Concert in the church
We went to London for a bit of culture. The day started off with a nice drive down to London in the sunshine. We arrived in West Hampstead to help with the most important part of the day - making sure that the singers had their supper ready for them when they had finished their dress rehearsal. I later found out that it was not only the dress rehearsal but the only rehearsal. The concert was a charity gig in aid of Streetwise Opera. This was launched to raise the confidence, self esteem and motivation of homeless and ex-homeless men and women by collaborating with them in the staging of professional opera productions. Most of the performers at the evening's concert are either professional or semi professional musicians and they gave their services free for the evening. Although most were from London one singer came from as far afield as Manchester.
Unlike the usual concerts I go to we were given a programme that tells you what they are going to sing! We were treated to:
C Hubert Parry
- I Was Glad
Charles V Stanford
- Justorum Animae
- Ceolas Ascendit
- Beati Quorum
Roger Quilter
- To Julia
(performed by Tom Raskin tenor and piano Simona Budd) - Gabriel Faure Requiem
The other soloists were soprano Helen Massey & baritone Stephen Wells. The organist was Alastair Friend & the conductor for the evening was Andrew Nicolson.
I will admit to being slightly biased, as Jenny's nephew organised the concert and he and his sister were singing in it, but they were very good indeed. You would not have realised that they had all only sung together for the first time that afternoon. To my ears they could not be faulted. At the end many of the audience commented on how good they were and at least one person enquired whether they could join the choir!
As we were there to raise money for the charity I have since found out that the 'silent' collection at the end raised £600 which far exceeded their expectations. A great evening out and well worth the drive down there. for more information on streetwise opera go to streetwiseopera.org
