Pink Singers: A Hugill History

Yesterday Liang asked me to accompany him to a concert. We often go to the theatre together, but this time was rather special, because Liang was going to meet Robert Hugill. For those of you not in the know, Robert was the second musical director of the Pink Singers after Mark Bunyan, the first and founding member. Liang is working on compiling a history of the Pink Singers, and he decided to meet Robert and collect a bag full of old concert flyers and promotional material which Robert had stashed away in his attic.

The first thing to say is that Robert is an incredibly chatty and friendly man, and there was a real warmth about him. I could see the affection he had, and continues to have, for the Pink Singers in the animated way he would speak of the choir all those years ago. In many ways, although Mark created the choir, the new group was a fragile thing, and it was Robert who nutured it into the self-sustaining community we see today.

Liang and I had a quick rifle through some of the material Robert provided us with, and what a find it is! There are old concert programmes from 1985, a choir directory from the fourth European gay and lesbian choir festival (before it was called Various Voices, and before Legato was called Legato) and so many photos of Pink Singers of years gone by. It would be wonderful to get back in touch with the "choir of about 10 members who sing mainly cabaret", although Robert did mention with some sadness that several of those members are no longer with us.

As for musical material, much of Robert's body of work has been donated to the Hall-Carpenter Archives, so we now have a few leads on where to go next to find out more about the origins of the Pink Singers. One pity is that no matter how much sheet music, programmes and photos you have, the experiences and voices of the people who were there will be lost unless they are recorded. It was a real pleasure speaking to Robert about his history with the Pinkies.

So, how was the concert? Simply amazing. Robert is lucky enough to head up a choir called FifteenB (I asked him about this, and the title seems to have been a joke whick stuck for good or bad) whose main purpose is to sing works which he has composed. The works are largely sacred with some beautiful motifs, especially in a segment called Choruses from "Passion" based on a series of poems from an anthology by Carl Cook. The pieces were performed with incredible talent by a number of remarkable singers, and I want to highlight a soprano called Rowena Wells and a tenor called John Beaumont for having simply gorgeous voices. I think the Pink Singers have a good choral sound, but we have a way to go yet before we can attain that level of accomplishment!

Robert's works will be performed next on Saturday the 15th of March at Hampstead Town Hall where his piece Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night will be premiered. The choir performing will be the London Concord Singers, and it promises to be a treat!

I've added Robert's website, blog and MySpace pages to the Pinkie Friends links on the right, so do remember to check them out!