IAA Town Lectures and Concerts 2023
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Concert 14th December
Stellar Acappella
Musical Director, Gaynor Schofield.
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Stellar Acappella started in 2017 with 12 singers and now has over 30 fabulous voices –
and they love singing in close harmony. They perform regularly at events in and around
Ipswich: parties, concerts, festivals, celebrations. They sing unaccompanied, so no safety
nets when it comes to tuning those wonderful harmonies. Every song they sing is an
audience pleaser: anything from Adele and Aguilera through to the Greatest Showman.
Do come along and have a listen!
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Town Lectures & Concerts 2023.
The annual series of popular lectures presents Ipswich, its history and cultural
background through the eyes of Suffolk-based speakers. Once again, the series incorporates
performances from local musicians presenting different styles of music through the ages.
Lectures & Concerts are presented at:
Museum St. Methodist Church, (entrance in Black Horse Lane), Ipswich IP1 2EF
Lectures and Concerts start at 1.00pm and end at 1.50pm. Doors open 12.30pm.
ADMISSION IS FREE with a retiring collection. Donations of at least £3.00 per person are valued to maintain the series. Refreshments, served 12.30 – 12.55 are included.
Please click the button to make a secure donation via PayPal
A PayPal account is not required to make a donation.
Town Lectures & Concerts 2024
Details of the 2024 season of are now available and will be added in full to this page very shortly.
Click this link to view the 2024 Brochure – opens pdf.
Town Lectures & Concerts 2023 programme
To view or download a pdf of the Lectures & Concerts programme click here
Lecture – 12th January
Cardinal Wolsey – For King and Country
Dr. Phil Roberts.
Phil Roberts is a local Tudor historian and author of Cardinal Wolsey – For King and Country. His enthusiastic illustrated talk investigates the Suffolk ‘Wulcy’ family tree back to pre-Norman Conquest and Thomas Wolsey’s humble beginnings in Ipswich. The hard-working Wolsey became the creator of famous peace treaties and these successfully put his King onto the European scene as a senior player. Affectionately, Henry VIII called Cardinal Thomas Wolsey his friend.
Concert – 9th February
Copleston High School Wind Band & Ensembles
Musical Director: Amanda Lockyer.
The Music Department at Copleston High School enjoys a busy schedule, both in school and in the community. Their concerts during the year range from solo and chamber music performances at their in-house lunchtime concerts, to the annual Summer Soiree Musicale, where the orchestra, choir, wind and string ensembles perform a wide repertoire. Today they are delighted to perform a selection of pieces for woodwind and brass ensembles, as well as their Wind Band.
Lecture – 9th March
Four Women Artists in East Anglia
Mark Beesley
Mark Beesley presents an introduction to the work of Mary Beale: a seventeenth century portrait painter who made a successful career in a male-dominated art world; Anna Airy: a popular painter whose career began in Edwardian London and ended in Suffolk in the 1960s and covered a wide range of subjects and media; Margaret Tempest: a successful illustrator of children’s books from the 1930s to 1960s. And Gwen Raverat: a key figure in the revival of English wood engraving in the 1920s with her atmospheric prints of rural life and landscape.
Concert – 13th April
Ukulele Ladies
The Ukulele Ladies are a small, lively, female group who love to play and sing together. All had performed with other ukulele bands, but got together in 2021 to celebrate the Women in Arts and Music Festival in Felixstowe. This was their first public performance. It was so enjoyable and well received that the members have been practising and performing together ever since. The band play and sing an eclectic mix of well-known folk, pop and rock songs from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.
Lecture – 11th May
Coes of Ipswich – Past & Present
William Coe.
Coes have been a part of the Ipswich High Street for almost 100 years. In this talk William Coe, the third generation to be involved in the business, will talk through the evolution of the shop from start- up in 1928 to dealing with the modern omni-channel world and the challenges and opportunities it now faces.
Concert – 8th June
The Ipswich Choral Society
Musical director: Robin Walker.
The Ipswich Choral Society is a friendly choir of some 80 members It was formed in 1824 and is the second oldest choral society in England. The Society has attracted a membership with a wide range of musical experiences and has entertained the public with performances across a varied musical repertoire. It meets every Tuesday evening, rehearsals start at 7.30pm in Northgate Arts Centre Sidegate Lane West, Ipswich IP4 3DF.
If you would like to sing with us please contact us on recruitment@ipswichchoralsociety.org
Lecture – 13th July
The Other Clarkson
Liz Wright
John Clarkson, younger brother of Thomas Clarkson, the anti- slavery campaigner, was a naval officer. When put on half-pay at the end of the wars with France and America in the 1780s, he threw himself wholeheartedly in assisting his brother and became a member of the committee working towards the cause. In 1790 he volunteered to go to Canada to take ‘Black Loyalists’ who had fought with the British Army during the American war of Independence to the newly founded colony of Sierra Leone to start a new life. He spent his later years in Woodbridge and is buried in St Mary’s graveyard.
Concert – 10th August
Suffolk Organists Association
Suffolk Organists’ Association (SOA) was founded in 1934 and promotes the use and enjoyment of the pipe organ, especially the many fine examples to be found across the county. SOA events and activities take place throughout the year, and the Association has a proud record of supporting both young and not- so-young organists through study days, masterclasses and bursaries. Today’s concert will feature a variety of music for the ‘king of instruments’, performed by members of SOA.
Lecture – 14th September
The Gift of Music
Emeritus Professor Chris Green OBE.
Emeritus Professor Chris Green celebrates his 80th birthday year, ending with a major concert on 16 September at the Ipswich Corn Exchange. He qualified to work as a psychologist, but his love for music led to him forming Trianon Music Group in 1959, and his subsequent wide- ranging artistic activities brought him into contact with many major names in the arts. He was awarded an OBE in 1994 for services to the arts in the region. In this talk he draws upon many of the memories of visitors to Suffolk – some very humorous, others less so. Expect a few revelations.
Concert – 13th October
The White Horse Brawlers.
In 2021, Dave Whitton, singer / instrumentalist with the popular Glasgow folk band The Clydesiders, invited local musicians interested in Celtic/World/ Country Folk songs and instrumentals to a session in the White Horse Inn, Felixstowe and thus The White Horse Brawlers was formed. Scottish Fiddler Pete Butters linking with Suffolk musicians soon created a ‘folk and country’ mini-orchestra of about 17 mainly acoustic musicians. They are currently in demand for concerts and open-air festivals.
Lecture – 9th November
Conjuring a Sense of Place: Place as Character in Storytelling.
Beverley Birch.
Beverley has written 56 books and is former editor to many authors. Place is always central in her novels. ‘Not just a backdrop,’ she says. ‘It’s where all my stories begin: place has personality. It’s a central player, with moods; its past and present engage with other characters, affecting them. It’s central to the action. So how do I achieve that? How, in novels set in Africa, Italy, Scotland and in my latest Ipswich-based novel do I evoke place, not as descriptive background, but as a force in the drama?’
Concert – 14th December
Stellar Acappella
Musical Director, Gaynor Schofield.
Stellar Acappella started in 2017 with 12 singers and now has over 30 fabulous voices – and they love singing in close harmony. They perform regularly at events in and around Ipswich: parties, concerts,festivals, celebrations. They sing unaccompanied, so no safety nets when it comes to tuning those wonderful harmonies. Every song they sing is an audience pleaser: anything from Adele and Aguilera through to the Greatest Showman. Do come along and have a listen!
Please click the button to make a secure donation via PayPal
A PayPal account is not required to make a donation.
.
Town Lectures and Concerts 2023
Museum Street Methodist Church (entrance in Black Horse Lane), Ipswich IP1 2EF
Lectures and Concerts start at 1.00pm and end at 1.50pm. Doors open 12.30pm.
ADMISSION IS FREE with retiring collection.
Donations of at least £3.00 per head are valued to maintain the series.
The Town Lectures and Concerts series is an IAA initiative,
co-ordinated by Chandra Grover and Sabine Sutton.
For further details email:townlecturesandconcerts@ipswich-arts.org.uk