Our History
History
Where the Choir began
During the next seven years the choir grew in size and around twenty people began singing in two-part harmony.
By 1990 the choir had swelled to 34 members and was invited to sing with Spanish choirs, fiestas and singing for the Catholic Church on Easter Day, Christmas and Corpus Christie.
Some members of the Moraira Church Choir decided that they would also like to sing popular music. They met on a Thursday morning to sing & rehearse sacred music and in the afternoon to sing & rehearse popular music – performing in other venues, they called this group “Friends in Harmony.”
In 1994, the Town Hall in Teulada asked the choir to register as an association. In May 1994 the merged English Choir Teulada was officially created!
Our History
History
Our key figures
The choir has seen a number of musical directors and accompanists and in 2004 we were delighted to welcome Heather Butcher as our accompanist.
Jo Baldwin took over the baton in 2009. She gently shook us up and pushed us to our physical, mental and musical limits. Her enthusiasm, musical and language skills have been very welcome and have helped the English Choir to reach the strong position it now holds in life on the Costa Blanca.
Several years on, it was one of our own singers, Jan Gardner-Brown who stepped to the front and led the Choir.
Shortly after this we, and other Choir’s in the area, were very sad to see the departure from the Costa Blanca of Heather Butcher. However, every cloud, as they say, and we were pleased to welcome another very talented lady, Kirsty Glen as our new accompanist.
2022 brought changes again. Jan decided it was time to enjoy her extra time from retirement, and so we started our recruitment drive again.
We were delighted to secure the talents of, and welcome John Oliver Edwards as our Musical Director in September 2022. John has brought a wealth of differing offerings to our Choir, including pulling us into the 21st Century realms of technology, which we are gradually embracing!
Our History
History
Our Performances
We have performed many times for various Moraira/Teulada occasions from singing for the Pensionistas and entertaining the attendees at the Alzheimer’s Day Care Centre in Teuluda and taking part in the Moors and Christians celebrations both in the church and standing above the beach singing during the re-enactment in Moraira.
We sang for the British Legion at their 90th anniversary celebrations in a brand new concert hall in Alicante. We have also sung in the excellent Teulada Concert Hall (Auditorio) on a number of occasions with other local choirs.
At Christmas we performed in the village square in Lliber, competing with ponies, geese and other noises! We performed in the freezing cold in Moraira for the Lions Club with the Salvation Army band.
Our recent Christmas sing-alongs at Saxo Moraira have been great fun and so busy – which helped boost the collections for the local charities that we support. They were wonderful atmospheres enjoyed by choir and audience alike.
Our History
History
Onwards and Upwards
Our numbers dropped, many of our long serving members no longer had the flexibility of spending all the winter months in Spain, and we didn’t then have the technology to be able to join the Choir to sing remotely through “Zoom” or other methods.
But no one keeps The English Choir down for long. As soon as was possible, we started rehearsals again, this time in a new venue due to the social distancing policies. We are delighted that our numbers have continued to rise, and we are now back to the same level as pre-covid.
Our singers comprise many nationalities, with almost a third of the choir not from England. #youdonthavetobeenglish. A further boost is that we have again secured our long-time rehearsal room in the Pensionistas building in Teulada where we have been rehearsing for around 20 years – it was great to be back!
