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Registered Charity Number 1193478

(Click to enlarge photos)

2023 – (Photo by Ian Wilson)

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The Choir’s membership is currently around 35 and we have represented the town of Beverley at some of the Country’s most prestigious venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, London (on several occasions), Bridgewater Hall and the MEN Arena, Manchester, also the Royal Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.  We have also sung on several occasions in Beverley’s twin town of Lemgo, Germany.

We have performed at venues large and small from Hull, Beverley and Howden Minsters to many small though welcoming locations throughout the North of England and beyond, when considerable sums of money have been raised for worthy causes.

We support each year a specific charity, alternately the Chairman’s or the President’s Charity.  The charities for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 have been, respectively, the Teenage Cancer Trust,  the Dove House Hospice trust, the RNLI, Hornsea Inshore Rescue, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Dove house again.   We raised £1640 for “Hornsea Inshore Rescue” at a joint concert with Mansfield MVC in Toll Gavel and Chairman Terry Lynn’s charity for the year 2017-18 was the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, for which about £1200 was raised in a joint concert with “Riverside Brass”. President Kate Andrews’ concert for Dove House Hospice raised a similar amount in a joint concert with Kidderminster Valentines Ladies Choir in July 2019.  Chairman David Cross’ Charity for Choir Year Jul 2019-Jul 2020 is The Fabrics fund of St Mary’s Church Beverley.  A joint concert with Derbyshire’s Dalesmen MVC on 27th September 2019 raised, again,  about £1200 for this worthy cause.  The Choir became largely inactive due to Covid-19 for most of the 2020-21 choir year.  Nevertheless we felt we should continue to be a charitable Choir and President Paul Camm presented a cheque from the choir for £250 to his chosen charity, again Dove House Hospice – a clear favourite with the Choir!

We’re back in action now, and going from strength to strength, raising thousands of pounds for charity through our concerts, and making several bride’s day singing at their weddings.

 Our Musicians

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Our  Musical Director and Conductor is Liz Wilson.  She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, in 1975 and, having studied choral conducting with Elgar Howarth, one of the most conspicuous figures in modern English musical life, she thereafter taught music as well as performing as a soprano soloist in various operas, operettas and oratorios.

Between 1994 and 2006 Liz conducted the Hull Lydian Male Voice Choir, and has looked after Beverley for the last 17 years. She is also the MD of Driffield Male Voice Choir (Thursdays) as well as Beverley (Mondays).

You can look at, and listen to, Driffield Choir at:

www.driffieldmalevoicechoir.co.uk

Liz teaches singing and, as a fine soprano, sings solo and duet with the choir.

Click the play arrow to hear Liz sing “O Holy Night” with the choir.

She has conducted massed Male Voice Choirs on several occasions and recently conducted and directed the orchestra and cast in Beverley Musical Theatre’s very successful production of “Fiddler on the Roof” at Hull’s New Theatre.

We are blessed among choirs in having not  one but two highly-gifted Musical Directors.  Our Assistant Musical Director, Nigel Clarke,  leads us very enthusiastically at rehearsals and at concerts when Liz is not available.

Nigel studied Music and Applied Physics at the University of Surrey, which involved the professional recording of music, choral singing, piano-playing and conducting.   He then played violin and viola in an orchestra in Leeds and sang in the Leeds Festival Chorus.  Career demands (at  BBC Leeds) then necessitated a period in the musical wilderness which continued for almost 20 years!  It is our good fortune that by the time he felt able to return from it, he had moved to BBC Hull and settled in Beverley.

As well as conducting the choir, he also plays the organ for us. Click the play arrow to hear him play for the last verse of Morte Christe at a recent concert:

He also uses his technical skills to produce vocal recordings of all four parts of all of the songs in our repertoire to assist members in learning their songs.  We know of no other choir which enjoys this invaluable service.  Nigel is a fine baritone, often a soloist, and yet can also reach, more or less, the very highest tenor and lowest bass notes in his recordings! Click the play arrow  to hear him singing all 4 parts in Mozart’s Ave Verum from one of these recordings:

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Yorkshire-born pianist Amy Butler studied with British concert pianist Martin Roscoe and gained a first-class master’s degree from Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford.
Amy has a particular passion for chamber music and she especially enjoys working collaboratively with other musicians. Regular concert partners include violinist Boglárka György and flautist Chris Hill; she also comprises one half of the Luna Piano Duo, alongside pianist Graziana Presicce. 
Amy has performed for numerous venues and music societies across the UK, recent highlights include Stratford-upon-Avon Music Society, North Westmorland Arts, Warwick Arts Centre, Weymouth Chamber Concerts, St Mary’s Perivale, Sprotbrough Music Society, the Eric Coates Society and the Guild of Musicians and Singers (London). She is also a staff pianist for the East Riding Music Service and accompanist for Beverley Male Voice Choir and Snaith & District Choral Society.
Future duo concerts include appearances Yatton Music Society, Evesham Music Society, Melrose Music Society, Salisbury Chamber Music Club, The Hub, St. Lukes, Litchfield and Howdenshire Music Educational Outreach.

Click the play arrow to hear Amy play Debussy’s Clair de Lune and the 3rd movement of Haydn’s Sonata in C Hob XVI:50. This recording was made at  a concert she performed at Doncaster Museum in 2017. She can also play the Hippopotamus Song!

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Our President

PAUL BEVERLEY CAMM was born in Hull in 1946 but at the age of just 2 his parents emigrated with him to Australia, subsequently on to Malaya, returning to Hull 10 years later.

After high school he spent most of my working life involved in the waste industry, which involved demolition, running a landfill site, waste collection and recycling.

His maternal grandmother was a pianist and music teacher, but he claims the musical genes seemed to pass him by.

As a youth he joined a church choir but could not read the music or memorise the words, sing in tune or harmonise with his fellow choir members.  But on a happier note, he did enjoy their football team before discovering Rugby Union!

He enjoyed playing sports and played Rugby Union for a local friendly team, and eventually became the club president, a role he held for nearly 3 decades.  Although his playing days are obviously over, he still supports the club and watches as many games as possible.

A very close friend from the rugby club joined the BMVC many years ago and Paul and his wife, Kathy, went along to see him sing at a concert, which we thoroughly enjoyed, so we became patrons.  We attended as many concerts as we could and joked that we were groupies!

They went on the Choir tours, and we subsequently asked to be Kate Andrew’s Vice President for 2 years, and then President. As his middle name is Beverley, how could he possibly refuse?

Unfortunately his tenure was somewhat hampered by the Covid pandemic, hence his acceptance to become the President for a second time.  

He says he looks forward to meeting up with both old and new friends during this term in office.

Short History of the Choir

 The Choir was formed in 1955 from members of the choir of  St.Nicholas’ Church, Beverley.   In that year the choir had about 24 singers, with Bob Carr, former organist and Choirmaster at St Nicholas’, as conductor. 

The Choir moved to Toll Gavel Church in 1972 and David Wilkinson was appointed conductor in 1982 on Bob’s death.  

The choir was in decline at this point, but a recruiting campaign raised numbers to about 35 by the mid 1980s (membership is currently 56).

In 1987, the Choir joined the “1000 Yorkshire Male Voices” concert at the Royal Albert Hall to raise money for Yorkshire Cancer Research, and the choir’s desire to raise funds for charitable causes continues to the present day.  Details of our specifically Charity concerts since we started the practice five years ago can be seen above.

David Wilkinson retired as Conductor (Musical Director) in 1992, when he handed over to Ian Brocklesby, was appointed Honorary life member and  continued as a choir member until retiring in 2016. 

Liz Wilson took over in 2002 on Ian’s death and Nigel Clarke was appointed Assistant Musical Director 10 years later.  

More of our more recent history can be seen by moving to the “Choir News” page.

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