A day trip up north for a lunchtime concert in Dewsbury Town Hall.
Wonderful old-school tradition of municipal music season (not so usually seen these days); and many turned out on a sharp sunny day for lunch and our concert.
Having celebrated the Yorkshire Calendar Girls in the RAH a few days before, it was good to be in God's own county. (Tho' Mike did remind them, before his rendition of Myfanwy that, of course, Wales is God's own country).
Great hall to sing in, tho' with a squeaky-to-the-foot front stage; undoubtedly safe, but still a bit disconcerting...
...dis-concert-ing!! Geddit?
Excellent pint of Yorkshire beer (Black Sheep should you wish to know) on the way home.
Soon to be off to the USA for a mid-west tour; & to take a peek at the elections over there...
Yee-haw!
etc...
Sunday, 14 October 2012
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Tim Rice new show
Not wishing to boast - though perhaps that is what this blog is all about! - but the eminent lyricist and our old friend Tim Rice asked us to sing on a second demo for his new musical, with young composer Stuart Brayson, From Here to Eternity... for those who do not know the novel or the film, it is based in and around the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which dragged the USA into WWII.
The show is destined for the West End in the middle/autumn of 2013... can't wait! I know which theatre it will be in, but I'm not certain I am allowed to tell you!
But for the moment we provided vocals for this demo of the song, The Boys of '41 which will hopefully help this massive new première - Tim's first new show for 10 years...
The show is destined for the West End in the middle/autumn of 2013... can't wait! I know which theatre it will be in, but I'm not certain I am allowed to tell you!
But for the moment we provided vocals for this demo of the song, The Boys of '41 which will hopefully help this massive new première - Tim's first new show for 10 years...
new downloads available
Hooray - more fun for all...
Two older albums are now available for download; eventually they will be on all platforms, but for the mo'
In Cambridge on Amazon
And Now on iTunes
...this also mentions the possibility of downloading Music of the Night...
The eagle-eyed of you might notice that not every track is there on these CDs; there will be more releases soon... including individual live tracks which we are presently 'finding'... and/or cleaning of noise (you know the thing, exuberant audiences!!)
Have fun reliving Cantabile-The London Quartet.... or just go and discover if you have not heard these before...
Two older albums are now available for download; eventually they will be on all platforms, but for the mo'
In Cambridge on Amazon
And Now on iTunes
...this also mentions the possibility of downloading Music of the Night...
The eagle-eyed of you might notice that not every track is there on these CDs; there will be more releases soon... including individual live tracks which we are presently 'finding'... and/or cleaning of noise (you know the thing, exuberant audiences!!)
Have fun reliving Cantabile-The London Quartet.... or just go and discover if you have not heard these before...
Friday, 12 October 2012
They flew to Bruges
A lovely Bruges Blog
...apologies if you are not fluent in Dutch/Flemish... (There is a photo.)
...but I am told it is a positive thing!
...apologies if you are not fluent in Dutch/Flemish... (There is a photo.)
...but I am told it is a positive thing!
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Seasons of Love
Fabulous charity evening at the Royal Albert Hall a few days ago...
Lovely array of stars, and a gloriously moving & life-enhancing show for all.
Lynda Bellingham, Janie Dee, Jennifer Ellison, Jan Harvey, Julia Hills, Sue Holderness, Lesley Joseph, Gay Soper, Hannah Waterman, June Watson, Stephen Tomkinson, Christopher Timothy, Peter Skellern, Richard Stilgoe, Edward Baruwa, Tiffany Graves, Patrick Doyle, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Tim Firth, Alan Titchmarsh, Tabitha Webb, Debbie Kurup, DMJ & Willy Russell... were all there live; John Alderton, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie & Patricia Hodge all appeared on film with messages of support.
Also on film was Neil Sedaka, who was clearly delighted that we sang his song, Calendar Girl... we were delightfully aided in not looking too dreadful in our 'dancing' as we were joined by the gorgeous and talented, Rossana Stocchino & Lucie Waugh, who danced beautifully.
We also sang Scarborough Fair (in our great John Rutter arrangement) with the excellent harpist, Vicky Lester.
Another wonderful moment, when a young tenor from the West End Chorus, Ian, stepped in at just a few hours notice, and sang the absurdly hard song, 'Til I Hear You Sing from Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies - terrific job to learn a song over night & do it so amazingly in the show
The show was a celebration of the work of those WI Calendar Girls who we know from the film and stage play, but are real splendid Yorkshire people whose calendar has to date made £3m for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research...
The audience, it was clear, loved the film, the play and these amazing fund-raisers.
The evening culminated in the real Calendar Girls, along with their photographer Terry Logan, coming onstage, and being the recipients of the first Baker awards, which will from now on be awarded annually for people who do great things for fund-raising.
The 'Girls' were tickled pink when the postman from their village of Cracoe, who had only been to London once before ("It's all right", he said when asked by Alan T. how he found it)... very moving and funny all at once.
Indeed we all sang Jerusalem together at the end it all...
Hugh Wooldridge as ever, did a wonderful, efficient job devising and directing all this, and getting it to work in the RAH over just a few hours... super MD: Kevin Amos, wonderful choreographer: Kevan Allen.
PS: lovely also for me to hear once more Make Our Garden Grow from Bernstein's Candide, which we had sung at our wedding...
Lovely array of stars, and a gloriously moving & life-enhancing show for all.
Lynda Bellingham, Janie Dee, Jennifer Ellison, Jan Harvey, Julia Hills, Sue Holderness, Lesley Joseph, Gay Soper, Hannah Waterman, June Watson, Stephen Tomkinson, Christopher Timothy, Peter Skellern, Richard Stilgoe, Edward Baruwa, Tiffany Graves, Patrick Doyle, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Tim Firth, Alan Titchmarsh, Tabitha Webb, Debbie Kurup, DMJ & Willy Russell... were all there live; John Alderton, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie & Patricia Hodge all appeared on film with messages of support.
Also on film was Neil Sedaka, who was clearly delighted that we sang his song, Calendar Girl... we were delightfully aided in not looking too dreadful in our 'dancing' as we were joined by the gorgeous and talented, Rossana Stocchino & Lucie Waugh, who danced beautifully.
We also sang Scarborough Fair (in our great John Rutter arrangement) with the excellent harpist, Vicky Lester.
Another wonderful moment, when a young tenor from the West End Chorus, Ian, stepped in at just a few hours notice, and sang the absurdly hard song, 'Til I Hear You Sing from Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies - terrific job to learn a song over night & do it so amazingly in the show
The show was a celebration of the work of those WI Calendar Girls who we know from the film and stage play, but are real splendid Yorkshire people whose calendar has to date made £3m for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research...
The audience, it was clear, loved the film, the play and these amazing fund-raisers.
The evening culminated in the real Calendar Girls, along with their photographer Terry Logan, coming onstage, and being the recipients of the first Baker awards, which will from now on be awarded annually for people who do great things for fund-raising.
The 'Girls' were tickled pink when the postman from their village of Cracoe, who had only been to London once before ("It's all right", he said when asked by Alan T. how he found it)... very moving and funny all at once.
Indeed we all sang Jerusalem together at the end it all...
Hugh Wooldridge as ever, did a wonderful, efficient job devising and directing all this, and getting it to work in the RAH over just a few hours... super MD: Kevin Amos, wonderful choreographer: Kevan Allen.
PS: lovely also for me to hear once more Make Our Garden Grow from Bernstein's Candide, which we had sung at our wedding...
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Blieskastel, DE
Another excellent a cappella nacht organised by Peter Martin Jacob & Magenta, this time in Blieskastel... with some new and some old friends...
Lovely to see our Belorussian friends, Camerata, and to meet the male quartet Die Bogarts who are based in Berlin.
A packed crowd enjoyed all three groups & cheered us to the rafters...
A terrific evening, and lots of convivial meals too!
Delightfully, we're back in the same hall in Blieskastel, doing our Best of British show on Valentine's Day next year... How romantic!
In the last few days we have been rehearsing, and are now looking forward to our bits in Seasons of Love at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow evening... at 6pm... along with Stilgoe and Skellern, Janie Dee, Stephen Tomkinson, Lynda Bellingham and Alan Titchmarsh amongst others, as well as the City of London Philharmonic and our old friends the West End Chorus...
We're singing Scarborough Fair as well as the Neil Sedaka hit - Calendar Girl - the evening is in aid of Leukaemia charities, and some of those Calendar Girls will be there...
Climaxing with that great WI hit... Jerusalem!
Lovely to see our Belorussian friends, Camerata, and to meet the male quartet Die Bogarts who are based in Berlin.
A packed crowd enjoyed all three groups & cheered us to the rafters...
A terrific evening, and lots of convivial meals too!
Delightfully, we're back in the same hall in Blieskastel, doing our Best of British show on Valentine's Day next year... How romantic!
In the last few days we have been rehearsing, and are now looking forward to our bits in Seasons of Love at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow evening... at 6pm... along with Stilgoe and Skellern, Janie Dee, Stephen Tomkinson, Lynda Bellingham and Alan Titchmarsh amongst others, as well as the City of London Philharmonic and our old friends the West End Chorus...
We're singing Scarborough Fair as well as the Neil Sedaka hit - Calendar Girl - the evening is in aid of Leukaemia charities, and some of those Calendar Girls will be there...
Climaxing with that great WI hit... Jerusalem!
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Brugge (anag...NOT!)
Two contrasting, tho' both excellent, experiences in the Netherlands and Belgium...
On the Dutch reclaimed coast to the west of Rotterdam, we had a splendid a cappella time at the Theater Twee Hondjes (Two Puppies' Theatre!)... singing Madrigal to McCartney - Back in Holland!
...and great it was to be back in a Dutch theatre.
There was a wonderful moment in this show, when Bob accidently stood on a prop - he was not affected by this, except that it was a car horn; the timing of which was quite excellent, & thus we others did all find it rather funny... we managed to sing the next song, I am delighted to say!
Then, after a day off in Rotterdam & Bruges (how lovely!), joined by Chris Hatt we performed a Best of British show at the Stadsschouwberg Brugge... Chris once again brought his whole family, wife, kids and parents too.... fantastic...
...and to a packed house once more, complete with an after-show dance for the audience (it's becoming a bit of a habit!) - wonderful theatre... as you can see; and we had a forest of union flags waving away at our Land of Hope and Glory (spoof) at the end of the show...
PS: Theatre in Bruges is in Vlamingstraat... so I felt at home!!
On the Dutch reclaimed coast to the west of Rotterdam, we had a splendid a cappella time at the Theater Twee Hondjes (Two Puppies' Theatre!)... singing Madrigal to McCartney - Back in Holland!
...and great it was to be back in a Dutch theatre.
There was a wonderful moment in this show, when Bob accidently stood on a prop - he was not affected by this, except that it was a car horn; the timing of which was quite excellent, & thus we others did all find it rather funny... we managed to sing the next song, I am delighted to say!
Then, after a day off in Rotterdam & Bruges (how lovely!), joined by Chris Hatt we performed a Best of British show at the Stadsschouwberg Brugge... Chris once again brought his whole family, wife, kids and parents too.... fantastic...
...and to a packed house once more, complete with an after-show dance for the audience (it's becoming a bit of a habit!) - wonderful theatre... as you can see; and we had a forest of union flags waving away at our Land of Hope and Glory (spoof) at the end of the show...
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