FROM 3PM - 5.30PM
TICKETS £10 INCLUDING TEA
CHILDREN 11 AND UNDER HALF PRICE
FROM 3PM - 5.30PM
TICKETS £10 INCLUDING TEA
CHILDREN 11 AND UNDER HALF PRICE
2025 VILLAGES MUSIC FESTIVAL DATES 28TH JUNE-6TH JULY, COMMENCING WITH A PERFORMANCE OF PUCCINI’S ‘LA BOHEME’.
Sunday 1st July
Grand Finale
GRAND FINALE
St Bartholomew
Church Lane
Chalvington
BN27 3TD
Laughton Village Choir and friends sing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from his ninth symphony, joined by soloists Michele Restieux (soprano) Rebecca Anstey (contralto), Ruairi Bowen (tenor) and Jozik Kotz (bass), who will serenade us further with Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” duet, accompanied by the Sussex String Quartet and Will Hancox on piano. A concert of classic favourites.
GRAND RAFFLE DRAW AT 6 PM.
PERFORMANCE AT 6.15 PM
TICKETS £12.50. CONCESSIONS AVAILABLE
LAUGHTON VILLAGE CHOIR
A playful and sociable group of 30 + singers drawn from Laughton and surrounding villages, founded and directed by Linda Glenn. In its short life the LVC has gone from singing rounds to sophisticated classical pieces including Bach and Beethoven, though light a cappella music is still the core repertoire. We rehearse on Monday evenings from 8.00-9.30 in the Laughton Village Hall. Rehearsals are a riot, ably assisted by Nathan Waring at the keyboard. All comers are welcome and, while there is no audition, the ability to sing in tune is a distinct plus.
Laughton Village Choir Founder & Director Linda Glenn
RUAIRI BOWEN
Ruairi Bowen
Ruairi began his musical education as a chorister at St Davids and St Paul’s Cathedrals. He spent a term singing with the choir of St Thomas Church 5th Avenue, New York before taking up a choral scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was a soloist on national television, radio and two recordings and took part in masterclasses Ann Murray and Justin Lavender.
Recent engagements include several acclaimed Evangelists in Bach’s Johannes- & Matthäus-Passion, Bach’s Messe in h-moll with both English Touring Opera and Vasari Singers/Brandenburg Sinfonia, Mozart's Requiem with Instruments of Time & Truth at Keble College Early Music Festival, Britten Saint Nicolas, Handel’s Messiah at Händel-Festspiele Halle and the Cathedral of All Saints, Albany NY, Beethoven Missa Solemnis with Covent Garden Sinfonia/Ben Palmer, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with Esterházy Chamber Choir & London Mozart Players, Bob Chilcott’s Requiem at the Three Choirs Festival, the Evangelist quartet of Arvo Pärt’s Passio with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge/Endymion, a European tour of Bach Cantatas with John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists and a recital of Anglo-Welsh song on Themes of Innocence and Experience, featuring Tippett's Cantata Boyhood’s End.
Future engagements include further performances of Johannes-Passion with Solomon’s Knot at Wigmore Hall & Leipzig Nikolaikirche, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine with City of Birmingham Choir and at the Three Choirs Festival and a recital of English song including Finzi’s A Young Man’s Exhortation. Ruairi sings regularly at Westminster Cathedral and maintains a busy concert and recording schedule with leading professional ensembles such as the Monteverdi Choir, the Gabrieli Consort, Alamire and the Eric Whitacre Singers. He continues his vocal studies with Susan Roberts and Caroline Dowdle.
Ruairi volunteers for the Refugee Council as a cricket coach and is a keen photographer and artist. He also sits on the committee of ‘Faire is the XI’, a cricket team comprising former choristers which plays in support of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
JOZIK KOTZ
Jozik was born in Oxford, one of ten children of Polish-Australian parents. Originally an oboist, he was bitten by the singing bug while reading music at the University of York. He was a lay-clerk in the choir of York Minster before winning a postgraduate scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier, Royal Overseas League and Richard Tauber competitions. In 1993 he was winner of the South East Arts competition, which led to his debut at the Wigmore Hall and many song recitals throughout the UK.
Jozik has subsequently performed roles with English National Opera, Royal Opera, Glyndebourne, Opera Factory, Garsington Opera and Grange Park Opera. His European opera experience includes appearances in Paris, Vienna, Zurich, Madrid, Aix-en-Provence and Lisbon.
Jozik Kotz
Jozik has sung as a soloist at the Proms and at all the major London concert halls, with orchestras including the BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia and English Chamber orchestras.
His CD recordings include baroque cantatas for Hyperion, Turnage’s The Silver Tassie and Gavin Bryar’s Dr Ox’s Experiment for Deutsche Grammophon, and Paray’s Mass with the Scottish National Orchestra, which was nominated for a Grammy award.
Jozik Kotz
WILLIAM HANCOX
William Hancox
William Hancox has always had wide-ranging musical interests including solo playing, chamber music, duo work and vocal coaching.
He has performed at major halls in numerous countries, held staff pianist posts at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Trinity College of Music and premiered contemporary works at the Cheltenham Festival and London's South Bank.
Recordings include the complete voice and piano works of the Icelandic composer Jon Asgeirsson, contemporary violin and cello sonatas (with international cello virtuoso Rohan de Saram), the complete Morike songs of Hugo Wolf and a disc of classical lullabies with Austrian soprano Esther Levin. William has broadcast for the BBC and Classic FM. He was educated at Cambridge, subsequently studying with the Hungarian pianist Joseph Weingarten, himself a student of Dohnanyi, Bartok and Kodaly.
ALICE BOILEAU
Alice started playing the violin at the age of 7. This was soon abandoned to be replaced by the much noisier (and much easier!) trumpet. Alice was a member of the East Sussex Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of GB for three years. She studied Philosophy at Edinburgh University followed by a post graduate at the Royal College of Music. She was a freelance musician based in London and her playing took her all over the UK and Europe as a soloist and an orchestral musician. Her career path changed in 2001 when she decided to become a primary school teacher. She completed a PGCE and taught in a primary school in London until she moved to Sussex. She now teaches class music at a local prep school, lives in Newick and plays the trumpet whenever she can. She is a member of the Burgess Hill Symphony Orchestra with whom she performed the Haydn Trumpet Concerto in 2014 and will play the Hummel Trumpet concerto in their outdoor summer concert in June.
Alice Boileau
SUSSEX STRING QUARTET
Sussex String Quartet
The Sussex String Quartet was formed in 1986 by violinist Martin Palmer. The ensemble comprises four Sussex-based musicians who have been members of, or have worked regularly with, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Halle, the Orchestra of English National Ballet and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as well as shows in London's West End.
Over the years the Sussex String Quartet has performed at a great number of events, ranging from major corporate functions and weddings to intimate private dinner parties as well as recitals. The ensemble has recorded music for television commercials, for Universal Music, and can be heard on soundtracks of the films “Five Seconds to Spare” and “A Dangerous Game”.
MICHELE RESTIEU
Michèle has just finished a run of Rigoletto with Heber Opera. Prior to this she appeared in Lewes Operatic Musical Theatre as Jack's Mother in their production of "Into the Woods". She has also performed at Glyndebourne as the Croupier in Imago, and for Kentish, Stowe and Southwick operas. She gives regular solo recitals with William Hancox in her favourite area of repertoire, French song.
Michèle provides a unique holistic therapy which combines vocal technique with homoeopathy. This year sees the launch of her summer school Mirror Mirror Drama, which she runs with scriptwriter Allie Packer to provide 12-16 year olds with an outlet for their creative inspiration. The workshop includes script writing, music, drama and production work. Michèle has British Standard Gold in Epée fencing, and awaits the role which will allow her to make use of it!
Michèle Restieu