The Exeter Express and Echo carried an article by Becky Moran on 1 June 2007 highlighting the concert entitled Summertime, to be given on 2 June by the Exeter Festival Chorus in St David’s Church.
The event, it explained, took its title from Gershwin’s song Summertime, from his opera Porgy and Bess. The programme would include music from Brahms to the Beatles, Elgar and Gershwin himself.
Nigel Perrin, the choir’s conductor, was quoted as saying: “We are singing in the Exeter Summer Festival on 15th June. That’s our big orchestral concert as part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Elgar’s birth. We always do a little concert on our own. We’ve called it Summertime because it’s a light-hearted concert for people who enjoy choral music. The key word is entertainment.
“The main piece we are performing is Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes. There are 18 short romantic songs, and they are great fun. Then we also join in the celebration of Elgar’s anniversary with six choral songs from the Bavarian Highlands. In the first half we are doing some American folk songs, a couple of gospel songs, Gershwin’s Summertime and a Beatles’song, I’ll Follow The Sun. There are a couple of arrangements of my own – Here’s that Rainy Day and You Would Be So Nice To Come Home To.
“The choir’s enthusiasm and commitment to singing to a high standard has always impressed me. It is a very special choir.”
