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Chepstow Choral Society

Chepstow Choral Society was formed in 1979, and has been performing live music in the town regularly ever since. Currently directed by Graham Bull, Head of Performing Arts at a leading Gloucestershire school, it has about 65 members in total, of all ages & abilities ...read more

Upcoming Concerts 

2025

Saturday 29th March - St Mary's Parish Church, Chepstow 7.30pm

Works including Rutter The Sprig of Thyme and Chilcott Sing In A Season, with professional orchestra & soloists  

Plus the first performance of a brand new commisssioned work "The Gift To Sing" composed by the choir's musical director, Graham Bull. 

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS and listen to a rehearsal extract HERE

AN IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW FOCUSSING ON GRAHAM’S LIFE IN MUSIC, HIS CONTRIBUTION TO CHORAL MUSIC IN CHEPSTOW AND SURROUNDING AREAS – AND THE PREMIERE PERFORMANCE OF HIS COMPOSITION FOR CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA, THE GIFT TO SING
Marjorie Duerden, Assistant Musical Director, CCS

Chepstow Choral Society (CCS) is currently rehearsing hard for its major Spring Concert at St Mary’s Priory Church, Chepstow, on Saturday March 29th. This year its Musical Director, Graham Bull, will direct his own composition, The Gift to Sing, complete with orchestra, for a first performance in a programme of British music also featuring choral pieces by John Rutter and Bob Chilcott, and orchestral music by Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst.
Graham has been the Musical Director of CCS for 27 years and the Choir has blossomed during those years. He has steered CCS through many of the choral repertoire’s “jewels in the crown” during a golden era of performing superb choral music, with fully professional orchestral players and soloists, for Chepstow and its surrounding areas — alongside annual Christmas and Summer Concerts. When singing finally resumed after the long Covid break, CCS realised the need to re-evaluate.
Having worked with Graham during all his time with CCS, I feel it is time for Chepstow to learn a little about someone who has contributed so much to music life in our area.
Graham came from a family who enjoyed music; neither parent played an instrument but Graham acquired a piano aged six and joined the local village church choir – a similar route to that of many future musicians! He became fond of Gilbert & Sullivan performances with D’Oyle Carte Opera at various centres and knew from an early stage he wanted to be involved in music performance. In 1971 he had Cathedral Chorister auditions and was accepted into Christ Church, Oxford, followed by Music Exhibitions in the Cathedral School and Bloxham School, where he played a full part in the schools’ musical lives.
Having made up tunes on piano – his other instruments being voice, cello and organ! – he knew he wanted to compose, and did so quite prolifically as a student with chamber music and orchestral pieces. He also found he enjoyed conducting, bringing to life music that most inspired him, and received encouragement in this by peer groups. Although he wished at one point to write film music or be involved in audio production, his first University had an excellent education department, and, in his words, he “fell into teaching”, assuming he could carry on composing in spare time – only to find the job utterly consuming, along with conducting local choirs and orchestras. Semi-retirement from the classroom brought a revival of the other musical activities.
Covid lockdowns brought unexpected bonuses for Graham and The Gift to Sing. With school students based at home, and teaching done on-line, regular e-mail updates from an English teacher at the school included poems which Graham found inspirational, uplifting and of a hope-generating nature. They had frequent allusions to music, particularly singing, emerging as musical settings on his walks, which he subsequently notated. Summer 2024 presented the opportunity to tie it into a cohesive selection. As he says, the vocal score describes this work as “A setting of 4 poems reflecting the role and impact of singing on the physical and emotional well-being of human-kind”. The title of the complete work is the title of the first poem “The Gift to Sing”.
I asked Graham how he saw the future of local choirs such as CCS, given the apparent post-Covid changes in public tastes. He responded that he was passionate for choral music of JS Bach from the start, but equally knew he had to experience that of Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, and so many other styles throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries. Also, groups who focus on only one style, and don’t change, risk the next generation overtaking them. A major contribution of his involvement with Chepstow music has been the regular high quality performances he has brought to the area with CCS, professional instrumentalists and young aspiring professional soloists.
Graham is encouraged by the amount of music activity in larger centres, citing Bristol as an example of music-making and public support, and with more amateur orchestral playing generally than 20 years ago - but now is very concerned for amateur choral music, which is currently definitely less apparent. Schools and churches now give fewer opportunities for younger people to get involved in choral music-making than in previous decades, and music experiences are vastly different. The repertoire of the traditional choral society is not something accessed readily by many of today’s students. It is a complex and somewhat worrying situation
As Graham says, “Time stands still for no-one – and certainly not for choral societies.” Adaptability now is needed for choirs such as CCS to continue and thrive. Large works need large balanced choirs and orchestras – and smaller choral groups will need to think about joining forces to perform large traditional repertoire if it is to avoid sliding off the spectrum. This is not a new proposition and should not be resented. Graham is not alone in believing that composers need to now write more music for smaller choral resources, as CCS’s current programme illustrates in the forthcoming concert. Greater publicity will be a key to the continuation of traditional choral society singing –along with attracting, enthusing and encouraging a new generation to participate and enjoy it!

Marjorie Duerden (Assistant Musical Director, CCS.)

 

 

 

Spring Concert 2025