Teign Choral Society bade farewell to its rehearsal accompanist Carol Massey at its recent Spring Concert earlier this month.

Carol is retiring after many years of working with the choir. ‘Carol has contributed greatly to the success of the Society and has also helped to make the rehearsal experience more pleasant through her witty musical asides,’ commented Viv Wilson MBE.

The spring concert, held on Saturday May 10 at St Michael’s Church on Teignmouth seafront, combined sacred and secular works. It featured soloists Peter Wood and Demelza Barry and Kingsteignton Brownies, all accompanied by Hannah Spooner.

The concert opened with ‘Come My Way’ by local composer Ben Heffer, before focusing on the deeply spiritual melodies and harmonies of French composer Gabriel Faure with works including ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’ and his ‘Requiem’. The choir, under the direction of David, mastered the variations in volume and timing and Peter and Demelza contributed very effective solo passages. Peter’s being the exciting ‘Libera Me’ (which had featured in an episode of Inspector Morse) and Demelza’s the lovely ‘Pie Jesu’.

In complete contrast, the second half consisted of pieces from what is often called ‘The American Songbook’ featuring music from plays, musicals and films from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. These songs encapsulate human emotion ranging from the bounce and cheer of ‘A Couple of Swells’ to the sad reminiscences of ‘Autumn Leaves’.

Demelza and Peter sang songs from such as ‘South Pacific’, ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ and ‘Cabaret’ and Kingsteignton Brownie’s enoyed singing ‘Truly Scrumptious’ from Chitty Chitty.

The audience often found themselves singing along and were provided with song sheet for the ‘Couple of Swells’ chorus. The whole evening was bought to a beautiful conclusion by an emotional singing of ‘Over the Rainbow’.

The Teign Choral Society performs two concerts each year: a carol concert at Christmas and a spring concert in May.