Seasons A Year In Song

This was my second visit to Stourport Choral, the last being two years ago when I attended a very different concert An Evening of Disney! However, the warm welcome both my wife and I received was just the same as last time. The audience were invited to sit at tables which were all decorated with a seasonal theme, whether that be Spring through to Winter and this all added to the cosy warm feeling that was felt throughout this concert.

All the numbers which the Choir sang this evening were to have the same season theme and the evening started out with a rousing rendition of ‘Good Day Sunshine’ to remind us all of the wonderful Summer which we have all just had! 
With a choir of this size it is of course impossible to talk about each individual member, however mention must be made of the solo numbers which some members carried out. We had Mary Sinclair who sang that wonderful number from Porgy and Bess, ‘Summertime’, which transported us to the Deep South, followed by Pam Craven and Sharon Toy singing ‘The Rose’. After a couple more, numbers where everyone was involved, we then had a group of members then singing and playing those vintage sixties numbers ‘Sunny Afternoon’ and ‘Autumn Almanac’ which had the audience tapping their toes and I did hear one or two singing along! The first act then came to a close with ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, a beautiful number from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, Unfortunately, technical difficulties were experienced during this but we were to be treated to another performance of this at the end of the concert.

Act two started with the whole choir singing ‘Misty’ reminding us that Autumn was now here with wonderful misty mornings. Caroline Worthington then gave us that classic Barbra Dixon number ‘January February’ followed by the choir singing ‘Fly Me To The Moon’. Alan Savage had a late change of number to the one in the programme and gave us another Rogers and Hammerstein, this time from South Pacific, ‘Younger Than Springtime’. Jim Parker, the final soloist, sang, ‘It Might as Well Be Spring’ before the final numbers again from Carousel but this time ‘June is Busting Out All Over’ followed by the haunting ‘Fields of Gold’.

As I mentioned there were technical difficulties at the end of Act one and so the final number performed by the whole choir was once again, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and I’m sure a lot of the audience were tempted to this time sing along to this wonderful anthem.

Taking us through these wonderful numbers, sung by this talent choral society, was Julian Manchie. Not only as musical director but also as compère taking us on our journey with humour and knowledge. 

A wonderfully enjoyable evening was had by all, so congratulations to Stourport Choral and I hope that I may be invited to some of your future ventures.
 
 

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