History

Felling Male Voice Choir was established in 1920 and is based in

Felling Felling is the process of cutting down trees,"Feller" def. 2. and "Felling", def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009 an element of the task of logging. The person cutting the tree ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

, in the

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

of England. The choir performs throughout the region and also undertakes national and international tours, and has won several major awards. The choir has its roots in the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

and promotes male voice singing by developing an increasingly wide repertoire. With music from

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pren ...

to modern classics. In 2010 the choir celebrated its 90th year in a joint concert with the

Reg Vardy Band The Reg Vardy Band is a brass band based in North East England. Since 1958 the band has been nationally graded as a Championship Section band and has won the North of England Brass Band Championships 36 times since that time. In August 2016 i ...

Notable concerts

*October 2008: Celebrity Concert with Sir Thomas Allen (at Sage Gateshead)

Competition successes

The choir has the unique honour of winning the choral competition at the 1951 Festival of Britain.

The choir today

FMVC has a membership of around 80 members, ranging in age from 20s upwards. Their current director of music is Mark Edwards.

Repertoire

*The Long Day Closes *The Caller *Cullercoats Bay *I'm Gonna Sing

Discography

*Ain't Got Time to Die (1973) *Home and Away *Rejoice with Felling *Voices of the Tyne (1981) *Voices of the North *Chart Toppers (2006) *Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinny! (2006) *Christmas with Felling (2010)

Alumni

References

External links

Felling Male Voice Choir
website
FMVC on Youtube
photographic montage set to a sample FMVC music excerpts.
BBC News story
performed for Queen Elizabeth during a visit to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

.
The National Archives
stores records of the Felling Male Voice Choir from 1921-95.

for Queen Elizabeth at the opening of the

Gateshead Millennium Bridge The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne between Gateshead arts quarter on the south bank and Newcastle upon Tyne's Quayside area on the north bank. It was the first tilting bridge ever t ...

.
"Men of Felling"
a piece dedicated to the Choir by composer

Alan Bush Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed pro ...

.
Article on Alan Bush
in journal ''The Musical Times'', references "Men of Felling".
Entry for "Men of Felling"
at the Alan Bush Music Trust.
Catalogue of Records
at the Tyne and Wear Archives Service.
BBC News article
on a piece of public art incorporating recordings of the Choir.
Northern Echo Article
on For Saturday 10th Niv 2007 concert, at St Oswald's Church, Durham City {{authority control English choirs Music in Tyne and Wear Boys' and men's choirs Musical groups established in 1920