Songs from around the World

It was with some sadness that Stourport Choral staged this concert as their Musical Director Julian Manchee had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away two weeks previously and so the opportunity was taken to dedicate the concert to him and to present the receipts of the concert to his chosen charity Crohn’s & Colitis UK.  And so, Pam Craven bravely stood in for Julian and did an excellent job leading the choir of over 30, whilst Angie Allard provided some beautiful accompaniment on piano. The evening was introduced by Phil Smith who periodically provided some amusing anecdotes to ensure the performance flowed well.

The choir was smartly dressed in black, the ladies with red scarves and the men with red ties, and the audience were pleasantly arranged, predominantly behind tables. The concert opened  with a rousing ‘I get around’ as recorded by the Beach Boys and followed by ‘Myfanwy’ with a gentleness and sincerity, recognising Julian’s Welsh connections. There followed a stirring medley from ‘West Side Story’, with ‘Somewhere’ sung particularly well. ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ fulfilled another country in the choir’s travels and so too did the ‘Kookaburra Song’ with some unique animal noises!

After ‘Polotsvian Dances’ by Alexander Borodin, four of the ladies and 2 of the gentlemen sang a tuneful ‘Kamalondo’ in Swahili. One of the other ladies then joined the group, in addition to Steve on guitar, for a great version of ‘Country Roads’ by John Denver. The first part was then concluded by a medley from the movie soundtrack ‘Mamma Mia’ with some great accompaniment from Angie on piano.

The second part kicked off with a melodic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and after a very nice ‘Chorus of the Hebrew slaves’ the choir sang ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ with gusto. ‘Dry Your Tears, Afrika’ by John Williams was sung in Mende, a language spoken by 46% of Sierra Leone. The volume was then raised with ‘And the Glory of the Lord’ from Messiah by Handel, which was in memory of Julian, who had included it in his last concert. This was followed sensitively with ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ from the musical Carousel by Rogers and Hammerstein II.

Then the choir took us to Egypt with ‘Grand Chorus’ from Aida, a difficult piece but well handled and the concert concluded with ‘Jerusalem’ when the audience were invited to stand and join in – which we all did. The concert was a fitting tribute to Julian Manchee and the choir should be congratulated for fulfilling the event, which I am sure is what Julian would have wanted.

I look forward to ‘A Stourport Christmas’ in December when Stourport Choral will be joined by Stourport On Severn Brass Band.

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