SURBITON RECORDED MUSIC SOCIETY
DAVE DORRINGTON 18 SEPTEMBER 2009
CHOIR PRACTICE
Dave is a born and bread Surbitonian. His first school was St. Andrew's Church of England so he had close contact with church music early on. Also, his mother Margery was an avid lover of classical music so Dave also heard a large amount of this from a young age. In 1957 he followed in his mother’s footsteps and joined the choir of St. Mark's Church, Surbiton, enjoying many happy years there enhancing his love of church music. Dave has a good knowledge of electronics, having spent 31 years in the industry. Unfortunately this ended in redundancy and, unable to get work in electronics, he went to Budgens supermarket in Tolworth. He has risen from cashier to the position of Head Baker.
ELIZABETH WATSON 13 NOVEMBER 2009
SOME CONDUCTORS I HAVE PLAYED FOR
Elizabeth Watson is a viola - and viola d'amore - player in solo, chamber and orchestral music. With the Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields she worked with Neville Marriner of course, and Michael Tippett. With the Philharmonia she played for Klemperer, Giulini, Solti, Muti, Boult, del Mar, Schmidt-Isserstedt, Mehta, Barenboim, Fruebeck de Burgos, Inbal, Andrew Davis, Kubelik, Stokowski, Salonen, Maazel, Barbirolli, etc.. As a free-lance she played for Eliot Gardiner, Scherchen, Bernstein, Colin Davis, Sargent and, memorably, Carlos Paita. She is interested in the relationships between conductors and players, and appreciates the special insights and qualities of some conductors.
JOHN KELLY 27 NOVEMBER 2009
ELGAR’S SPANISH ENIGMA
John Kelly is a retired banker. He has been a member of the Elgar Society for 28 years and has held office as the Society’s General Secretary and as Treasurer of London Branch. He has lectured on Elgar both in the UK and abroad.
Nearer home he sings with Epsom Choral Society and is Chairman of the Dorking & District Amateur Radio Society.
John Kelly has written several articles on Elgar and has just completed 8 years research on Elgar’s “Best Friend”, Alfred Rodewald, the dedicatee of the Pomp & Circumstance March No 1. His book on Rodewald is to be published in 2010 or 2011.
CELIA LISTER 5 FEBRUARY 2010
NAXOS: HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY
Celia is the UK Marketing Manger for Naxos. She has worked at Select Music since 2006, and during that time has been responsible in turn for the marketing of European labels, DVD labels and, most recently, the UK marketing for Naxos, the house label. After attending St Paul’s Girls’ School in London as a Foundation Scholar, Celia studied Music at Nottingham University with a Walton Scholarship before completing an MMus in Historical Musicology at Royal Holloway University of London, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Whilst an undergraduate, Celia was awarded a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music in Oboe Performing.
JOHN HUMPHRIES 5 MARCH 2010
WILLIAM HURLSTONE – THE MOST PROMISING ENGLISH MUSICIAN OF HIS GENERATION?
Educated at Merchant Taylors School, qualified as a Chartered Architect and commissioned in the Royal Engineers before taking up singing seriously, John Humphries studied with Fabian Smith, Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music.
Subsequently he has made many hundreds of stage and concert appearances, varying from Grand opera and lieder recitals to talks and popular song programmes.
Early choral experience included membership of Ashtead Choral Society, Goldsmiths Choral Union and the CODA Singers of Croydon, with whom he extended his solo repertoire. Later he joined Pro Musica Chorus of London, visiting many of the cities of Western Europe and also singing, on occasion, with the Philharmonia Chorus.
John has appeared with many operatic societies and has latterly tended to specialise in comic parts, particularly in Gilbert and Sullivan, and has also acted in straight drama, where it is impossible to hide behind the singing voice! Of late, he has concentrated on song selection programmes and talks, which he often illustrates with appropriate songs and is still involved in music hall and oratorio.
Although, like most Britons, John is a baritone, he has a very wide vocal range which enables him to ally the standard concert repertoire with the lyricism of the tenor and songs normally associated with the bass voice.
He has sung regularly in the large London concert halls and has especially enjoyed taking part in performances immediately after the completion of a number of London Marathons.
PETER SMART 19 MARCH 2010
POLE TO POLE – IN THE STEPS OF MICHAEL PALIN
Peter was a member of Surbiton Recorded Music Society but, some years ago, moved north. He still spends some time in Surbiton.
He has collected recordings of music for over 50 years – which is perhaps one of the reasons he needs two homes! After moving north he became Chairman of Huddersfield Recorded Music Society for a year.
PETER JONES 11 JUNE 2010
SPREAD A LITTLE HAPPINESS
Peter has survived a long and distinguished career in Teaching. Over 40 years he has been Head of English Department in 4 different countries, home and abroad. He has also been an Examiner for Cambridge University. In the early 1990s he was winner of the BBC Counterpoint competition for people with the most musical knowledge, achieving a record score.
Peter recently retired from the post of Chairman of Sunbury Music Club after 30 years. Since giving up full-time teaching, he has given 400 talks on a wide variety of subjects to almost 100 different societies. In 2010 he is making his seventeenth visit to Surbiton RMS. (He is also proud of being invited 24 times to speak to his local Jewish community – surely some sort of record for a Catholic!).
JOHN KELLY 27 NOVEMBER 2009
ELGAR’S SPANISH ENIGMA
John Kelly is a retired banker. He has been a member of the Elgar Society for 28 years and has held office as the Society’s General Secretary and as Treasurer of London Branch. He has lectured on Elgar both in the UK and abroad.
Nearer home he sings with Epsom Choral Society and is Chairman of the Dorking & District Amateur Radio Society.
John Kelly has written several articles on Elgar and has just completed 8 years research on Elgar’s “Best Friend”, Alfred Rodewald, the dedicatee of the Pomp & Circumstance March No 1. His book on Rodewald is to be published in 2010 or 2011.
CELIA LISTER 5 FEBRUARY 2010
NAXOS: HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY
Celia is the UK Marketing Manger for Naxos. She has worked at Select Music since 2006, and during that time has been responsible in turn for the marketing of European labels, DVD labels and, most recently, the UK marketing for Naxos, the house label. After attending St Paul’s Girls’ School in London as a Foundation Scholar, Celia studied Music at Nottingham University with a Walton Scholarship before completing an MMus in Historical Musicology at Royal Holloway University of London, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Whilst an undergraduate, Celia was awarded a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music in Oboe Performing.
JOHN HUMPHRIES 5 MARCH 2010
WILLIAM HURLSTONE – THE MOST PROMISING ENGLISH MUSICIAN OF HIS GENERATION?
Educated at Merchant Taylors School, qualified as a Chartered Architect and commissioned in the Royal Engineers before taking up singing seriously, John Humphries studied with Fabian Smith, Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music.
Subsequently he has made many hundreds of stage and concert appearances, varying from Grand opera and lieder recitals to talks and popular song programmes.
Early choral experience included membership of Ashtead Choral Society, Goldsmiths Choral Union and the CODA Singers of Croydon, with whom he extended his solo repertoire. Later he joined Pro Musica Chorus of London, visiting many of the cities of Western Europe and also singing, on occasion, with the Philharmonia Chorus.
John has appeared with many operatic societies and has latterly tended to specialise in comic parts, particularly in Gilbert and Sullivan, and has also acted in straight drama, where it is impossible to hide behind the singing voice! Of late, he has concentrated on song selection programmes and talks, which he often illustrates with appropriate songs and is still involved in music hall and oratorio.
Although, like most Britons, John is a baritone, he has a very wide vocal range which enables him to ally the standard concert repertoire with the lyricism of the tenor and songs normally associated with the bass voice.
He has sung regularly in the large London concert halls and has especially enjoyed taking part in performances immediately after the completion of a number of London Marathons.
PETER SMART 19 MARCH 2010
POLE TO POLE – IN THE STEPS OF MICHAEL PALIN
Peter was a member of Surbiton Recorded Music Society but, some years ago, moved north. He still spends some time in Surbiton.
He has collected recordings of music for over 50 years – which is perhaps one of the reasons he needs two homes! After moving north he became Chairman of Huddersfield Recorded Music Society for a year.
PETER JONES 11 JUNE 2010
SPREAD A LITTLE HAPPINESS
Peter has survived a long and distinguished career in Teaching. Over 40 years he has been Head of English Department in 4 different countries, home and abroad. He has also been an Examiner for Cambridge University. In the early 1990s he was winner of the BBC Counterpoint competition for people with the most musical knowledge, achieving a record score.
Peter recently retired from the post of Chairman of Sunbury Music Club after 30 years. Since giving up full-
