Concert Review Bodmin Dec 2007
	Concert Review Lanteglos June 2007
	Concert Review St Germans May 2007
	Concert Review Bodmin 2006
	About the choir
	About Paul Ellis
	Choir history
	Concert Review 9/12/06
	The East Cornwall Bach Choir is a community choir of amateur singers, currently about 40 strong, based in Liskeard, East Cornwall. It specialises in baroque choral works and performs in local churches, giving about six concerts a year. We also have a Choral Singing Day, which is open to all, when we rehearse a work from scratch followed by an informal performance in the evening St.Germans Festival May 2005 Singing Day Liskeard February 2004
			Paul Ellis was appointed ECBC Musical Director in July 2004 Paul studied at Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music where his tutors included Gillian Weir and Robert Elliott. He has given numerous organ recitals both in this country and abroad at venues including Southwell Minster, Blackburn Cathedral, Colston Hall in Bristol, St George's in Hanover Square, London, Manchester Town Hall and Notre Dame, Paris It was at university that Paul's love of choral music began. He has been associated with Sherborne Chamber Choir for much of its existence and with them has given many highly acclaimed performances. He was also for twelve years conductor of the Grange Choral Society in Christchurch and is now Musical Director of the Taunton Camerata.
	Paul has also been Chorusmaster to Dorset Opera and Associate Conductor to the 1994 Reigate Summer School where he assisted in the preparation of Elgar's great trilogy of The Kingdom, The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles. He has also conducted the Dorset Guild of Singers in the Wessex Hall, Poole in performances of Verdi’s Requiem and Handel's Israel in Egypt.
	Founded in 1965 by James Sargent, then County Music Adviser, the choir has had only six music directors, all of them distinguished musicians James held the post for 9 years. His vision was to create an annual choral festival at St Germans, the old Celtic Cathedral of East Cornwall, and to provide a culture of excellence of the classic choral tradition. He drew his singers largely from experienced teachers and other musicians, in East Cornwall where he identified the need The choir’s endeavours have been centred round the St Germans May Festival, and have greatly benefited from the generosity of the Earl of St Germans, (then Lord Eliot) to the present day. Christmas and Spring concerts were slowly developed at Liskeard, Callington, Saltash, Menheniot, St Neots, Calstock, North Hill, Cardinham, and latterly Bodmin and Altarnun Nigel Amherst, Director of Music at Dartington, took over from 1974 to 1987, widening the repertoire, and directing tours to Brittany, Freiberg and Constanz. Nigel had extensive contacts that brought us eminent soloists before they became famous, and who will forget a young John Mark Ainsley as Evangelist in the St John Passion 20 years ago? Nigel established the choir’s reputation for contrasting 20th C works with the music of Bach and his contemporaries John Railton only had two years with us, but he directed some epic works, from the B minor Mass to a sell-out African Sanctus in front of 500 people. His especial gift was to involve children Caroline Stephenson whose breathtaking innovations and musicianship dominated our activities for 10 years succeeded John. The choir undertook all its main repertoire while engaging in exciting commissioned new work, tours to Italy and Denmark, new venues such as Truro and Lanlivery, and cross-over experiments in Bach, with folk music, jazz and projects involving children Simon Ible was with us for 4 years. He brought a completely new style, boundless optimism and inclusiveness, and a wave of new younger enthusiastic singers joined the choir. His connections with Ten Tors and Plymouth University built our membership and our confidence and his performances were grand occasions, with superb orchestras and soloists. He also introduced the annual Choral Singing Day which has proved most popular. Simon left in 2004 when he became Music Director at Plymouth University Paul Ellis comes to us from Sherborne with an impressive pedigree and an exciting array of new challenges that already intrigue the choir We think that James Sargent will feel that his vision is still being fulfilled

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