Reviews


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT ME \| REVIEWS \| SINGING LESSONS \| WORKSHOPS \| PAST EVENTS \| NEWS \| LINKS \| CONTACT _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


		Time is endless - Choral music by Vytautas Miskinis ____________________________________________________________________________________ Following their disc of the music of Rihards Dubra, The Choir of Royal Holloway and their director Rupert Gough have produced a second volume of Baltic delights, turning this time to the sumptuous music of Vytautas Miskinis, the doyen of current Lithuanian choral culture. See article in Lithianian language... "Kūrėjas V. Miškinis į sėkmę žvelgia su šypsena" _________________________________________________ Weymouth and Portland, Issue 44. Wednesday, May 12, 2010

		Spring Time Concert _________________________________________________ Spring time concert with ‘ONE VOICE’ choir (Music director Grazina Ellis). See article... "Successful spring concert" _________________________________________________ Weymouth and Portland, Issue 44. Wednesday, May 12, 2010

		Cultural Evening _________________________________________________ Another colourful cultural evening that was enjoyed by everyone at the College’s Cygnets restaurant on Wednesday night. This time students and guests enjoyed Eastern European cuisine whilst learning about some aspects of the culture in that region of the world... See article... "Experiencing Eastern European Culture at Weymouth College" _________________________________________________ Weymouth College. March 11, 2010

		Christmas Concert _________________________________________________ Christmas concert with ‘ONE VOICE’ choir (Music director Grazina Ellis). See article... "Uplifting music on wet afternoon" _________________________________________________ Dorset Echo. Monday, December 14, 2009

		Russian Passion Found In Translation at DORCHESTER ART CENTRE _____________________________________________________________ A Friday evening in March at the Dorchester Arts Centre found a warm and excited audience filled with great expectations awaiting the Russian Romance performance of a unique group of musicians and a poetess. Svetlana, the writer of poetry and performer, provided the inspiration and set the tone of the event by carefully weaving her words with the words of song and musical expertise. The performance lived up to my expectation. The items introduced me to music that was intimate with lyrical songs that touch the soul and that makes one cry and smile. The range suits, as I am told that Romance as music genre is a traditionally Russian type of music creativity: it is in romance that the so-called “mysterious Russian soul” has for more than two hundred years found ways of expressing its passions as an integral part of Russian culture. Sincerity and tunefulness of romance gives it inimitable charm. Normally dwelling on feelings, especially love, romance expresses a rich range of emotional aspects. It either has or implies the participation of two lyrical characters that makes it intimate. This was emphasised by the accompaniment being accordion or guitar (in Russian Gypsy romance especially) .The tempo was set as the mood took the performers. Variation came with some accordion solo's reminding me of Russian folk dances with enthusiasm, vigor and high-tempoed. The audience naturally found themselves clapping to the beat set in a number of pieces. The final piece, claimed it seems by many nationalities, had the audience joining in in different languages... 'those were the days my friend!'.....with naturally a number of encores! And so an enjoyable and enlightening evening came to an end with one wanting more! _________________________________________________ John E. Weymouth. March, 2009

		Littlemoor choir 'ONE VOICE' on Wessex FM ________________________________________________________________________ At 10 pm on the 15th of February, Wessex FM Radio interviewed Grazina Ellis about the recently established Littlemoor Choir 'ONE VOICE'. Unplugged is a Sunday evening music program and so, was an ideal vehicle to plug the news about Littlemoor in general and music in particular. Inspiration for the Choir came from two main sources: A TV program called 'The Singing Estate' broadcast about three years ago, featured a professional musician who was challenged to create a choir using residents of an estate in Oxford. He was to prepare them ultimately to sing in the Royal Albert Hall. This was accomplished within three months when the seemingly impossible happened. Dr Malcolm Beeson, Chairman of Littlemoor Community Action Group was featured on the front page article of the Dorset ECHO at about the same time. His vision for the Community was a dream to beautify the area and for it to join some of Dorset's finest Villages. As part of this project the long expected and planned new Community Centre buildings would crown the effort. Grazina, a qualified a music and singing teacher, was captivated by these two thoughts and with her background and energy, wished to get Littlemoor making music. Her first endeavour has resulted in an adult choir 'One Voice 'being established .She would like to extend this by creating a Music Club for Children. During the interview it emerged that Grazina's personal music making involved singing with a professional Lithunian group 'Muzika' that sang in competitions around the world. At the end of February she would be singing in a soloist quartet in Mozart ' Missa Solemnis' with Briantspuddle Singers at Wool. On the 13th March she will be singing and leading a quartet of musicians in Russian Romance as part of program at Dorchester Art Centre. Grazina also outlined her plans for the Choir and was able to share a recent recording made at Weymouth College. She also gave a personal invitation to any Littlemoor residents who would like to participate in the Choir, to visit the Community Hall at 7.30 pm on Thursday evening. All abilities would be welcome. Separate rehearsals for beginners. What a wonderful opportunity it was for Littlemoor to be highlighted! Thanks must go Malcolm Beeson for instigating the interview; Maria Greenwood, Head of News at Wessex FM and Weymouth College Music Technology Department for arranging the recording. Autumn Sounds _________________________________________________ From LCAG Newsletter. No12. March, 2009

		Sounds of the Season _________________________________________________ Sunday concert with ‘ONE VOICE’ choir (leader Grazina Ellis). See articles... "A Notable Success" _________________________________________________ Dorset Echo. Thursday, December 11, 2008 "A Pre Christmas Treat" _________________________________________________ Dorset Echo. Monday, December 22, 2008

		Autumn Sounds _________________________________________________ Sunday concert with ‘ONE VOICE’ choir (leader Grazina Ellis). See article... "Autumnal feel to music fest" _________________________________________________ Dorset Echo. Monday, November 24, 2008

		Concerts _________________________________________________ Time to say thank you. "The performance of the Littlemor Choir, led by Weymouth College tutor Grazina Ellis was brilliant… made up of voices from all ages and varied talents. Indeed, they didn’t just sing - we were privileged to also hear the piano, guitar and recorder being played-from Mozart to Carole King. …Worthy of nothing but praise!" _________________________________________________ Julia Squibb. Dorset Echo. June 2008

		An International project _________________________________________________ Premier performance of a difficult piece by Valentina Zigiene Children and youth musicians from the Aukstaitijos county came to Ramygalos School (catering for Advanced Music level) for five days of intensive rehearsals in a music workshop. A choir from Great Britain ‘One Voice’, led by a former local Panevezys teacher Grazina Ellis, joined them. More than 200 people were involved with the project. The Panevezys District Music School, within the county of Aukstaitija, organise an annual festival ‘Sounds of Youth’. Each year the organisers seek new forms of musical expression. This year, being the sixth, a single piece - ‘Mass of the Children’ written by the English composer John Rutter was chosen. Two performances were made: the first in the ‘Christ the King’ Cathedral in Panevezys and the second in ‘St.John the Baptist’ Church in Ramygala. The full programme included two symphonic pieces i.e. Intermezzo (P. Mascagni) and Adagio (T.Albinoni) followed by the premier performance in Lithuania of ‘Mass of the Children’. There were two soloists from the Lithuania Music Academy in Vilnius, Milda Tubelyte (Soprano) and Audrius Martisius (Baritone) who were joined by the Panevezys District Music School Youth Choir, the J. Balcikonio School Mixed Choir and the guest choir from England ‘One Voice’. To assist with the cost of the music sheets, Grazina and her students held a charity concert. The Director of Music and conductor Kestutis Planciunas explained that with modern musical expression, parts of the ‘Mass’ piece had tricky rhymes that student performers had real difficulties with. The choirs had more time to rehearse whereas the orchestra, because of the hiring costs, had only 2 months. The young orchestra musicians worked hard to learn their parts. ‘In my opinion we had a good result with such a short period for rehearsal. The audiences listened to the highly original John Rutter music with great interest’. Taught Lithuanian Songs The English choir enjoyed their stay in Lithuania. The choir consisted mainly of students from Weymouth College in Dorset. Also singing with the choir was the College’s International Students Co-ordinator Liz Evans who spoke to the Lithuanian students about the possibilities of studying at Weymouth College. Students under 18 years old could study the English Language for one year with EU finance. A few years ago, our former musician Grazina went to further her studies at Weymouth College through Bournemouth University. She completed a 2 year foundation degree course in Arts – Music Media and Performance. In our town she taught at the Panevezys Music Conservatory and sang in the famous Panevezys Municipality Chamber Ensemble ‘Muzika’. At present she leads a choir and works as a vocal coach at Weymouth College and directs a community choir ‘One Voice’. Grazina could be called an ambassador for Lithuanian music in Dorset. Last year she taught a group of English singers to sing Lithuanian songs and play Lithuanian pan pipes (Skuduciai) in a performance at a children’s festival in rural Dorset. Grazina is excited at the possibility of an orchestra from Panevezys visiting Weymouth College in 2010. _________________________________________________ English translation of an article published in Panevezys (Lithuania) local daily newspaper ‘SEKUNDE’ on 3rd July 2008.
		Back to top
		_________________________________________________ © 2009 Grazina Ellis. All Rights Reserved. Design by BraveButton