Festivalgoers Invited to Mayor’s Concert in September

The Town Mayor will be getting into the festival spirit when he joins in the celebrations of Hailsham Festival’s ‘Mayor’s Concert’, which will be held at Hailsham Parish Church on Saturday 10^th September, from 2pm to 3.30pm.

Members of the public are encouraged to come along to this free event, which will be introduced by the Mayor of Hailsham, Cllr Paul Holbrook, before performances by Hailsham Choral Society, Hailsham Voices Community Pop Choir and solo tenor Ben Hancox.

Hailsham Choral Society is pleased to have the opportunity to sing together again at the Mayor’s concert in this Jubilee year, having celebrated its 60th Anniversary in March performing Messiah and singing music for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at their Summer Concert earlier this month.  At the Mayor’s Concert, the Society will be performing a selection of choral works from their extensive repertoire which, apart from the great choral works, will include opera choruses, folk songs and songs from the musicals.

Hailsham Voices, directed by Abbie Marsden, is a community pop choir set up in 2018 with the aim of inspiring people to sing, regardless of ability or music reading skills. They will perform a string of contemporary choral works at the Mayor’s Concert.

Ben Hancox, who is currently pursuing a career as a tenor focusing on song and oratorio, has extensive choral experience with choirs, choral societies, vocal ensembles and barbershop quartet, performing a range of repertoire from song recitals to musicals. Recent performances include Tony Biggin’s String and recitals with works by Brahms, Schumann and Beethoven. In 2023 Ben will perform the title role in Hailsham Choral Society’s performance of Handel’s Samson.

There will be refreshments available at the end of the concert in aid of the Parish Church and a retiring collection to help support Hailsham Festival.

“Hailsham has such amazingly rich groups of choristers and it is an honour for me to be part of this year’s Hailsham Festival by hosting this special concert,” said Town Mayor Cllr Paul Holbrook. “I am very grateful to the Hailsham Choral Society, Hailsham Voices, Ben Hancox and, of course, the Festival Committee for organising what is guaranteed to be an amazing concert and I look forward to an afternoon of entertainment for us all on 10^th September.”

The Mayor’s Concert makes up part of this year’s Hailsham Festival, itself being one of the highlights of the town’s events calendar and attracting a cross-section of artists and performers from the Southeast and further afield.

Full details of the events making up this year’s Hailsham Festival is available to view on their website: hailshamfestival.uk.