So Very Much..................
What a lovely concert we had last night - and given the fact that almost nobody had lessons for the past 4 weeks, the soloists and duettists were tip top!
We held it in a atmospheric local restaurant cum cultural centre and we actually performed in the eating area with the tables removed and filled with comfortable 'conference' chairs. It has such a warm and welcoming ambiance, and even with 30 singers, plus piano, pianist and page turner, it did not feel cramped at all.
The Clandonald Centre with the restaurant.....what a venue!
The part songs were snappy and colourful, and the Mozart Nocturne, which I had railed about during the last, and my only, rehearsal had a much better tone quality, it felt richer and rounder! Well done for that.
In my game, you are are almost always 'losing' ones top performers as they move on to higher things, and bringing on tinies who are just beginning their journey. There was a wonderful moment last night when, during the final applause, my lovely young soprano who is leaving us for the Royal Welsh College of Music, and for whom it was the last performance as a member of Inner Sound, was taking the applause whilst standing next to little L who is 7, and for whom it was a very first concert with Inner Sound.
They both looked happy and fulfilled, either with pleasure at the thought of a job well done, or pleasure from a new experience which (hopefully!) was a positive one!
I regret now not taking a photograph of the two of them. The end of one fine era, and the beginning of another.
It is difficult to put into words how valued, and how much missed will be R, but a double loss for us is that we also lose T, her husband, who has been a rock in the group, with his fine baritone. Like R, I taught T from the age of around 13, and he has passed through Conservetoire, decided singing was not for him, married a very beautiful Paradise soprano, and seems very happy and contented to move to Cardiff and enjoy her experience of the same. R, I have taught from 12, and whilst it is such a sad loss vocally, I value the two of them as much, and maybe more, as people before singers, so the loss is at a deeper level.
Vocally, someone else ALWAYS crawls out from 'under a bushel', and the journey goes on, but losing friends is much tougher.
I wish R all the success she so richly deserves, and I wish both of them a happy and exciting time in this new phase in their lives.
Last night R chose to sing a small Schubert lied, Das Rosenband, which she has sung for a number of years, so the development in her approach, and her appreciation of the 'beauty of small', was very apparent in the delicate way she sang. Big is easy to do, small takes much more thought and effort. It was a delightful performance and a fitting finale.
If you want to see a photo of them go back to the HMS Pinafore blogs from last July 2010, they were Captain Corcoran and Josephine.
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