Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir

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An Act of Remembrance and New Beginnings

Sunday 10th November 2024

Our concert on November 9th looked to the past, with music chosen not only for Remembrance Day but also to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Gabriel Fauré’s death. But it also looked to the future, as we embark on an exciting new relationship with our new Musical Director, Jim Bate.

Jim worked very hard with us in the ten weeks of rehearsals leading up to the concert. In Fauré’s Requiem, a work many of us have sung many times before, we appreciated his passion for the music and careful attention to detail. The other two choral pieces in the programme, James MacMillan’s haunting Gaelic lament inspired setting of a text for Ash Wednesday, and John Tavener’s Svyati, a meditative setting of a Church Slavonic text frequently used at Orthodox funerals, were unknown to most of us and posed different challenges. Jim patiently coached us in the tricky rhythms and tuning difficulties, and as we grew more confident, we came to love the music.

On the night of the concert, both pieces were lifted to a new level by the solo stringed instruments, Alistair Kennedy’s violin weaving around and through the voices in the MacMillan, and Robert Kurnatowski’s cello in eloquent dialogue with the choir as the voice of the priest in the Tavener. We were also treated to a wonderfully varied and virtuosic piece for harp and organ, a Fantasia by the French Canadian composer Rachel Laurin, played by Erica Sinclair on harp and Colin Druce on the organ. All four instrumentalists came together to form the ‘orchestra’ for the Requiem, in a pared down setting much more in keeping with Fauré’s original intentions than the later full orchestral version. We were joined by Birmingham based Matthew Pandya as the baritone soloist, and our very own soprano Claire Knowles sang the ‘Pie Jesu’.

After such a successful opening concert, we look forward to many more musical adventures with Jim at the helm. And the week also marked another very important new beginning, as Jim’s baby daughter Clara was born just five days before the concert. We offer Jim and his wife our warmest congratulations on the new arrival; with such an auspicious start, Clara is sure to grow up singing!

Please click on the link below to read a review of the concert in the Leamington Courier.

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Featured News

Jim Bate to be the RLSBC’s 19th Musical Director

Wednesday 29th May 2024

The RLSBC is delighted to announce the appointment of Jim Bate as its 19th Musical Director, to succeed Lee Dunleavy from the start of the 2024-5 concert season.

Jim is increasingly making his mark in the musical life of the area, both as a choral conductor and also as a singer. His successful appointment follows a three stage recruitment process, consisting of a written application, an interview with the committee, and an audition with the whole choir. Jim passed every stage with flying colours!

Music has been a vital part of Jim’s life from a very early age. He started learning the piano when he was four, and later he took up the organ, studying under Leeds Minster Cathedral Organist, Alex Woodrow. He gained an organ scholarship and a place to read Music at Lady Margaret Hall in the University of Oxford. It was while he was at Oxford that he developed his passion for choral conducting, through his involvement with his college’s sacred and secular choirs.

After graduating, Jim took a Master’s in Choral Conducting at the University of Birmingham, studying with Simon Halsey OBE and Julian Wilkins. He sings in the CBSO chorus, and was a lay clerk at Birmingham Cathedral, alongside starting work at PwC in Birmingham. He set up a choir in his workplace, delightfully named 'In-Voice', and in 2022 he became Musical Director of the Warwickshire Singers. He also co-founded and co-directs the Elgar Scholars with Laura Bailie, and conducts the B:Music Workplace Voices, formerly the Birmingham City Council Choir which was set up by Gareth Malone.

Jim says: “I am extremely excited to get started with RLSBC. Whilst studying for my conducting master's degree, this very choir was quoted as one to look out for later down my career and so applying for this role was an easy decision. I am very grateful to my mentors Julian Wilkins and Simon Halsey for all of their support and leadership in the run up to this post. I aim to continue the choir's superb trajectory in becoming one of, if not the best choir in the region. I think it is important not to lose touch with the choir's roots in the music of the Bach family, but I also believe that RLSBC's acclaim is an ideal platform for promoting new and exciting music as well as music by underrepresented composers.”

We are looking forward enormously to working with Jim, and to exploring unfamiliar musical territory under his leadership as well as revisiting old favourites, in this exciting new chapter in the history of the choir.