User:Chrisyoung60/CantataLadiesChoir

Who are we?
Cantata is a ladies choir which meets in Luton, England, once a week. Our purpose is to make music to entertain and raise funds for charities and churches. We number about 35 ladies plus our Music Director (Chris Young) and our pianist (Paul Craggs). The type of music we perform ranges from the light classical through to pop tunes and West End musicals.

A Brief History of Cantata
Towards the end of 1991 the four remaining members of The Lewsey Singers, Marilyn O'Dell, Anne Jephcott, Kath Woodbine and Margaret Edgeworth asked Mike Miller to help them prepare for a Christmas Concert at a local community centre. Little did any of them know that this was to be the start of something quite special. They enjoyed working together so much that they decided to continue. They were soon joined by June Gascoigne who encouraged some of her friends to come along and they gave their first concert in November 1992 to a capacity audience at St.Martin's Infants School in Pastures Way, Luton. Others soon heard of this new ladies' choir and as the word spread so the choir grew and soon attracted a good number of former members of the famous Luton Girls Choir.

In 1993 it was decided to change the name to Cantata to represent new aspects of the repertoire and membership and the fact that this was a new choir, and was going to make itself known among the many musical groups in the town. Soon they were giving regular concerts and helping to raise funds for local churches and charities.

Between 1995 and 1997 Cantata gave some memorable concerts at Luton Hoo. This splendid venue attracted a larger audience, people who had never heard of us and tickets were always sold out in no time at all. Year by year the choir goes from strength to strength. As in all choirs and choral groups, as each year passes we lose some members and gain others. The demise of the Putteridge Singers, although sad for them, brought us a number of good voices and helped us to achieve a fuller and more balanced sound.