Birthday gig in build-up to Nashville trip
A celebrated Bath choir will be visiting Nashville in the US this month – but first it will hold a 15th birthday concert in its home city’s Banqueting Room at The Guildhall.
The City of Bath Male Choir held its inaugural concert at the venue and returns on Sunday (October 9) at 5pm.
The 50 members of the choir will then travel to Nashville on Saturday, October 22, staying for eight days. During the visit the choir will perform at outdoor venues including the Streets of Indian Lake Shopping Plaza, Hendersonville, on the afternoon of Sunday, October 23 and on the Grand Old Opry Plaza prior to attending the Wednesday (October 26) show.
There’s a date in Studio B to record two songs and a visit to the Old Smokey Distillery on Thursday, October 27. Later that day Bath Male Choir are guests of the First United Methodist Church in Gallatin for an evening concert.
The Friday sees a line dancing experience for the group at Ole Red and on the Saturday they perform with the their Nashville hosts, the Nashville Singers. This concert at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville starts at 7pm.
The choir was founded by Dr Grenville Jones in 2007 and its success in a popular BBC1 Saturday
night peak-time series came four years later on a programme called, “Last Choir Standing” where it reached the finals, bringing worldwide recognition.
The singers come from all walks of life and enjoy a reputation for standing ovations wherever they perform, whether it be concert halls, cathedrals, churches or their numerous broadcasts.
In recent years the choir sang at the Menin Gate at Ypres in Belgium by invitation at the First World War anniversary ceremony.
And it was the first British amateur male choir to perform to 5,000 people at the Osaka International Choir Festival in Japan.
Grenville said: “The choir have a busy itinerary planned as well as visits to many of Nashville’s famous
‘must see’ music venues.”
Bath Male Choir has raised many thousands of pounds for UK charities in past years through their concerts.
After the sudden death of a member, they raised over £10,000 for heart support charities.
Tickets for Sunday’s concert are available via the website www. bathmalechoir.org.