 Welcome to Opus 18-
an adult community choir for men and women, set up in September 2011, by
Evelyn Sutherland, local piano teacher and vocal animateur. We welcome
singers of all abilities. There are no auditions and there is no
requirement to read music as we learn from a mixture of sheet music,
words only and aurally. We sing in a wide range of styles including classic pop, sacred, folksongs, musicals, African chants and harmonies and many more – something for everyone!
The emphasis is to come and sing together for an uplifting evening
of fun and song with a real community feel. The social, physical and
emotional benefits of singing in a group are tremendous and we encourage
you to come along and have a good sing, even if you think you can’t! We
do like to have lots of laughs too so please bring your sense of humour!
We believe everybody has a voice and is valued. We have a short chat
break during rehearsal and we like to meet up socially every term.
 The
choir, with just over 100 members , meets on Monday evenings in term time,
in Priory Methodist Church, Newnham Avenue, Bedford.
It is also great to be able to give something back to the community
and at our concerts so far we have raised around £20,000 for the following
charities:The Bedford Daycare Hospice, The East Anglian Air
Ambulance, Bedford Food Bank, Alzheimers Society Bedford, Cystic
Fibrosis, Keech Hospice Care, BBC Children in Need, the Pink Lotus
Women’s Cancer Support Group, the Tibbs Dementia Foundation, Swaziland
Schools Projects, The MS Therapy Centre, The Prebend Day Centre, Sue
Ryder St. John’s Hospice, Bedford’s Primrose Unit Challenge Cancer
Appeal, the Bedford Support Group for Families with member with an
Eating Disorder,Bedford Open Door, Motor Neurone Disease, The John Bunyan Museum,
Stroke Association (Bedford), Kings Arms project for the homeless, Parkinsons UK and NSPCCMeadowbank
Neonatal Unit, Canine Partners Bedford, Beds Prostate Cancer Support
Group, Bedford and District Cerebral Palsy Society, Bedford Disabled
Horse Riding Association, Families First Bedfordshire’s Horizon Project,
Free Cakes for Kids.
We hope you would like to join us – new members are very welcome
if there is a vacancy –
come and check us out! You are welcome to turn up to a rehearsal or
concert or to make enquiries to Evelyn Sutherland on:
evsutherlandmusic@hotmail.co.uk
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During lockdown we have been continuing our weekly
rehearsals online via zoom. We have had tremendous fun keeping our
community together, all of us getting to grips with technology! We have
had themed nights taking us to the theatre, cinema, the sea, VE Day, the
last night of the proms and countries around the world, to name just a few of
our themes, singing for fun as well as working on our vocal technique
and harmonies.
As we begin our 10th anniversary year,
we will continue rehearsing online for a while yet until we can meet and
sing together safely.
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