THE Nordic Singers group will be holding concerts in Frome on Saturday 11th September, 7.30pm at the Christ Church, Frome; Sunday 12th September, 12 noon, Al fresco singing in Stourhead Gardens and lastly Sunday 12th September, 6pm, Choral Evensong in Holy Trinity, Bradford-on-Avon.
Nordic Singers started its life as a small ad hoc vocal group, founded by Kevin Duggan in 1998 and based at St. Katharine´s, East Woodlands. Kevin had only just moved back to England after working as a church musician in Norway and Denmark, and the choir’s repertoire was largely Scandinavian.
Kevin moved to the Danish Island of Bornholm in 2004, and became the conductor of the liturgical choir Skt. Nicolai Kantori. This choir travelled to England on several occasions, performing concerts and singing for Services together with members of Nordic Singers.
Since 2015, Kevin has been Director of Music at Dunblane Cathedral in Scotland, and since then Nordic Singers has become a truly international group, comprising singers from Great Britain, Denmark, Germany and Latvia.
“The choir has met in a different country every summer, meeting for a couple of intense rehearsals before giving public performances and sharing much mirth,” explained Kevin. “The singers have sung in Ireland (2016), Italy (2017), Latvia (2018) and Denmark (2019), and were due to perform in England in 2020.
“Of course, everything has changed since then, and international travel has become almost impossible. However, we are delighted to announce that a group of UK-based singers will meet this September, and we are greatly looking forward to singing again!
“We are grateful to Christ Church, Frome; Stourhead Gardens and Holy Trinity, Bradford-on-Avon for being so accommodating in these difficult times. Our repertoire will be broad – music by Purcell, Reger, Sark, McLeod and much else besides.”
