This is Staffordshire --
City of Stoke-on-Trent Male Voice Choir – Longton Central Hall
Saturday, April 20, 2013
THE CITY of Stoke-on-Trent Male Voice Choir, or The Men Who Sing, are the city's premier male voice choir and this concert showed off their full potential.
With performances by guest soloists Denise Leigh, Philip Cartwright and Stefan Andrusyschyn, the concert featured 25 different pieces of music that worked together to create a show that was tantalising to the ears.
It started with a rousing rendition of Llanfair before continuing with the pop song Love Is All Around.
Within the first two pieces the choir showed off their versatility with ease.
All three guest performers showed off their ability with great confidence in the first solo set. Later on, one of the highlights was Denise's rendition of Climb Every Mountain from The Sound Of Music. Even with the audience joining in you could still hear her singing the high notes with ease.
After the first soloist set the choir continued with the piece that no male voice choir concert would be complete without – Calon Lan. This was an excellent rendition of a classic involving not just piano but organ accompaniment as well. Rhythm Of Life is a notoriously hard piece to perform and the choir did well with their version but at times it felt like the piece was beginning to run away with them.
The first half ended with what was referred to as an up-to-date number from the 1970s, with Is This The Way to Amarillo. This was an unusual version and didn't stick true to the pop classic. It worked very well and got the audience clapping along and tapping their feet in time.
After the interval the audience got the opportunity to join in with Cwm Rhondda, another male voice choir staple, before a couple of pieces from Les Miserables.
Bring Him Home showed off the wonderful harmonies and blend of voices that the choir has and Master of the House showed that it wasn't just the guest soloists who can put on a show as Chas Powner performed an excellent solo.
The concert finished with Denise joining the choir for a performance of Easter Hymn.
This was a fantastic end to a wonderful evening of music making which pushed both the choir and soloist towards their limits.
- DANIEL KEEN Reported by This is 8 hours ago.
City of Stoke-on-Trent Male Voice Choir – Longton Central Hall
Saturday, April 20, 2013
THE CITY of Stoke-on-Trent Male Voice Choir, or The Men Who Sing, are the city's premier male voice choir and this concert showed off their full potential.
With performances by guest soloists Denise Leigh, Philip Cartwright and Stefan Andrusyschyn, the concert featured 25 different pieces of music that worked together to create a show that was tantalising to the ears.
It started with a rousing rendition of Llanfair before continuing with the pop song Love Is All Around.
Within the first two pieces the choir showed off their versatility with ease.
All three guest performers showed off their ability with great confidence in the first solo set. Later on, one of the highlights was Denise's rendition of Climb Every Mountain from The Sound Of Music. Even with the audience joining in you could still hear her singing the high notes with ease.
After the first soloist set the choir continued with the piece that no male voice choir concert would be complete without – Calon Lan. This was an excellent rendition of a classic involving not just piano but organ accompaniment as well. Rhythm Of Life is a notoriously hard piece to perform and the choir did well with their version but at times it felt like the piece was beginning to run away with them.
The first half ended with what was referred to as an up-to-date number from the 1970s, with Is This The Way to Amarillo. This was an unusual version and didn't stick true to the pop classic. It worked very well and got the audience clapping along and tapping their feet in time.
After the interval the audience got the opportunity to join in with Cwm Rhondda, another male voice choir staple, before a couple of pieces from Les Miserables.
Bring Him Home showed off the wonderful harmonies and blend of voices that the choir has and Master of the House showed that it wasn't just the guest soloists who can put on a show as Chas Powner performed an excellent solo.
The concert finished with Denise joining the choir for a performance of Easter Hymn.
This was a fantastic end to a wonderful evening of music making which pushed both the choir and soloist towards their limits.
- DANIEL KEEN Reported by This is 8 hours ago.