Mark your diaries for the first carol concert of the year! City Chorus welcomes the month of December with Advent and Christmas music including Adam lay ybounden (Ord), Bogoroditse Devo (Rachmaninov), In the bleak midwinter (Darke), and Wassail (arr Vaughan Williams).

Paul conducts Questors Choir - music by Purcell, Bach, Handel - O Holy Night - Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Paul accompanies Voxcetera's Christmas concert

Paul accompanies Harrow Choral Society's Christmas concert - programme include Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Paul leads a one-day singing workshop on Mozart's Requiem

Paul leads a one-day choral workshop (11am-4pm) on Purcell's The Fairy Queen

Paul conducts Questors Choir's spring concert

Paul accompanies Harrow Choral Society

Paul accompanies Harrow Choral Society

Paul conducts Questors Choir in a programme called Sporting Songs

Paul leads a one-day workshop, exploring the Requiem by Michael Haydn - all welcome!

With Questors Choir, Paul leads a one-day choir workshop on the Saint-Saëns Requiem - open to all 

composer-arranger Paul Ayres presents a selection of his solo piano pieces exploring crossovers between traditional-classical and popular-commercial musical styles

tickets are £15 on the door, but £10 if ordered in advance (by 22 February)

please email paulayres@clara.net or text 07821 587670 to order 

On Sunday 28 September, the wonderful singers of The Ruffians (Miranda, Amy, Hestor) will present pieces for one, two and three voices. These will be:

TRIOS
Anti-Suffragist Reasons (hilariously satirical lists written by Alice Duer Miller in the New York Tribute in the 1910s)
The quality of mercy (Portia's speech from The Merchant of Venice)
Folksongs (The Miller of Dee, Scarborough Fair, In Old Amsterdam, The Oak and the Ash, The Willow Tree)
Three Little Birds (the Bob Marley tune, but in a serene, prayerful interpretation)

DUETS
A Blessing of Discontent ("May God bless you with discontent with easy answers, half-truths, superficial relationships, so that you will live from deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, abuse, exploitation, so that you will work for justice, equality, peace...")
Take me to the woods (a wedding song)
How are you? (a poem by Kitty O'Meara)

SOLOS 
The Last Bee, Satsumas are the Only Fruit, Brie Encounter, Monetisation, Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Be My Friend On Facebook, Pet Peeve (all of these are settings of Brian Bilston poems)
For I will consider my cat Jeffrey (words by Christopher Smart, set as a passacaglia)
Fable (words by Dorothy Parker)
 
That's a lot of singing. But tis not all you'll hear... the concert will feature short piano pieces - to give the vocalists a break, if nothing else! Piano music will reference Elgar, Ed Sheeran, Bach, ragtime, the theme from The Incredibles, nursery rhymes, and Christina Perri. Plus some other things too, if I manage to finish writing them in the next few weeks.

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If and when you think to yourself: "I would jolly well like to buy a ticket for this concert" here's the process:

1. Send £15 per ticket to the bank account below (scroll down to the end of this message).
2. Send an email to paulayres@clara.net to tell me you've paid (I will then reply to confirm).

That's all you need to do! 

Here's a fun list of things you *don't* need to do:

Create an account.
Invent a password.
Come up with another password because the first one didn't work.
Check your email for a verification code.
Pay a booking fee.
Pay an administration fee.
Pay a "voluntary donation".
Download an app.
Log in via facebook.
Fill in a gmail form.
Try to find your ticket in some hidden corner of a byzantine website.
Scan a QR code.
Make note of a reference number without which admission will be denied.
Tell me your date of birth.
Verify your identity.
Answer a questionnaire.
Provide your phone number.
Delete at least two dozen follow-up messages after the gig, asking for your feedback as a valued trusted customer.

Sunday 28 September 2025 at 7.00pm. 
"Sarcastic Songs" - music by Paul Ayres with vocal trio The Ruffians.
St Barnabas, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing W5 1QG.
There's no physical or electronic ticket. 
Once you've paid, your name will be on the guest list at the door. 
Seating is unreserved. 
Advance tickets are £15 if ordered before 21 September. 
After that date tickets are £20. 
Under 21s are free. 
The ticket price includes the programme and an interval drink (wine/soft).
Bank payment preferred, but please contact me (paulayres@clara.net) if you'd like to discuss alternative methods: cheque (in the post), or cash (in person), or PayPal (PP will charge a £1.50 recipient fee).

account name: Paul Ayres
account no: 30553638
sort code: 40 47 82
bank: First Direct (HSBC)
reference: use "yourname28" as the payment reference (e.g. "johnsmith28" "harrietharman28")