A satisfying yet sad occasion. Satisfying in quality of programming and performance, sad in being music director Andrew Cleary’s farewell to the choir.It was fitting that a world premiere,commissioned from Cecilia McDowall,should be included in this finale,and it did not disappoint.Called "Shipping Forecast" and using names such as Fisher, Dogger and German Bight from that BBC Radio institution, it consists essentially of two poems by Portsmouth-born Sean Street separated by verses from a psalm, "They that go down to the Sea in Ships".The music has some distinctly modernist harmonies but is always approachable and always effective in evoking the sea’s moods before reaching a surprise ending.
The performance reflected the choir’s massive development in expressive quality under Mr Cleary, as did the others in a well-planned programme. It began with Michael Hurd’s Five Spiritual Songs, and ended with Five Mystical Songs by Vaughan Williams where baritone soloist Giles White was powerfully dramatic and lyrical by turn.
Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, played with organ, harp and percussion rather than orchestra, also had counter-tenor Alasdair Forbes rather than a boy treble as soloist, and he sounded the very model of a Jewish cantor.
Mike Allen (from the Portsmouth Evening News 20/06/11)
Portsmouth Festival Choir and Orchestra
On Saturday night the well-blended, mature voices of Portsmouth Festival Choir and an orchestra of first-rate locals gave a spirited performance of Handel’s Messiah at Portsmouth Cathedral.
Andrew Cleary set excellent tempi and the silken-toned choir showed they were easily agile enough for the difficult choruses. In the first performances of Messiah in Portsmouth drums were imported from London, but the off-pitch ones heard in the "Hallelujah Chorus" on Saturday should probably be exported as the performance was otherwise excellent.
The soloists were all visitors, save for Nick Pepin (alto), who sings for Portsmouth Cathedral when he’s not moonlighting in Chichester. Katherine Hawnt (soprano) was crystal clear and Edward Goater (tenor), who will sing again in Rossini at Portsmouth’s New Theatre Royal this Saturday evening, gave a powerful account of "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron". Pepin was impressive in "He was despised", especially in his "shame and spitting". However, the star was undoubtedly Jimmy Holiday (bass), whose sonorously powerful voice made for some impressive "shaking" in his first aria.Given his extraordinary performance it was a shame not to hear the whole of "The trumpet shall sound" in an otherwise uncut Messiah splendidly performed.
George Burrows(from the Portsmouth Evening News 28/03/11)
Portsmouth Festival Choir and Orchestra with Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir
Saturday’s monster power cut resulted in the organ having to be replaced by a piano for this Portsmouth Festivities concert - and in some minor re-ordering of the programme and seating plan. But the effect was to heighten the imbalance between Bruckner’s sublime Mass in E minor (for chorus and wind instruments) and the Victorian oddity that is Stainer’s Crucifixion.
Bruckner’s combination of pure sound and progressive harmonies was stunningly recreated by the Portsmouth Festival Choir and Orchestra and Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber choir under the always powerful direction of Andrew Cleary. Full throated female voices had particular impact in the Gloria.
Mike Allen (from the Portsmouth Evening News 28/06/10)
Portsmouth Festival Choir and Orchestra with Portsmouth University Choir and Portsmouth Grammar School Parents Choir
Sports reporters refer to a game of two halves, and in one sense this was a performance of two halves because the baton changed hands in the interval.
Ideally, of course, Verdi’s choral masterpiece should have no interval, but the change of conductor reflected the fact that the performance brought together three choral groups who had been prepared by two men - the Portsmouth Festival and Portsmouth Grammar School parents’ and staff choir by Andrew Cleary, the University of Portsmouth Choir by George Burrows.
If Mr Cleary seemed more pliant, more inclined to mould the phrasing, and Mr Burrows to concentrate largely on clear-cut gestures in the cause of tight ensemble, the results of the two men’s work were thankfully not at odds.
They produced a performance that properly balanced the dramatic and the devotional, with singing as richly coloured as the playing of the Portsmouth festival Orchestra.
Examples were the bright burst of sound at the words "luceat eis" ("shine upon them"). The performance was dedicated to the memory of John Horncastle, who had rejoined the Festival Choir specifically to sing the Requiem, knowing he was dying. Tragically, the cancer would not wait.
Mike Allen (from the Portsmouth Evening News 14/05/10)
Portsmouth Festival Choir - Portsmouth Cathedral
A concert marking Holocaust Memorial Day also marked a significant advance in quality from Portsmouth Festival Choir. It has improved steadily under Andrew Cleary’s direction and here emerged into the top bracket of the region’s choral groups. Immediately in the Choral Suite from the Armed Man by Karl Jenkins the 60 strong choir showed its capacity for clearly focused nuances of expression with clean balance and no passages where the music seemed to hang fire.
And in Dona Nobis Pacem by Vaughan Williams, the sense of drama was intensified throughout the more extended settings, mainly of words by Walt Whitman and Latin and Biblical texts.The narrative of the baritone soloist (an impressive Alex Poulton), the recurring awkwardly-pitched appeals of the title words from the soprano (Belinda Evans)and the visionary quality of the choral Dirge For Two Veterans all made a powerful impact.
It was disappointing that these performances used organ rather than orchestra, but that is no reflection on the artistry of Mark Dancer. In any case he more than justified his presence with a masterful account of Reubke’s Sonata on the 94th Psalm, not holding back in dissonance but maintaining a sense of motion even in the apparent stillness of the adagio.
Mike Allen (from the Portsmouth Evening News 25/01/10)
Portsmouth Festival Choir - Portsmouth Cathedral
Portsmouth Festival Choir’s first concert under new director Andrew Cleary was devoted to Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. .........in general the choir gave a very spirited and disciplined performance. The quartet of soloists was slightly uneven,... David Burrows, the tenor, came off best, singing well throughout, and Alexandra Stevenson also contributed some nicely-sung arias.