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The Ottery Choral Society
Ottery St Mary Choral Society has an active membership of between seventy and eighty singers. The choir performs two or three concerts a year, usually in the Ottery Parish Church. Whilst there has been a choral society in Ottery since at least the latter part of the 1800s, there is some confusion as to the exact date it started, but it is certain that a society provided the backbone of musical entertainment in the town until the turn of the century. The society in its present form was founded at a meeting in the Church Institute Library in October 1904, when parish records show that sixty members expressed a willingness to join, at the princely sum of five shillings per annum for membership!
The Society celebrated its centenary by joining forces with The Exeter Music Group Symphony Orchestra in a presentation of Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music and Verdi's Messa Da Requiem, performed in the Exeter Cathedral. The Society Musical Director is Malcolm Matthews.
Website: www.otterystmarychoral.org
St David's Players
St David's Players Gilbert & Sullivan Society was formed in 1969 following a one-off concert by members of the choir of St David's Church in Exeter. The aim of the concert was to raise money for the Biafran crisis, and the production – Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta Patience – took place the following year. The success of that show saw the formation of a permanent company, when St David's Players was ‘born'. At first there were two productions a year, but since 1973 one annual production has been standard.
During the ensuing years, St David's Players has built a formidable reputation for staging “G & S” productions, attaining an almost professional standard. It was quickly decided to replace the original two-piano accompaniment, excellent though that was, by a full orchestra. In the course of some fifty productions, the Company has produced all thirteen extant Gilbert & Sullivan operettas at least once, and many have been repeated.
On more than one occasion the Company has been requested to entertain the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society at the annual International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival. In 2000, St David's Players returned to their roots when it joined forces with Occasional Harmony and the St David's Church choir to celebrate the Millennium, the centenary of the current St David's Church, and the 100th anniversary of the death of Sir Arthur Sullivan. The programme included the composer's music, including the 1872 Te Deum.
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Soloist - Penny Daw
Penny's delightful voice has, for many years, enthralled the audiences of various local musical societies and concerts. She has frequently taken lead parts in various productions including Susanna (Marriage of Figaro), Musetta (La Boheme), Cunegonde (Candide), Sarah (Bitter Sweet), Carmen (Carmen), Eliza Dolittle (My Fair Lady), Reno Sweeney (Anything Goes), Dolly Levi (Hello Dolly!) and Rose (Rose of Persia). Earlier this year Penny took the role of Lady Thiang in The King & I at Torquay's Princess Theatre.
Penny has appeared in many Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, and she has been invited to take part in the annual Gilbert & Sullivan Festival at Buxton, Derbyshire, where she has twice been voted the best female voice.
In October 2011, Penny will play Elsie Maynard in The St David's Players' production of Yeomen of the Guard, shortly before joining us at Classics Galore! where she will sing solos and lead the audience in our rousing finale!
Apart from her busy singing schedule, Penny works alongside husband, Chris, in their highly successful refrigeration business at Newton St Cyres, near Exeter.
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