more about us
We are now back to playing regularly and have been building up our membership. In December of 2022, we played at the Shirley Singers Concert in Croydon. We will be taking part in the regional Music Festivals, beginning at Reigate in May.
Here is a link to the Shirley Singers website
Reigate & Redhill Festival 2023
Our group played “Schindler’s List” and “Classical Gas” at the Festival on 5th May. The adjudicator, Gary Ryan, was positive about our performance and offered one or two suggestions for improving our playing.
Here are a few samples of our music as recorded at the concerts:
“Planxty Irwin”
“Schindler’s List”
“Walking in the Air”
“Schindler’s List” (Redhill)
“Classical Gas” (Redhill)
Our Plans
We now plan to develop our repertoire under our new musical director, Cornelius, and practise for one of the local festivals. In the past we have done well at Beckenham and attended Bromley and Reigate music festivals. We hope they will continue in 2023.
Music
We ask that players can read basic music notation and we have a range of playing abilities. Thanks to our new musical director, we are able to practise at home using the musical teaching app called ‘Seesaw’. We also keep all of our repertoire in a Dropbox for members.
Our Musical Director
Cornelius Bruinsma studied at Colchester Institute where he gained an Honours degree in Music. He went on to postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Gerald Lee where he gained his Advanced Soloist Certificate and Licentiate Diploma. His career in music has been balanced between performing and teaching.
As a performer Cornelius was a founder member of the Pro Arte Guitar Trio and in this capacity he recorded 5 CDs for ASV. He has broadcast on BBC 1 television and BBC Radio 3 and 4. He has performed at London’s Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall and toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe and USA.
As a teacher Cornelius worked for the Inner London Education Authority where he was a senior tutor on the Tower Hamlet’s wider opportunities project in the 1980’s. He gained his qualified teacher status at during this time. He was also guitar teacher for the London Centre for Young Musicians based at Morley College. He began working for London Borough of Croydon in 1986 as a sessional guitar teacher in Croydon schools. He has been Head of Guitar for Croydon Music and Arts and is now retired and exploring the classical guitar repertoire at leisure.
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