It was raining, so we went to The Arc...

Lovely evening at Skinny Bananas Piano bar at The Arc in Caterham.

Thanks to all who looked after us... especially Nicky, Chris & Beth, but all were very friendly and helpful.

Many old friends (mostly mine as I am a South London boy) and new came to see us here, and despite the terrible weather created a delightful atmosphere...
Excellent joining in in The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and there was full use of audience space, especially from Sarah-Ann Cromwell!

So the Arc's mini a cappella fest... just us and the Canadians Countermeasure was a great success... Hope this small corner of the SE enjoyed its vocal music!

Off to more rehearsal now... and a Belgian tour later in the month...

Countermeasure & TLQ at The Arc

Two a cappella concerts for you (if you are prepared to come to the very south of London!)...
...at The Arc in Caterham in its Skinny Bananas piano bar... come & see:

The wonderful Canadian group Countermeasure, who we met last year... are on Friday 30th January...
...and we follow on Friday 13th February...
Don't miss The Arc's mini a cappella festival!

PS: You can also catch Countermeasure at Oxford (29th) and the London a cappella Festival (31st) - which of course has other joys!!

Montréal & Toronto

Marvellous times in Canada...

Firstly in Québec, just across the water from Montréal in St Lambert at the Centre Multifonctionnel; as ever in francophone Canada, we were greeted with great enthusiasm & the audience were excellent.
Great to exercise our French material again - Priez pour Paix (Poulenc) from our new CD, Songs of Love and War especially moving.

Then we chased over to Toronto, where we took part in SING! - The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival... delightful to meet (and hear) the excellent Aaron Jensen & his vocal tremendous group Countermeasure.
Aaron a great leading light in vocal music worldwide (composing, arranging, workshopping and singing) - very good to know him now.
Splendid to see Pat Silver too, whose idea SING! was (now in its third year), having met her in various events around Canada before - excellent to work for her!

Members of Countermeasure were kind enough to come to our workshop on Saturday afternoon, and join in with gusto, as well as some individuals & also an octet, Maple Jam from Vermont, who sang a glorious rendition of a piece by Piazzolla - great to hear them too!

We very much enjoyed our workshop, listening to great singing & sharing some knowledge.

Pity we were only in Toronto for 23 hours - there was so much of SING! to enjoy... a feast of vocal music...

The Little Trinity Church was truly wonderful to sing in, it was like having another two members with us! Great acoustic...
The audience were equally delighted by the classical and the pure, and by the jazzy and funny...

All in all, a quick but rewarding trip to Canada - we're back in Ontario and Québec in October...