Extract from a Review in Newbury Weekly News published Thursday June 22, 2006

An Instrument of many guises

           Newbury Chamber Choir and Newbury Baroque Players:  St Nicholas Church, Newbury on Saturday 17^th June 2006

Harps featured in two very different recitals on one day

.....

Diffident could also be used to describe Newbury Chamber Choir's approach as they filed out for a quiet but creditable opening with Purcell's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, solemn and sober, hardly evoking a summer evening, but then of course directory Edward Lambert was just setting us up for what was to come.

First star in the firmament was Michael Buchanan with Holst's Concertante for Trombone and Organ.  With his ear finely-tuned, supported attentively by Stephen Holmes, his tone throughout commanded attention, firm and bell-like.

The second star, Katrina Damigos, has a most pleasing summery voice of transparent clarity yet with good follow-through in the sustained notes.  With her O pray for the peace of Jerusalem (John Blow), she lifted the choir's mood in time for them to give the right sense of tension and mystery to Holst's Choral Hymns for the Rig Veda.

Next on the horizon was the harp, in the hands of Jenny Broome.  Not the tiny clairseach, but the full concert variety, driven by her immense experience and professionalism.

She was joined by percussionist Rosie Toll, former Newbury Young Musician of the Year, playing the marimba, and with Michael Buchanan, the trio embarked upon Edward Lambert#s Concerto Cubico, conducted by distinguished repititeur Stephen Westrop.

Edward Lambert's introduction, itself well constructed and rehearsed, made it easy to get straight to the rich textures and melodies of this intricate and striking piece.

That could have concluded a fine concert in itself, but we had to wait for Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and the voice of the necessarily very youngest performer, Angus White, a pupil of Diane Gough.  With already quite a mountain to scale set by Katrina Damigos, he turned out a real showstopper performance with his presentation of the 23rd.

As for the choir, they had now cast aside their modest restraint, and, coping admirably with the Hebrew syllables, stars and chorus launched in on this spectacular work.

Rosie Toll's percussion interventions were fantastic, the harp truly orchestral and Newbury Chamber Choir held all in balance, down to the last note, dying away into quadruple piano.

PATRICK COGSWELL