History - 2003

April 25, 2003
    EnKor’s first concert at St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral. Concert in aid of the children of Iraq.

    The audience was impressed by the classical pieces, and was very enthusiastic when the gospels were performed. The concert ended with a swinging and clapping audience singing along with the choir. EnKor dedicated this concert to the children of Iraq and proceeds were handed over to the Malta Red Cross Society.

May 18, 2003
    Gospel mass at the Nazarene Church in Sliema. The mass was one to remember thanks to EnKor's excellent performance. Its contribution was intensified when the audience was given the lyrics of the songs and started to sing along.

June 13, 2003
    Live TV performance of 25 minutes in a charity marathon at St. Venera. During this marathon money was raised for missions in Peru, the Philippines and Pakistan, and also for the local St. Joseph's Home in St. Venera. EnKor performed 5 gospels and received a lot of positive reactions from the audience.

July 27, 2003
    Gospel mass at the Nazarene Church in Sliema. Again it was an amazing experience! The following months were reserved to prepare a complete Christmas repertoire.

November 3/4/6, 2003
    Master classes conducted by Kees Doevendans, a Dutch conductor and musicologist, who trains conductors for examination and sits in juries of the conservatory. He, together with a Dutch tenor, Martien van Schijndel, visited Malta especially for EnKor. The choir learned and practised voice techniques and became familiar with new ways of interpreting music. The way the tempo of some pieces was treated, experimentally, was at times quite revolutionary and the effect was amazing. Afterwards, when the tempo returned to normal, the same music was sung in a completely different way due to this experiment.

    During these master classes Mr. Doevendans also had his own arrangement of Silent Night on the programme. This internationally well-known Christmas carol was sung in such a special way that its sensitive spirit even touched the choir during rehearsals. It certainly was one of the jewels of the Christmas concerts.

Left to right... Johanna, Kees, Martien

December 12, 2003
    Christmas Concert at St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral in Valletta. The programme of the Christmas concerts was again in the style of EnKor’s previous concert, an eclectic mix of different styles of music. Besides centuries-old music, new Christmas songs and arrangements were on the programme. Of course, EnKor would not be EnKor, if the last songs were not gospels, performed in a real and intense gospel atmosphere; moving, swinging and very lively.

December 18, 2003
    Christmas Concert at the Mother of Good Counsel Church (Millennium Church), Paceville. A new composition was launched! The King of Kings is Born, a lively song containing characteristic gospel elements. This is a special piece because there aren't many Christmas gospels that have an up-tempo rhythm. Aldo Polidano composed the melody.

December 25, 2003
    EnKor on radio. The response to this performance was great. The program turned out to be a complete success when after the first broadcast on Christmas Day, the program was repeated three more times, the last one being on New Year's Day.