Well, that is it! What a great climax to nearly four months of rehearsing. Despite some of the tribulations on the way it was really great to see everyone mucking in and turning out what I think was one of the best concerts we have ever done.
The festivities actually began on Friday when a whole lot of the Pinkies went down to St. Pancras station to pick up Equivox. Lynne, in quintessential tour guide mode, was carrying our placard from the last Various Voices. This led to repeated random people coming up to us and saying, "I am with the Pink Singers". Oh ho ho. What hilarity.
Equivox must have been at the Parisian end of the train because it took them an eternity to emerge, and when they did it was en masse. Stéphane, Simon's and my host when we were in Paris, arrived sans his partner, but came with Alain instead, the Pink Singers' guide when we were in Paris in 2005, so there were no strangers. We drove them back to the flat and went for a swift half pint at the local pub.
The next day we had a leisurely breakfast before our French guests had to escape and find a decent espresso. I had been to Monmouth coffee house the day before where I picked up the Colombian medium roast, but for some reason it came out rather dilute from my stove-top espresso pot. Even I found it disappointing. Still, the four of us met up again for lunch at Masala Zone just of Carnaby Street. Unfortunately my tolerance for spiciness exceeds that of my continental friends and I fear the whole dietary excursion was quite an adventure for them...
The warmup started at 4 p.m., and thanks to last weeks' dress rehearsal, everything moved much more smoothly and in an almost leisurely way. All too soon it was 7 p.m. and time for the doors to open! Equivox opened the first half after Philip R's usual laid-back but oh-so-professional introduction. He managed to pick out a few unsuspecting members of the audience, including Anthony's friends who were seated in the front row, for a bit of good-natured banter.
Then Equivox came on stage. They never cease to amaze me with their stage presence - this time they really ran with the idea of the beach party we saw in Paris and there were members of the choir dressed in everything from swimming trunks to hula skirts to scuba gear. Their movements on stage are as dynamic and Babette, their musical director, really led the way in a very relaxed but exciting performance.
The songs I really liked were Aline and Amore. Compared to their performance in Paris, this performance was even better - musically they were much tighter and the space on stage also meant they could go wild. There were several moves which provoked spontaneous laughs in the audience. I couldn't suppress a laugh when some of the women took out sun-tan mirrors in the opening song!
All too soon it was our turn on stage - we opened with Dies Irae, the song I think most of us were worried about because of the difficult lyrics. Perhaps it kept us on our toes because it did sound amazing, even if I say so myself. We are an amateur choir where the majority of people do not read music, but I really do think we sound good by any standard. The performance was punchy and crescendoed beautifully.
One slight difference this season was the involvement of several members of the choir in making announcements. It was fantastic to see how different people took personalized spins on how they would approach introducing their sections. Philip and Hsien were relatively serious for the Latin pieces, Johnathon spoke in French for the French songs, Joey and Susan camped it up for the showtunes and Andrew and Lynne did a bit of bum wiggling for their intros.
I won't go through the songs individually, but the ones which I thought were wonderful were Come What May which had some members of the audience in tears, and Dirait-On which had a wonderful understated elegance about it. I especially loved the tenors' little coloratura. I also want to highlight the sops' ultra high notes in Lacrimosa. You did us proud girls! The other person who deserves special mention is Zane, our sign-language interpreter, who made all the difference with his enthusiastic jumping and jiving to our music.
The after concert passed in a blur. I met up with my friends in the bar of the Royal Academy of Music, then some of us went on to G-A-Y. Simon and I decided we were old fogeys and went to Chinatown for a very late dinner instead. Needless to say none of us made it on time to the post-concert brunch the next day (due to begin at 11.30am apparently). By mid afternoon, however, there was a sizeable number of people there, and it was a chance for the two choirs to mingle and slap each other on the back.
Then it was time for Equivox to leave. Liang, Simon and I saw them off at St. Pancras - I was just a little sad to see them go, but more overwhelmed by exhaustion than anything else. We just collapsed on the sofa when we got home and watched Heroes. Whew!
A couple of highlights of this concert which I haven't yet mentioned:
1) We were sold out! This is the first time it has happened, and I think was a combination of many enthusiastic new members, a January concert (rather than December) and the increased reach via the publicity team, Facebook and MySpace.
2) It was Marina's last concert with the Pink Singers after a decade of membership. We will be very sad to see her go - all the best in Oz! We'll sing with you again. x
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