Essentially Swing Bio
From piccolo to trombone and from rags to rock ‘n’ roll Essentially Swing brings a unique sound to the music from around the great era of Swing. We will take you through a journey in time with numbers like Maple Leaf Rag, and great swing favourites like American Patrol and Sing Sing Sing to the early rock and roll era songs such as Rock Around The Clock. You are in for some foot-tapping fun.

We usually play at fund-raising events for charity. However, we are also available for hire at private functions.

Join us / get in touch
We rehearse one Monday morning a month currently at All Saints Church Hall, Kesgrave. The group is very friendly and relaxed. If you would like to join us or would like us to play at your event please contact Carolyn via carol.a.goates@gmail.com

There has been a music society in Hadleigh for over 130 years who performed ‘Special Services’ (i.e. concerts) in St Mary’s Church during the late nineteenth century, with chorus numbers reaching ninety. In 1919 the choir became the Hadleigh Operatic and Dramatic Society and then, in 1950, Hadleigh Choral Society. Since 1950 the choir has thrived, apart from a couple of years in the mid-1980s. In 1988 it was reformed and continues to this day.

The present musical director, Christopher Phelps has been with the choir since 1991. In recent years the society has had two notable past presidents, Sir Charles Groves, followed by George Malcolm. The current honorary president is John Lill CBE who has a special relationship with the Society, having performed with it on several occasions, including at Snape Maltings Concert Hall.

The choir now numbers over 90 members. We enjoy singing mainly from the established choral repertoire when we perform with the Colchester Symphony Orchestra and professional soloists.
We have two main concerts each year which take place in the centre of Hadleigh at St Mary’s Church. We also perform a mix of lighter music at Christmas and two summer concerts.

Our aim is to promote and develop music in all its aspects.

We are a friendly but committed group of singers and we welcome new members. There are no auditions but some ability to read music and some singing experience are useful as well as a commitment to practice!
Find out more at:  http://www.hadleighchoralsociety.org.uk

Since its formation in 1984 by Martyn Bagnall, now our President, Ipswich Chamber Choir has established a reputation for a high standard of performance.   We employ a professional Music Director Benedict Collins Rice, and Assistant Music Director Caroline Finlay, and we engage professional soloists and instrumentalists to perform at least three concerts a year in and around Ipswich.

We are a friendly choir of around 40 voices and rehearse on Tuesday evenings 7.15 – 9.30 pm, from September to June at St Mary-le-Tower Church, Ipswich.

If you would like to join us we would be pleased to hear from you.  Membership is by application to ipswichchamberchoir@gmail.com, with a voice check carried out by the Music Director after one or two rehearsals.

Ipswich Hospital Community Choir

IHCC provides a place where people of all ages and backgrounds can join together in the pure pleasure of singing. We are not a formal choral society rather a very relaxed, fun group. We are affiliated with the Ipswich Hospital and are regularly asked to perform at hospital events. We sing a variety of pop and show songs including The Power of Love, It’s a Kind of Magic, I Will Follow Him, I’m Alive and Together in Electric Dreams.

Ipswich School offers a broad range of musical opportunities and aims to give pupils a rich and satisfying experience of music. Girls and boys are encouraged to take part in practical music making, which ranges from class singing and keyboard playing to joining one of the school’s many choirs and instrumental ensembles.

Martlesham Brass was formed on 13th September 1996. In response to a great demand from brass musicians in the Martlesham area an organisation was set up with an original membership of 26 musicians and three Bandleaders. The idea behind the group is to provide an opportunity for people in and around the Martlesham area to learn to play brass instruments at minimal cost.

Since our formation, we have grown very quickly. We now have six Bandleaders, several Assistant Bandleaders and a very strong training structure. The band is run by its main committee which meets once a month. The band also has a fundraising committee who organise events to help raise funds to support the band’s activities. The band holds an AGM each year at which the band administrators, bandleaders, and committee members are elected.

Martlesham Brass is split into 4 bands (beginners, preliminaries, intermediates and main). Most people play in one band only, with new entrants being placed in a band depending on musical ability. No previous experience is required to join Martlesham Brass – all we ask for from our members is enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. Beginner players are admitted as and when we can accomodate them. Through careful management of our resources, we try to ensure that new players are provided with an instrument within a few weeks of joining. The average age of the band is about 16, although we do have members as young as six and few over 60s (reaching into the 90s too).

Find out more: 

Website: http://www.martleshambrass.co.uk

Email: mail@martleshambrass.co.uk

The Civic Church of St Mary-le-Tower, Ipswich, is the venue for 30 or more concerts a year promoted by the church. These include the Summer Series of some 24 to 25 Tuesday Lunchtime Concerts running from May to October and the Winter Series of 5 Lunchtime Concerts in the weeks before Christmas. Artists of national and international stature include organists and also a wide variety of other instrumentalists and singers. Some concerts are occasionally given by groups from Suffolk schools.

Further concerts are given by the Tower Chamber Choir, a group of 36 experienced Suffolk based singers. These include a concert for the evening of Good Friday and a concert for early autumn. These concerts include orchestra, as appropriate to the programme.

The concert programme runs alongside the regular three choral services sung every
Sunday by the two church choirs, the Choir of Boys and men and the Tower Singers.
There are also weekday services as follows:

Monday Evensong – with the Girl Choristers
Tuesday Evensong – with the Boy Choristers
Friday evening Compline – with the adult singers and choral scholars.

Welcome to the Stour Choral Society.

The Stour Choral Society celebrates five decades of choral singing and aims to provide a stimulating time where good music and friendship co-exist.

We are a friendly, mixed-voice choir (SATB) who enjoy performing works from a large and varied choral repertoire including Handel’s Messiah, Fauré Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Rutter’s Magnificat, as well as lighter classical pieces.

We usually give two concerts a year at Mistley Church, in the Autumn and Spring, and have recently replaced our summer concert with a light-hearted open singing day.

We have about 50 singers and welcome new members. Please browse through the site to find out more about us. We normally rehearse for our concerts at the Oak Room, Acorn Village, Clacton Rd, Mistley, CO11 2NJ, on Monday evenings during term time from 7:15pm to 9:15pm.

For more information about SCS please contact us or visit our website.  http://www.stourchoralsociety.co.uk

The Suffolk Concert Band is a wind band based in and around Ipswich and is a registered Charity. The band was formed in 1967 and descends from the Suffolk Regiment. The red and yellow colours used by the band are a reminder of these roots. The band is directed by Mr Roger Jones, and currently has 61 members, of all ages and from diverse range of backgrounds.

Journalist Mr Martin Bell OBE is the president of the band.

The Suffolk Organists’ Association, which is affiliated to the Incorporated Association of Organists, was founded in 1934. It welcomes members of all ages, whether players or not, who share an enthusiasm for the instrument and its music.

It has regular events throughout the year.These include organ recitals and concerts, which are open to all members of the public, as well as visits to churches and other venues to hear and play organs.

Trianon Music Group was formed in Ipswich during 1959 by three Ipswich students, one of whom was Professor Christopher Green OBE, the Group’s Artistic Director.

Trianon comprises a symphony orchestra and choir with more than 200 members, many ofwhom are music students or teachers, but there are also many for whom music is not their profession but who simply love making music. The result is an eclectic mix of people of a very wide age range.

Trianon performs three major concerts each year at venues such as Ipswich Corn Exchange and Snape Maltings Concert Hall. Members also help to raise funds for local charities through ‘community concerts’ as well as taking part in other music related events.

Wolsey Orchestra, a non-profit making charity, was founded in 1972 as a chamber orchestra. Committed to promoting concerts of the highest musical standards, it is now a full symphony orchestra in the forefront of orchestral music in Suffolk. The tradition of imaginative programming brings both new commissions and large-scale landmark works to Suffolk audiences. Working solely with professional conductors, and offering a concerto platform to locally born musicians, Wolsey Orchestra is one of the finest amateur orchestras in East Anglia.

The orchestra gives three concerts per season, two in Ipswich Corn Exchange and one in The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, each preceded by two intensive rehearsal Sundays. Professional conductors are invited to work on specific programmes, the orchestra having no ‘resident’ or regular conductor. The orchestra is managed by a small, dedicated committee, elected annually by and from its playing membership. Many of its players are also members of other local and regional orchestral societies which meet weekly, but who are drawn to the challenge of focused working on attractive programmes over a short timescale, at which the Wolsey Orchestra excels.

Woodbridge Orchestral Society

The orchestra meets for 2 hours on Monday evenings seated for 7.30pm at the Methodist Church in St John’s Street, Woodbridge, IP12 1ED  Autumn and Spring terms

The orchestra performs classical music from the sixteenth century to the present and from miniatures to full scale symphonic works.

We welcome new  players  able to  join  us for regular  rehearsals and to play in  our  annual concert,  subject to available places.

For more information please contact the secretary or visit our website.