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27th February 2004
- Prestigious Music Award to Choir Director Dursley
Male Voice Choir Music Director Barrie Cooper has received the award of
Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music, LRSM.
Barrie Cooper had his first piano lesson over 50 years ago, taking lessons with Miss N. K. Gardner in Lower Street, Stroud. He passed all 8 grades with distinction by the age of 17. Around this time he had moved with his parents to Lincolnshire, where he spent his working life as a teacher of French after graduating from Reading University, choosing to confine his piano playing to recreation and relaxation. Some relaxation! Throughout these years he was official accompanist at 3 music festivals in East Yorkshire as well as playing for two choirs and was MD of an Amateur Operatic Society. On retirement in 2000 he returned to Stroud, where his mother now lives, and decided it was time to complete the musical journey he began as a boy. Barrie passed the Diploma of the Associate Board of the Royal Schools of Music in 2001 with Distinction, scoring 91%, so qualifying to enter the examination for LRSM. Only 93 people achieved this award in the UK in 2002, with a further 110 in the rest of the world. This award, formerly know as LRAM, was obtained by performance of a 45 minute recital to a panel of examiners in Bristol, followed by interview, called the Viva Voce, written notes to support the programme of music played and a sight reading test. He chose the accompanist option, which entailed accompanying Jenifer Harper, a Soprano soloist well known in the Stroud area, singing songs by Debussy and Britten’s Seascape. The remainder of his programme consisted of playing music by Haydn, Brahms, Granados and John Ireland. Barrie joined Dursley Male Voice Choir as principal accompanist in March 2001 and took over as Music Director in 2003. He reports that the challenge presented by training and performing with an 80 strong Male Choir is giving him new musical experiences. 2003 saw him lead the choir on a tour of British Columbia, Canada and he is now rehearsing the choir to compete at the Cheltenham Music Festival, followed by an appearance in the Royal Albert Hall in October. He also plays for the Stuart Singers in Minchinhampton, who can be found at www.stuartsingers.com
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