Hi all,
Due to our Apollo commitments, the summer picnic and sing at Kingston Maurward that was planned for Sunday 14th July has been cancelled. Our next event will be the Stinsford Michaelmas Fayre on Saturday 28th September.
Viva members – Dates for your diaries
Saturday 29th June
3pm – 4pm, Thomas Hardye School
We will be singing Space Oddity with a children’s choir in celebration of the Apollo anniversary
Sunday 14th July
2:30pm, Kingston Maurward Gardens
Viva will be joining Heart & Soul to sing outside by the lake if the weather is fine. If it’s raining there will be alternative arrangements.This is an informal event open to singers and their families/friends and pets!!
This event has now been rescheduled for early Autumn term, due to our Apollo commitments! New date TBC
Tuesday 16th July Monday 15th July
7pm – 8:30pm, Puddletown Middle School
Rehearsal for Apollo Cantata with the conductor
Thursday 18th July
7:30pm – 9pm, big hall
Viva rehearsal as usual
Friday 19th July
Time TBC, Maumbury Rings
We will be joining a children’s choir and the Quangles to sing 2 songs from Geof Edge’s Apollo Cantata
Summer Picnic and Sing 2019
Summer Picnic and Sing – updated
Kathie is hoping for fine weather on Sunday 14th July for an informal picnic and sing with Viva!, Heart & Soul, and their friends and families (dogs welcome too!) at Kingston Maurward Gardens.
Commencing at 2:30pm, the choirs will sing outside near the lake (alternative arrangements will be made for wet weather!). Bring a rug and a picnic! We look forward to seeing you there.
This event has now been rescheduled for early Autumn term, due to our Apollo commitments! New date TBC
VIVA 2006-2016 : 10 Years of Singing Our Hearts Out!
I can’t quite believe that our wonderful choir came into being 10 years ago! It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I opened the doors to Dorchester Arts back in 2006 wondering if I’d be greeted by a throng of enthusiastic singers or just a view of the car park! Luckily folk did arrive to sing and the seeds were sown for a wonderful community of singers which, over the years, has gone from strength to strength.
The really special thing about VIVA, apart from the great sound of course, is the commitment, enthusiasm and community spirit shown by our singers. Some have recently joined and others have been coming to choir for many years. We originally started out as a mixed choir and performed regularly at local events including the Dorchester Festival, Apple Day and Christmas celebrations at Kingston Maurward and of course the opening of the Olympic Games in Weymouth. VIVA also premiered the specially commissioned song for Dorchester, Dancing the Rings at Maumbury in Borough Gardens and featured on the soundtrack of Out in the Open a film about homelessness premiered at the Dorchester Plaza. More recently in 2014 we performed in Heartwood , an original site specific piece with original music by Karen Wimhurst. This was a collaboration between sound artist Adrian Newton who directed the piece Karen and myself. VIVA joined forces with Pallida, Karen’s Shaftesbury choir, Skylarks Children’s Choir and my Heart and Soul Community Choir from Poundbury.
Winning Best Large choir of the 2014 and 2015 Weymouth Festivals in collaboration with Heart and Soul, was a highlight for the choir. Our Christmas concerts at St Georges church in Fordington have also been a great success and hugely enjoyable and these concerts have enabled VIVA, in collaboration with my other choirs ,to raise hundreds of pounds for charities – the West Dorset Women’s Refuge, Autism Wessex, The Red Cross and the Dorset Blind Association to name but a few.
So…here we are 10 years on planning our new CD, a trip to the Southbank to sing at the Chorus Festival and a choir exchange to France! I can’t wait! Viva la VIVA!
Amazing Grace
Clean Heart