Women of Note is a Brighton-based ladies choir who sing multi-part arrangements of music: all styles and genres. All funds raised from our concerts are donated to charity. We are also available to sing for local care homes, parties, weddings and other live events.
Cara Barseghian (Musical Director) is a local Professional Singer and Choir Leader. As well as leading several groups, she runs workshops in the Community for all ages; from babies to Octogenarians and beyond!!
Cara performs as a Solo Recitalist, is one third of satirical cabaret trio ‘The Cocktail Party’ and is a member of Early Music Choirs: ‘A Bunch of Daphs’ and ‘The Harmonia Trio’.
Heather (currently on sabbatical) is originally from Canada where she grew up listening to many different types of music, taking piano lessons and singing in the church choir. Since living in Brighton, she’s sung with a number of different choirs and now enjoys being a member of Women of Note because it’s such a great group of friends who all love singing together. Heather also likes how Women of Note sings an eclectic mixture of song styles and is adaptable to a variety of concerts and events purely done for the joy of singing and raising money for charity alongside.
Pamela has been singing in choirs since primary school. More recently she has been singing with a church choir as well as with WON, and has also been singing with two amateur operatic companies, including a step-out role in New Sussex Opera’s production of ‘Indian Queen’ by Purcell. She loves all things musical and plays classical guitar (badly) and teaches Scottish Country Dancing once a month.
Margaret was introduced to singing by her mother, who loved to sing & play the piano. Margaret sang in school & university choirs, and after a long gap began evening classes in singing when she moved to Brighton in the early 1990’s, also changing career from social worker to librarian. She has sung with various local groups including Music Makers, New Sussex Opera, inHouse Opera, and Lipsync; and is currently a member of the South Downs Folk Singers as well as Women of Note. She feels very privileged to have had the opportunity to sing an eclectic range of music whilst having fun and enjoying the communal sense of singing together.
Rebecca’s senior school choir was her introduction to part-singing and her first experience of singing something other than the tune, something she has been doing enthusiastically ever since! Chapel choir at college instilled a love of sacred music (preferably ancient music sung in ancient and beautiful buildings) but she enjoys all of the WON repertoire and revelled in the undreamt-of cool of having taken part with WON in a rock opera at the Brighton Fringe.
Jess discovered her love for singing with others whilst at college. She always sings alto as she loves to harmonise and sing low.
Her dad adored singing the second tenor line in a very successful male voice choir for many years. Jess saw the enjoyment and friendships it can bring, so finding a choir once she had moved to Brighton was a must!
Jess has spent all of her education studying music, playing instruments and singing and continues to do so in her career, wherever she can. She has enjoyed all her experiences in a variety of choirs but none so much as in Women of Note where an eclectic mix of songs combine perfectly with friendship and lots and lots of laughter.
Tam: “I rediscovered my love of singing at 30. I heard on a radio programme that you could go back to what your heart desired by figuring out what you used to find yourself doing at age 5, and so I joined a choir. That led to workshops, singing holidays and lots of fun!
Now singing is more than just a love to sing, it’s a sense of community, friendship, support, love and a chance to do something for others.”
Home was always full of music, and instrumental and singing lessons from a young age launched many happy years of performing, from Mozart to musical theatre. Always keen to participate in a wide variety of music genres from classical choirs to rock bands, Rosamond loves singing alto parts, harmonising and improvising. Teaching Art and Drama in schools for over three decades has given her many opportunities to enjoy and sing in a wide variety of musical styles. Meeting fellow members of ‘Women of Note’ in ‘Brighton City Singers’, ‘Lipsync’ and ‘Brighton Voices’, and singing with Max in ‘Itchy Fingers’, has given her many rewarding years of fun and friendship.
Cath OddHayward comes from a musical family, singing and playing instruments from an early age in a range of youth, school, church and music school choirs including singing solos and alto lines. Previously in Lipsync, Cath sings in the church choir at her local Methodist Church on Sundays, a Capella with her daughter at special events such as Christmas Carol services, christenings, weddings and funerals and is one of the founding members of Women of Note, where she mostly sings alto and has been known to play the recorder and shake the tambourine!
Cat was bitten by the singing bug when her junior school choir was chosen to support Joseph & his Technicolour Dreamcoat for a two week run at Lincoln’s Theatre Royal. She sang in school choirs and musical productions and after moving to Brighton in 1994 one of the first things she did was to join a choir – the Brighton Orpheus. Since then she has sung in a number of local groups including New Opera Viva, Lipsync & inHouse Opera and relished the chance to sing the alto solo in Mozart’s Requiem with Brighton Voices. More recently she sang Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Phillipa Rees, accompanied by Nick Andrews.
After nearly 20 years working at Sussex University organising conferences she became the administrator for the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra seven years ago, allowing her to combine her love of music with her obsession with stationery and ‘To Do’ lists.
Text about Max to follow… watch this space!
Jools discovered her voice in her late 20s when, after years of singing along with the radio, she began singing with others; firstly in workshops, then in choirs. Led by charismatic choir mistresses Laka Daisical, Ysaye Barnwell and MJ Paranzino, Jools has been lucky enough to sing in some amazing venues, including the ICA, Omega Institute, Royal Festival Hall and Royal Albert Hall where, having volunteered to work with a couple of acts needing backing vocals for a one-off show, she ended up singing gospel with Jocelyn Brown and show-tunes with Elton John and Kylie!
Zhanna Kemp (Accompanist) is originally from St Petersburg in Russia and has lived in Brighton for the last 7 years. She is a pianist and piano teacher during the day, but in her spare time enjoys nothing more than hanging out with singers and other musicians, as long as there is also chocolate involved. She enjoys all forms of music, but classical is her passion, with some opera thrown in for good measure. She is frequently to be heard on the stages of East Sussex, and has performed at the Brighton Fringe many times.
From 2013-2016 musical coaching and piano accompaniment for Women of Note was provided by Timothy Thornton.
From 2017-2018 piano accompaniment was provided by Joe Ward and then by Jonathan Leigh.