A bit of history
Northern Voices was founded by Eric Northey, Judith Tinston, Ray Peake and Margaret Arneil in 1993,
when we were bored by the fact that no choirs
seemed to sing in August. So, just for fun and to keep our voices in trim,
we started singing in each other's homes. We quickly grew from a quartet to
a sixteen-orso-tet and consequently expanded our repertoire. We were greatly
helped in this by Margaret's future husband, Paul Shepherd who had been
conductor of the West Riding Singers. Paul was an expert on Renaissance
music and that side of our music-making really developed under his
leadership. As we grew in numbers and musicality, we moved into rehearsal
premises at All Saints Church in Heaton Norris, (an excellent acoustic if
you're looking for a venue.) The choir prospered and around the turn of
the century, we gave many fine performances all over the North West, the
Lakes, in Yorkshire and even deep into the Cotswolds. When Paul moved on,
Jeremy Plummer from Bolton took over for awhile, broadening the repertoire
and concert venues further. But it got harder to maintain our numbers,
particularly in the winter months and it soon became uneconomic to continue
to pay for a rehearsal space and a Musical Director. So, we re-formed as we
had started - as itinerant singers going round to each other's houses to
sing, just for fun and friendship. Under our present MD, Martin Westhorp, we
have extended our range considerably with little forays into comic song,
madrigals and jazzy arrangements, as well as keeping up our interest in
church music and choral works of the last three or four centuries. Our sight
singing has improved enormously - because often we don't have a piano! Yet
new members have learned to read music and sing with us, pretty well from
scratch.That's because we are a very friendly and supportive bunch who guide
each other through the tricky bits and convey our enthusiasm for the
beauties of the human voice to everyone who comes through the door. We also
make excellent tea and have delicious cakes when we've finished!
Currently
Martin has for many years run courses and workshops in just this style of singing, besides singing in many choirs himself.
Martin studied music at UCW Aberystwyth, also joining the prestigious Elizabethan Madrigal Singers, and has for many years led in groups specialising in a capella music, primarily early music, from 4 parts to 40. He has a particular interest in pieces that do not normally get a sufficient airing.
Martin created Singers of Note in 1997 as a one-off birthday celebration, but it proved so popular that it grew into an annual event, then into more-frequent weekend events. His "Singers of Note" workshops are a popular annual event in Westhoughton.