TAKE NOTE BLACKHEATH
We are a friendly adult community choir, based in Blackheath, South East London, singing a repertoire which is an eclectic mix of music, from pop, folk and jazz to classical. No auditions – we welcome new members in all voice parts. Some experience of singing is useful but the ability to read music is not essential. Although we rehearse in a church, we are not a church choir. We rehearse in a well ventilated space and ask members not to attend if they have any symptoms of Covid.
We are run by a committee elected annually by the members of the choir. The Committee currently comprises: Mike Thomas (Chair), Hilary Barber (Secretary) and Gill McIlwraith (Treasurer).
Rehearsals
The choir rehearses on Monday evenings during term time and gives around 3 local performances a year. We sometimes organise singing workshops and perform in concerts with other choirs and musicians.
Venue: All Saints church, Blackheath, SE3 OTY
Time: Rehearsals are from 7:30 to 9:00pm
Join: Take Note Blackheath is open to adults only, with no audition required. If you would like to join the choir you are welcome to come along to a rehearsal to see if it is right for you before paying the fee for the term. You will receive a warm welcome from everyone and we will be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Fees: £90.00 per term
Summer Term Dates: Term will start on Monday 17th April and will finish on Monday 10th July, 2023, when we will perform the term’s repertoire in an informal concert for friends and family. We will have a half term break in May, date tbd.
Musical Director and Accompanist
Darron Moore, Musical Director.
Raised in Leicestershire, Darron is a Baritone and Conductor who began his
musical training as a trumpet player in the Leicestershire Schools Symphony
Orchestra. He then went on to train as a singer at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Northern College of Music.
Darron has sung at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Rome Opera House, Opera de Monte-Carlo, Opera de Lyon, English Touring Opera, the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, Holland Park and Wexford amongst others.
Darron has sung on many CDs and soundtracks including the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III.
Darron is also the Director of music for the company he co founded, Singingworks, which has just celebrated it’s tenth anniversary. He conducts several of the company’s enthusiastic office choirs every week for Shell, Royal Mail, Dechert LLP, CMS LLP & Schroders, having lead concerts in many of London’s leading concert venues.
Darron became music director for Take Note Blackheath in September 2021, rejuvenating the choir follow a break due to the pandemic.
Andrea Kmecová, Accompanist
Born in Slovakia, Andrea is a versatile pianist performing regularly as soloist, vocal and instrumental accompanist, and chamber musician. Her professional work encompasses classical recitals, private events, recording sessions, cruise ship engagements and interactive therapeutic concerts in care homes and hospitals.
Andrea has been featured at a number of leading venues and festivals including The Royal Overseas League, the Houses of Parliament, St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and at a concert for Sofia, former Queen of Spain in the Royal Palace, Madrid.
In 2012, she collaborated with jazz musician Jamie Cullum for his BBC Radio 4 programme Jamie Cullum’s Piano Pilgrimage; other television appearances include BBC2, Slovak Television, Bulgarian Television, National Cypriot Television, and Turkish ATV. She is also featured on Patricia Hammond’s CD Our Lovely Day, released in 2011 with Universal and played on BBC Radio 2 and 3. Her most recent recording engagements with Patricia Hammond includes two CD’s, the Songs of the Great War and She Wrote the Songs.
Andrea is the founder and director of private, Greenwich-based piano academy Piano Maestros. She is an official staff accompanist for Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and Junior Trinity College of Music. She supports and performs regularly for a number of charities, including Lost Chord and Music in Hospitals & Care, and she is the resident pianist at the Clarendon Hotel.