Sussex Voiceworks – 31 July 2021
Nothing can stop Sussex Voiceworks having fun with music!
After 14 months of rehearsing and performing on Zoom, local choir Sussex Voiceworks was preparing for their end of season celebration – an open air ‘Singing Picnic’. We had found the perfect venue, the garden of Henfield Hall, and the perfect date, end of lockdown on 21st June. All our plans were in place and the day came. First, no end to restrictions, so we were limited to 30 people meeting outdoors. Second, the rain came and hammered down all day! Worried messages flew round, would our longed for event be cancelled? The chair gritted her teeth and replied, “No, nothing is going to stop us”.
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Come 6pm and we were erecting gazebos to protect the keyboard player and singers and the rain finally stopped. True it was chilly but everyone arrived in high spirits. We warmed up and prepared for our first proper sing together. As we launched into Mozart’s Ave Verum, the delighted look on our conductor Sarah Forbes’ face told us that we still had it, we could do this! It was a truly emotional experience.
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The rest of the evening continued in fine style. We had engaged some young professional singers who had been hard hit by lockdown to support us during the year, and five of them came along. They entertained us with gorgeous, and in one case hilarious, solos. At the end everyone agreed that we’d had a memorable time and must do it again at the same place next year.
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Now we are all ready to restart in-person rehearsals in the Shoreham Centre from Monday 6th September at 7.30pm. Anyone can come to one of our Monday rehearsals to try us out before joining and we would love to welcome more tenors and basses.
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For more information and contact details see our website at http://sussexvoiceworks.
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