Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir

On the last weekend in June, a group of singers from the choir, together with our Musical Director Jim Bate and our organist Colin Druce, travelled to Frankfurt to take part in a joint concert with a choir there. Jon Douglas reports:

There will be many memorable stories about the heat of June 2026, but several hours of rehearsals on what was literally the hottest day on record in Germany (over 40°C), has to stand as some sort of milestone in the annals of RLSBC singing. Our hosts and choral partners in Frankfurt were the German American Community Choir, and they made great efforts to provide plenty of water and fruit drinks, alongside an amazing spread of food for lunch on that long day. Many of them also generously provided accommodation for some of us from RLSBC, and then found extra things to do. Some had the cooler fun of visiting outdoor swimming pools or lakes on Sunday morning.

The GACC was founded in 1973 in the days when there was a large base of American armed forces in Frankfurt, forming friendly relations between Americans and the local population. Although military forces have been wound down since the end of the Cold War, the choir continues with membership including Germans, Americans, and other nationalities, amounting to around 180 in all.

About 25 RLSBC singers made the trip. Some flew out to Frankfurt, and others took the Eurostar to Brussels and intercity trains onwards. There were plenty of horror stories about queues in the airports and missed trains, and even trains cancelled due to a forest fire near Frankfurt Airport, and all made so stressful, having to wait in the heat. At least one person’s journey lasted until after midnight, and then we were all expected at Sankt Bonifatius Church bright and cheerful at 9.30 to start vocal warm-up (other types of warm up being entirely unnecessary).

The Church has a large balcony and organ loft and we rehearsed and performed from up there, placed around the organ itself, with Colin’s organist’s seat right in the middle. The interior was cooler than outside, but it was still hot up on the balcony, and the heat affected the organ tuning, requiring ingenuity from Colin deciding which sets of pipes to use. It was a pleasure to meet Evelyn Ruf, the GACC MD, who conducted the Bernstein and half of the Duruflé for our concert. We joined about 55 singers from GACC making a total of about 80 for the performance. We also had to find room for a harp and the percussion instruments for the Bernstein. As ever the percussion was a small but very important part, and this was expertly played for us by Andreas Nowak.

Concert day was 4°C cooler according to online weather, but it didn’t feel like it inside the church, unfortunately, nevertheless everyone was cheerful and supported each other, and the performance seemed to be good. The audience was about 170 people and they responded with very generous applause, not least for the wonderful harpist, Anna Petrovitsch, who completed the concert with Saint-Saëns’ Fantasia for Harp. Her playing was absolutely beautiful, and it was amazing to discover that she’s only 18 years old.

Finally we all enjoyed a convivial dinner at a traditional local restaurant where they offer their own Apfelwein, a Hesse speciality, to go with their Frankfurt dishes. Most of us then journeyed home in the noticeably cooler weather on Monday. It was a great trip, all very exciting and enjoyable.

We look forward to welcoming members of the GACC on a return trip to Leamington Spa for our concert on Saturday July 18th.