Christmas Concert

For this year’s Christmas concert, Stourport Choral welcomed its supporters to the impressive Areley Village Hall where once again it was joined by 16 youngsters from Lickhill Primary School Choir. In addition, both musical director and accompanist stood in at short notice due to unforeseen circumstances, with thanks to Ryan Bunce and Pei-Yu Chu.

‘Joy to the World’ was in fact a joyous opening to the concert with some lovely harmonies and this was followed by the first of five carols, ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ to which the audience were invited to join forces with the choirs. The school choir led ‘Away in a Manger’ following which Stourport Choral sang four numbers; ‘Angels Carol’ with its gentle opening and later up tempo, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ according to Ryan some polls indicated the nations favourite, led by the ladies with good control, ‘Sans Day Carol’ believed to have originated from Cornwall, and ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ which literally bounced along beautifully.

The youngsters then sang two songs to backing tracks; ‘Two Thousand Years Ago’ and ‘Midnight’ and I noticed that several of the singers knew the words unaided. Part 1 of the concert then concluded with another carol ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ for which I was surprised to see the programme indicated the composer was unknown. (I understand it is often attributed to John Francis Wade, often associated with John Reading, although the most popular English translation was created by Frederick Oakeley in1841 – according to google! )

‘Sleigh Ride’ provided a jolly start to Part 2 and later in ‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’ we were entertained with more lovely harmonies. I enjoyed the next audience carol ‘Good King Wenceslas’ (In my range) which was followed by ‘Bethlehem’ with its gentle beginning but built progressively. The school choir then returned leading a glorious ‘Jingle Bells’ followed by ‘Rudolph’ unaccompanied, and then ‘Born on Christmas Day’. Kelly Rodriguez was thanked for leading the school choir.

The Stourport choir returned with ‘Pavane for a Silent Night’ with its Spanish influence and to everyone’s enjoyment and amusement, Penny led us through ’12 Days of Christmas’ with all the actions! We were then entertained by not one but two encores;  ‘White Christmas ‘ and of course ‘We Wish you a Merry Christmas’. A great couple of hours entertainment with my thanks for the usual warm welcome.

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