In Flagrante World Premiere (or where do I stick it!)

Last night at the World Premiere of In Flagrante's Winter Concert 2023 we saw and heard ourselves on the big screen. 

Although it was the bleak mid-winter, some choir members braved it out in the cold dressed in their finery, glitz and glamour, while others took the option of wearing warmer clothes!

It was a great gathering in a small informal room with easy chairs and sofas with wine flowing or hot tea and nibbles to hand.

All was ready and we were soon all seated and watching the first half, complete with interviews from choir members and the audience. Unfortunately, the sound quality wasn’t great as it was coming through the computer speakers.  However, it was still good to see.

During the interval, while everyone was mingling and imbibing and getting their own special memory sticks, Alan did an amazing job with his technical skills along with his assistant, Carol. They discovered if you plug the memory stick into the TV USB socket, the sound was incredible when we watched the second half as it came through the TV speakers.

Remember to try this at home – plug your stick into the back of your TV. For those who were not there on the night, you can collect your memory sticks on Tuesday.

Watching our performance, as if we were sitting in the audience, was an amazing experience and it highlights how all the hard work of just nine weeks culminated in such a wonderful sound and we can be very proud of ourselves.

Of course, watching the concert as a whole from a distance, you can also be your own critic and spot areas where we can improve, not just from the singing point of view, but from the performance angle too.

The term leading up to the summer concert near the end of July (date to be announced soon) will be longer than the preparation time for the Winter Concert, so we’ll have more time to perfect our performance.

The starter songs are already in the Dropbox, so please print off your music scores and listen to the tracks, so we can be ready to hit the ground running on 16 January.

As a little taster, The House of the Rising Sun, an old classic, is a new song for all of us.

This song is a traditional folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans.

Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the same fate.

The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by the British rock band The Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and in the US and Canada. As a traditional folk song recorded by an electric rock band, it has been described as the "first folk rock hit".

An interview with Eric Burdon revealed that he first heard the song in a club in Newcastle, England, where it was sung by the Northumbrian folk singer Johnny Handle. The Animals were on tour with Chuck Berry and chose it because they wanted something distinctive to sing.

Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and check out our new On the Trillers Perch, a special area for members to share their visits to: The Theatre, Opera, Ballet, Cinema or any Exhibitions you may have been to. Perhaps give stars * out of 5. Just email a paragraph to Pauline. This was inspired by our own Michael Lowe who has started us off with a poem.

Our Winter Concert

We began in September,

dazzling evening sun slanting across our song sheets,

snatched smiles about summer in the Algarve, Boston, or Corfu,

some golfers still finishing their game outside,

and some in the choir looked out longingly.

We finished in December,

Only 14 weeks later….. but a world apart now:

a new king so a new queen,

and an old war not that distant----no choir concerts there.

Wet and cold here now, but we, warm with our singing.

Lyrics by Sammy Kahn, Franz Gruber, John and Paul, Don McLean

Music by Mumford and Sons, Irving Berlin, the Turtles, Jeff Lynne

With new arrangements by Eamonn and Elliot,

some difficult.

As we edge towards our Concert,

much improved from only 3 weeks ago,

Elliot urges, corrects us, repeats, sighs, smiles--wanly at times.

Then we sing.

We smile when our audience shows their pleasure,

we are delighted that Elliot is happy, proud and content.

Michael Lowe

7 December2023

See you all in good voice on Tuesday