Special Concert To Mark Retirement Of Alistair Jones

Conductor and Musical Director of the Chiswick Choir for 31 years

A special concert will take place on Saturday 27th June, to mark the 'end of an era' for music lovers in Chiswick.

Alistair Jones, the conductor and music director of the choir since 1984, will be conducting his final performance with one of the greatest choral works, Handel's Messiah.  The soloists for the evening are a wonderful quartet that have collectively and individually sung with the choir before and as always by the Chiswick Orchestra.

When Alistair took over the choir, it numbered less than 40, held jumble sales to raise money and a duplicated sheet as a programme. The choir now has more than 80 singers, an established group of Choir Friends and is an established part of Chiswick life supported by over 25 businesses in the area as sponsors or advertisers in its present glossy programmes.

Under Alistair's baton the choir has performed a wide range of the established choral repertoire, including two performances of Elgar's Dream Of Gerontius in both of Southwark's Cathedrals, rediscovering some forgotten gems such as Cyril Rootham's "For the Fallen".

Amongst Alistair's many talents is music composition and arranging. On many occasions he has provided choral and orchestral arrangements of songs, he is guilty of composing mobile ringtones but most significantly he composed 4 major works for the choir in the past two decades, which were enthusiastically sung and received and which deserve wider attention.

Alistair has long associations with West London, he went to school in Ealing. He went on to the Royal Academy of Music and completed his musical education as an organ scholar in Cambridge. He then taught for 15 years, the majority of time in Bristol at the Cathedral Choir School where he also conducted the Bristol Choral Society and Bach Choir.

He moved on from teaching in the 1980s and worked for Yamaha on their various education programmes until his retirement. Throughout his musical life music education and encouraging young musicians has been a focus of much of what he has done.  In his farewell concert with the Chiswick Orchestra in May, two of his previous protégés gave memorable performances of Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No 2 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4. He also gave a stunning young 12 year old pianist, Harvey Lin, his first opportunity of playing with a symphony orchestra in Beethoven’s 1 st Piano Concerto. A most memorable first perfomance. The donations given at this concert have gone to defray the costs of the chamber concerts showcasing up and coming young musicians which Alistair has organised for some time and which he will continue to run.

The 4 soloists for Messiah first sang with the Chiswick Choir four years ago in a wonderful performance of Mozart’s Requiem when they were students together at the Royal College of Music. The careers of all have flourished since and it is most fitting that they will be the soloists in Alistair’s final concert.

Generations of singers and musicians have much to thank Alistair for, whether the appreciation and enjoyment of great music or help with their music education and careers.

Handel’s Messiah - Chiswick Choir
7.00pm 27th June 2015
St.Peter’s Church, Southfield Road, W4 1BB

Information about tickets from enquiries@chiswickchoir.org.uk

June 16, 2015