Devizes Arts Festival – Upavon Military Wives Choir, St Andrews Church, Sunday, 12 June

Upavon Military Wives Choir is one of some 80 such groups established on military bases in the UK and around the world – and one of their members is the Army wife, who played a central role in starting this remarkable network.

Introducing the choir at St Andrews Church, Nicky Clarke gave the audience a first-hand account of how she contacted Gareth Malone by email about the choir she had set up at Catterick Garrison when the Brigade, in which her husband was serving, was deployed to Afghanistan.

And the rest, as they say, is history – the choirmaster, who has re-ignited popular interest in community singing, went on to set up similar choirs in Chivenor and Plymouth for a television series.

Together, as Mrs Clarke explained, they were the genesis of today’s Military Wives Choirs Foundation, which provides a valuable support network for woman in the military community through singing.

The Foundation aims to ensure a lasting legacy of choirs to enable those involved to share the enjoyment and pride that comes from singing together, which was demonstrated throughout the Upavon group’s performance under the able direction of musical director Hannah Sandhu.

Whether singing an Adele hit song or leading the audience in The Land of Hope and Glory those listening were left no doubt about the pleasure they get in performing and being in each other’s company.

Jane Scorer

Julian Richards at the Town Hall Monday 6th June

Stonehenge: old rocks, new discoveries

It is easy to believe having worked at Stonehenge since 1980 your enthusiasm might fall especially when it is impossible to verify any hypothesis for the iconic stones existence. Not so with Julian Richards, bubbling with enthusiasm, the engaging author of the official guide to Stonehenge enthralled an audience of 150 at his Devizes Arts Festival talk last week.

Identifying advances in technologies such as electromagnetic imaging and carbon dating enabling accurate data Julian debated theories for Stonehenge’s purpose - a place of death or of healing: the certainty that the sarsens came from near Marlborough whereas the blue stones from the Preseli Hills could have originally formed another monument elsewhere in Wales. Explaining the lack of evidence to prove the relocation of blue stones within Stonehenge or interaction with Durrington Walls enabled Julian to intrigue his audience.

This was a splendid talk and made it a must to view all the best finds now housed in the Wiltshire Museum.

Mike Sanders

Trio Isimsiz at the Town Hall Wednesday 8th June

The Trio Isimsiz concert was a superb advertisement for three young men who are beginning to make their mark in world of chamber music. Their programme gave the audience a good idea of the wide range of their repertoire from the more subdued demands of Haydn's Trio in E flat minor and the passionate and subtle writing in Schumann's Piano Trio No. 3. The highlight of the evening was their performance of Schubert's monumental Piano Trio No.3 written in the final year of his life in 1828. One marvelled not only at the individual artistry of the young performers but of their precise and expressive playing as an ensemble. We wish them good luck in their forthcoming concert at the Aldeburgh Festival at the end of this week.

David Lucas