shortly. We are almost ready with the website and linking up with Cancer Research UK. Watch this space! 27 Feb 2020
We are delighted to announce the music director line-up for this year's event. Neil Ferris and Jeremy Jackman have been with us since the first event in 2016 and we are very grateful for their continued support. The new boy on the block is Oxford-based Mark Jordan, to whom we extend a very warm welcome. We look forward to him keeping us awake overnight! For the specially commissioned anthem for this year's event, we are so pleased that Janet Wheeler has agreed to write this for us, following those from Cecilia McDowall and Will Todd in previous years. We will reveal the music content for RtC 2020 and open the doors for applications very shortly. We are just tidying up a few things with Cancer Research UK then we'll be ready to get things really going. 😁 Simon's family is organising a remembrance/memorial service for him on Friday 13th March 2020. All are welcome. It will take place in St Paul's Church in Covent Garden where the RtC events take place.
Please see the page titled 'Simon's Memorial' for further details. We are delighted to announce that Requiem to Cancer 2020 will proceed in accordance with Simon's wishes.
The dates are set as Friday 25th & Saturday 26th September 2020 and we'll be back in the same venue of St Paul's Church, Covent Garden as before. Please put the dates in your diaries now and start to build up your stamina! We are still in the process of deciding the programme and getting the various professional musicians on board and we'll announce all this in the latter part of January when we hope everything will have been settled by then. The website is undergoing a refresh of the content and will be updated during December & January. Please keep popping back to see how we're doing. |
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Requiem to Cancer 2022
Friday 23rd - Saturday 24th September 2022
St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, London
Friday 23rd - Saturday 24th September 2022
St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, London
Requiem to Cancer raises funds in aid of Cancer Research UK - a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247).