Come and Sing :
Opera Day
2 March 2015. St Chads Church. Shrewsbury.
Famous Opera Choruses and Arias 'The Big Shrewsbury Sing Along'.
‘Come and sing fabulous opera choruses in the company of some of the region’s finest young soloists.’ Who could resist the invitation? Our daughter came up from Brighton especially for the occasion to join about 60 others including many members of the Cantata Choir. On a bright, crisp spring day we all gathered in the lovely, sunlit interior of St Chad’s. After a brief warm up we were off. Thomas had wisely redrafted the programme cutting out some of the more ambitious numbers we had tried and fluffed in rehearsals. What we experienced was an exhilarating ride through the operatic repertoire, starting with the slow, sorrowful Lament and Final Chorus from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, stopping off at Mozart, Donizetti, Bizet and Verdi on the way, before ending up almost two hundred years later with the flamboyant Waltz Scene from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.
Although the pre-concert blurb had assured us that all choruses would be sung in English, we bravely (and I think rightly) ventured into Italian and French...but wisely did not attempt the Russian! All the time we were accompanied by the brilliant Shah Johan Sharidzuan. Several of the choruses showcased our soloists, all of whom were students from the Birmingham Conservatoire, namely Aimée Daniel (mezzo soprano), Chloë Pardoe (mezzo soprano), Robert Tilson (tenor) and Wesley Biggs (bass). It was hard to believe such full voices could come from such young people. They should all do well!
The day had plenty of free time to relax our voices, refresh our bodies and enjoy the sunshine. Several of us took the opportunity to get to know those who had joined us for the day. Many of them were members of other local choirs whilst quite a few seemed to travel the country in pursuit of singing workshops. The bass next to me had recently returned from a singing holiday in Georgia – the country, not the American state! All had excellent voices. Let’s hope a few of them will choose to settle down and sing with us regularly.
After the tea break we reassembled for a short concert in front of a small but select audience. This was the chance for the soloists to display their full ability as they interwove famous arias with our choruses. Outstanding for me was the tenor and bass duet ‘Au Fond du Temple Saint’ from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. Apparently they had only decided to throw that one in at the last minute! Even Shah Johan had his moment in the sun as he zipped through Chopin’s Minute Waltz, fingers flying in all directions.
My only reservation was doing the most challenging piece last – the Tchaikovsky Waltz Scene – and feeling we had not really done it justice. But overall it was a brilliant day. Great music, wonderful soloists and accompanist, enthusiastic singers...and masses of lovely sunshine to boot. In the words of our daughter: "What a fantastic day! Being part of a choir that has been singing for a number of years was a great opportunity and to sing in the company of such talented soloists was a real delight. I'm looking forward to the next workshop already!"
Many thanks to Keith and Thomas for putting the day together and to all the many others who made this new venture such a great success. Anthony Rathbone.