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Dear All

Firstly, I would like to say a huge thank you to Chris following Saturday’s concert. It was a joyous event and wonderful to see everything come together after all the hard work put in by everyone, no-one more so than Chris. Preparing us for such a wide-ranging and challenging programme is no mean feat and wouldn’t have been possible without his tireless work in both directing us through the months of rehearsals, and behind the scenes producing all that fantastic practice material.

I was delighted when Chris stepped into the breach as acting Music Director last September, when David was unable to continue, and hope he has enjoyed it even half as much as we have. It has been a special year for our choir,  being directed by such a committed member and talented musician.  Highlights include the wonderfully successful late addition of the Holly Lodge concert to our programme, and singing with our amazing guest Choir, Ad Libitum. These were only made possible by Chris’s endeavours.  The magical, and most moving experience, I’ve had with the choir was singing together with Sheen Mount and Clarendon, a school for children with special needs, which was at his instigation.

Looking to the future, we will now be seeking to recruit a professional Choral/Music Director to take the permanent role and will keep everyone updated on process, progress and timings as we go forward.

In the meantime, have a lovely summer and I’ll see a few of you on the tour.

Siobhan

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

Hi all.

NEWSFLASH – tomorrow is going to be hot. WIth 200 people in the church (choirs = 50, orchestra = 10, audience =140, perhaps?) the concert will be very warm. Please dress appropriately. Not passing out takes priority over being in long sleeves or being colour-coordinated.

And please, bring plenty of water to both rehearsal and concert.

As they say in Merida

Manana!

CH

Here is a link to the programme which is now on our website: https://sheengatechoir.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Haydn-Programme-24-06-23.pdf. Please save and distribute as you wish. Copies of the programme will be available on the night for our audience

David

And so, after 19 Tuesday nights together, plenty of sectionals, and lots of individual work at home, our preparation is done. And it sounds great. Thanks to Bernadette for her help this evening, to Robert for his help every week, and to you all – including those choristers who came and sang and helped even when they knew they could not sing the concert – for your effort and commitment. There have, for sure, been times when it has been a slog, but here we are now with a very special concert in the offing.

But of course it wouldn’t be a rehearsal recap without a list of little things that can still be a tiny bit better!

Brahms – more dynamics. Then a bit more dynamics on top of that, and a bit more after that.

Haydn –
1. Precision, especially the timing of bar 79
2. Super-quiet in the ‘eine neue welt’ parts
4. First entry has to be as strong and convincing as the soloist who precedes it. You always have been, but getting the lead tonight from Bernadette seemed to distract you a little. Maybe practise with a recording?
13. Rhythmic strength – make ‘zeigt’ percussive and in general keep everything with a good strong beat
18. Altos and Tenors – check that bit at the bottom of page 79; everyone, make sure you start those long notes quiet so you have room to get louder
27. Keep the energy up! Sops and Tenors, really emphasise the fz markings on p 112. Dynamics-wise the movement is kind of all loud, but with room to shape individual phrases – make the most of that chance.
29.
Part I – the goal is to sound like one single harmonious voice underpinning the soloists. First entry has to be confident but quiet. Beautiful shape to the phrase ‘erschall in ewigkeit’ bar 34
Part II – entry at D bar 82 – sops, make sure you are ready and hit it with power. Everyone else, follow with the same conviction please.
Part III – respect the rests!
Part V – (M p130) – Dynamics! Quiet entry, then back and forth from loud to soft. MAKE SURE THE QUIET ENTRIES ARE NOT BEHIND THE BEAT! T&B at letter S especially.
33. Make sure you know how long the long penultimate note of p 151 is. Stephen is conducting 8 to a bar, so that note is 10 beats. Keep the energy high throughout the movement – we will all be knackered at this point. Tenors, entry at bottom of p155, please give it a look. Last pages – don’t lose concentration. This not the moment to come in a beat early!

Laudate Dominum – beautifully quiet and controlled. Just watch the ends of phrases – no holding notes longer than written please. Tenors, I’m looking at you!

We didn’t end up singing Habanera or Va Pensiero, but I am confident that they will run beautifully.

When we started out back in January, my hope was that, by this point in our rehearsal schedule, we would be happy that we know the notes and we would be fine-tuning and making the good truly excellent. And that is exactly where we are. These last few rehearsals have been wonderful, the sound you are making is truly lovely. By all means spend a little time this week checking you have all the details right, but now the main thing is to enjoy the fruits of your considerable labours. It’s going to be a great evening, with new friends to make and beautiful music to sing.

See you on Saturday. Bring your friends!

Chris

One more message for the day – if you have been struggling to see the words of the Verdi, I have an amended file for you that may help.

https://sheengatechoir.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Va-pensiero-choir-text.pdf

Sorry about the flurry of posts today. This one covers all you need to know for the big day.

In addition to being ready to sing on Saturday, we need to meet our Spanish guests and to know when to be where, as the second half involves us getting on and off stage. Nothing tricky, but we do need time to run through it, and we don’t want to do this while the orchestra is there, hence we need to ask you to be there before the official orchestral rehearsal time, please. It’s a long day but it will be well worth it.

Chris/Siobhan

Rehearsal

12.30pm – set up crew arrives. If you are able to offer to help please speak to Siobhan.

1-1.15 – arrive at church. Singing starts at 1.20. After Zorongo, SGC step outside church quickly and quietly so that CAL can rehearse their pieces.

2.00 – main rehearsal with orchestra, soloists, Stephen

5.00 – rehearsal ends

Concert

No later than 6.45pm – assemble in vestry

6.50 Warm up

6.59 SGC out on stage

7.00 Concert begins with Brahms

Haydn

Interval (bell will sound to indicate the concert is recommencing)

5 mins before interval ends, choirs reassemble on stage, standing

Laudate Dominum

SGC off to pews on right (as for piano interlude in December concert)

CAL perform 5 pieces

SGC return to stage, same layout as before

Habanera

End

Thank yous

Encore

If we start on time and keep everything moving along without unnecessary delays, expected end time is 9.15pm. But if we faff around, and especially if we let the interval drag on, it will be later.

Food for after-concert social

Please bring all food ready to serve (on a plate etc) and wrapped so that it can be safely stored until after concert. Take it to the bar table area where it will be kept until we are done. If anyone wants to bring their food to rehearsal then that’s fine as long as they provide their own cool box. No hot food as we won’t be able to manage it.

I omitted to mention that the link on the email you have just received frustratingly does not work (a current feature we are trying to remedy). You need to click through to our website to read the message and access the link. Normal service etc…

David

Here is a link to a pdf of programme which will be handed out on Saturday: Concert Programme. It’s on the issuu platform, is best viewed in full screen and is accessible on phone, tablet and laptop. You can also download a pdf version for your own use, using the download button.

It includes some useful narrative about the Creation work and the Zarzuelas that Ad Libitum will be singing and background information about the soloist and the Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra.

David

Morning everyone, I’m looking forward to seeing you this evening for our final rehearsal of a total of 19 that we have spent working on Haydn’s Creation, and other music to boot.

No more notes to bash, no words to learn, just details to sharpen and dynamics to beef up. Bernadette Lord is joining us this evening. She will be singing the soprano solo lines in a number of the pieces to give us an idea of how different it will be on Saturday.

There is a separate post pending with timing details for Saturday. Please make sure you read that and have everything clear. It is a complicated day with lots of movements. No pun intended.

See you this evening

Chris