00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely to meet and to speak to the new music director of Horsham Chamber Choir, Penny Homer. Now you've been there a few weeks now, haven't you? And you have a very positive feeling about the choir. You've come into a choir, which as you say, is already producing a beautiful sound. That must be encouraging to start with.
00:23Yes, absolutely. It's such a joy to rehearse with them and feel those moments where it all comes together and you get this glorious wall of sound. And that's already happening. So I can't wait to see what we do next.
00:41And for you, it's very much a long term idea, isn't it? That you're feeling your way in. It's about building the trust and getting to know the choir. How's it going so far, would you say?
00:50Yeah, really, really good. There's such a lovely bunch of people to the point where one of my other groups was at a festival recently on the Isle of Man and I had a message from one of the choir members going, I've got friends there. They said you were great.
01:07You know, so it's really lovely to already feel that sense of community building and building up those relationships.
01:13And what are you feeling so far? Are there particular strengths?
01:16Like I said, they produce a beautiful sound. They really listen to each other and there's responsive, sensitive singing.
01:26And that's such a great place to build from to deliver some really, really great performances.
01:31But like all choirs, all choirs need to watch the conductor, don't they?
01:35Yes, the perennial conductor's battle cry, watch me! By no means unique to Horsham Chamber Choir.
01:48But yes, the more we get to know each other and the more we build that relationship and that trust, I know that will come.
01:56Yeah. And are you allowing yourself to think a little bit further down the line and think about the things that you want to do with Horsham Chamber Choir?
02:03You've got some ambitions there.
02:05I have so many pieces that I love so much from my own experiences of singing.
02:12And this group in particular is one where I would have that opportunity to put these pieces in front of them and share that with them.
02:22And I really can't wait to do that.
02:24Wow. So how quickly do we see your stamp in the programme? Does that happen straight away?
02:30I hope so. I mean, obviously, I want that to merge with Horsham Chamber Choir's vision, you know, as well.
02:39So it becomes one and the same.
02:41We are doing some pieces that the choir already know in upcoming concerts and slowly sort of blending that in with new pieces that I've brought to the group to build up their repertoire and expand our programming.
03:00Fantastic. Well, Penny, lovely to meet you. Congratulations on the post.
03:03Thank you so much.
03:04And good luck with everything.
03:06Your programme with it. Thank you.
03:09Thanks.
03:09Thanks.
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