Congratulations! I think all of you who took part last night know just how well you did. In true SGC fashion, you saved your best for the big day and produced a wonderful sound, full of passion and contrast. The feedback from all quarters was full of praise. Every single one of Stephen, Louise, Henry, Ben and the orchestra said how much they enjoyed working with us. One quote, from Ben Thapa: You’re such a fantastic choir, with heart and energy and commitment.
Last night we said in person thank yous to the performers, to our new amigos and amigas de Merida. Marta gave me a lovely note, from choir to choir, after the concert. Unfortunately the website is refusing to let me upload any photos, so you can see it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KF1p1sEjI15yU2T5-erznm6eQZqMDwlg/view?usp=sharing
There are many more internal thank yous that I need to say.
First and foremost, to you all for the immense effort you have put in over 6 long months. Through the cold, dark February Tuesdays when the notes were unknown and the words impenetrable. People who knew they could not make the concert still came on Tuesday nights and helped the rest of us learn. It is arguably the hardest piece we have ever taken on. There is more technical trickery in the Bach Magnificat perhaps, but in terms of sheer physical effort, this was a biggie. Kudos to all of you for pulling it off so well.
To Robert, for his vital part in getting us ready – sorry that you were not able to be there to hear the fruits of your labours, Robert.
To Caroline for organising the soloists, including a late-day replacement, and Teresa for helping us find the orchestra.
To Simon and David for the excellent programme.
To Douglas and the bar crew for managing to serve a hundred glasses of wine in 15 minutes flat. And to all who provided food for the after party, which was the perfect end to the day.
To everyone, too many to mention, who helped with set-up and recombobulation afterwards. Bex Slack and various family members pitched in even though they were not singing. And indeed thanks to those who regularly get to rehearsals early to allow us to start practices on time.
To Hannah and Camilla, who ‘volunteered’ for the seemingly small but very important job of making us look sharp and professional through the Haydn, and took that worry out of Stephen’s head.
Especially to Siobhan, who took on a massive chunk of logistical work and ran the whole day brilliantly. Please don’t underestimate how much thought and planning has to go into a day like yesterday. Both rehearsal and concert ran on time to the second.
And finally, to Marta – and Jose and Gala too. It was Marta’s idea to make this a combined concert, and while I know that the date change it required meant that a couple of people could not sing the concert – I am very sorry for that – I think everyone who was there genuinely enjoyed it. I think I speak for us singers, for the audience, and the professional musicians who complimented us after not just on our singing but on how much fun it was.
I will let Lesley tot up the figures in due course, and answer the question a few of you asked afterwards about numbers in the audience and how much we brought in.
Some of the audience took recordings of parts of the concert. I am hoping that we may be able to view these soon. Bex Slack’s husband Will took some excellent still photos – you can view them here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/198604581@N07/sets/72177720309315994/
A couple of notes for the future:
No. We are not going to be putting on flat caps and performing dance moves in our next concert.
Yes. We will definitely be exploring the possibility of a return trip to Merida at a future date.
And our next concert will be determinedly simple music, for the most part at least. You have earned the right to sing stuff that won’t challenge you or take as much learning effort as this one. The question of what goes into the next concert is still up for grabs. If you have ideas, now is the time to speak up. I hope you have the intended date, Saturday December 16th, in your calendars already.
So that’s it for our 2022-23 season. With the small exception of the 15 of us that will be doing it all again – with all the bits we cut out added back in – in Vienna in 2 weeks’ time. I will see those of you at Heathrow. And the others, have a good summer, keep singing, and I look forward to seeing you in September.
Congratulations!
Chris