Summer of celebration for Plymouth Philharmonic Choir

Plymouth Philharmonic Choir got the party started when they raised a glass of fizz to thank two very special people: Jenny Shepley, their recently retired accompanist of 23 years, and Christopher Fletcher celebrating his 25th anniversary as the choir’s Director of Music.

Jenny is an extraordinarily talented accompanist, who took up the role, just for a term, to ‘give it a try’. Thanking Jenny for her years of dedication to the choir and for her hard work and excellence, Christopher Fletcher described their time together as a perfect partnership saying that ‘if I could have designed my own bespoke, choir accompanist the result would have been Jenny’.

Christopher Fletcher was appointed in 1996 at a time when first class postage was 26p, the average house price was £53,394, the Spice Girls had their first Number 1 hit ‘Wannabe’, Independence Day was a box office hit, and in the FA Cup final Manchester United beat Liverpool 1:0. Looking back on what seems like a different era, where popularity comes and goes and there has been such a rapid rate of change in the intervening years, one thing that the group is extremely grateful for is Christopher’s unwavering commitment to making the choir the best it can possibly be. His energy and enthusiasm know no bounds and are infectious, making rehearsals a dynamic experience. He has a special ability to instil the emotion and sentiment in the music being learned which have led to so many memorable, moving experiences for audiences at well over 70 major concerts with the choir.

Choir president, Brian Gerry, said: ‘The recent performance of Verdi’s Requiem was, in my opinion, one of the highlights of your 25 years, if not the number one!  I look forward to many more concerts with Christopher at the helm.’

The choir will be performing in July.