Opening of the Bath Festival and Singing in the Round
23rd May 2008
Homesongs in Bath Abbey. Singing in the Round's Performance group joined nearly 1000 other singers in this enormous vocal piece, written by Pete McGarr as the main event in the opening night of the Bath Music Festival.
The Performance Group sang a gig at the Quaker Meeting House, York St., Bath on the same opening Night
We had a rousing reception and as an encore sang Sao Roma, headed by a group of our sultry gypsy lasses.
Singing in the Round Easter Celebration
March 29th 2008
It was a wet, grey Saturday when Singing in the Round and Singing in the Bath’s members, friends and families assembled at Parish Church of St Swithin, Walcot, Bath, the location chosen for our Easter Celebration held on 29th March, 2008. The spring morning held little promise of brightening for the planned picnic in the nearby park and rolling of eggs.
We worked through our varied repertoire of songs, old and new - rom the lively swingin’ sixties Beatles number ‘Help’ to the emotive Mumblin’ Word describing Christ’s crucifixion. ‘L’amour de moi’ rendered by female voices only, with a solo from Anne (Bath), accompanied by Brian on the hurdy-gurdy and Louis and Alex on drums, gave this quaint 14th Century song a unique timbre. In contrast, Sao Roma began with a duet from Candy and Eileen (Bath), the full choir and drums then joined them, quickening the pace to encapsulate the energy and excitement to graphically illustrate the lyrics of a song about a Romany gypsy festival. Finally the audience joined the singers to sing and dance their way through Amen Siakudumisa with great gusto!
Picnic and egg rolling, in the best tradition of improvisation, took place in the crypt.
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Celebration Sing
November 3rd 2007
Something rather special happened to celebrate 10 years of Singing in the Round when seven neighbouring community choirs were invited to join members of Singing in the Round at Holy Trinity Church, Trowbridge for their “Celebration Sing”. Amassing a large crowd of enthusiastic singers under one roof for a whole day proved to be an exciting and thrilling event - the ultimate songfest. However the icing on the celebratory cake was that our guests, La Coral Sant Miguel de Campanet, visiting us on a three day exchange from Mallorca, were here to take part in our celebration.
The brilliant late-autumn morning augured well for the success of the day that laid before us. Upon arrival the bright sun’s rays beaming through the windows on to the autumnal leaves and berries that bedecked the interior of the church were a welcoming sight for the 250 participants.
After refreshments and a chance for everyone to become acquainted the proceedings commenced in earnest with each choir director leading a mini-workshop. A variety of songs were eagerly learnt and sung with considerable zest thanks to the expertise of the teachers and the enthusiasm of their students. The rafters were raised with joyful renditions and the camaraderie became practically tangible.
The culmination of the event was the Performance when each choir performed two songs. A diverse selection to suit all tastes, many originating from various countries around the world, all impressing the audience made up of their fellow-songsters. La Coral Sant Miguel de Campanet, singing in their mother-tongue lent an air of authenticity to their programme which included the Mallorcan folk song “A la ciutat de Napols“.
Finally Candy Verney of Singing in the Round literally wound up the day (and the singers) by encouraging us to pass a ball of ribbon around whilst singing, in English and Spanish, “We are the Thread” until the entire group were embraced within it, illustrating effectively how the joy of singing binds us all together. Margaret (Trowbridge) “Everyone was so friendly” “One of my best days ever” “What a Triumph!”