Sat, 8 Oct 2022

An amazing concert, put together in record time following a vastly shortened planning period.

Our first annual concert in 3 and a half years was the first to be coordinated by Jen Talbot and the first to be led by our new MD team of Gena Rose, Olly Balcombe and Rob Hales, following the departure of MD Rónán de Búrca and AMD Lindsey Williams, in the summer. Rob had a particularly special day as he bcame engaged in the afternoon, to his partner, John. Congratulations from us all.



We were supported on the St George's Bristol stage by The Chandeliers, (led by friend of Sing Out Bristol Wendy Sergeant) and Bristol Gay Mens Chorus (led by our former MD Rónán de Búrca).

Our part of the concert on the night, consisted of songs from our summer performances, with 3 songs from our recent past repertoire. Although all of the songs were familiar to older members of the choir, they were new to many and made for a very steep learning curve indeed, making the standard of the overall performance even more remarkable.

The theme of the concert was re-starting, demonstrating how it felt to be back singing together and showing the world we are still here, being ourselves despite all the challenges thrown at us.

We asked each of the choirs to sum up how it felt to be back and put a compilation video of some of those on screen as each choir came to the stage.  Here are the three videos:
 

The Chandeliers

 

Bristol Gay Mens Chorus

Sing Out Bristol

"Wow Rob what a day - congratulations! " - Ian Howlett (Basses)
"Well, absolutely *glorious* humans. We smashed it!! " - Avery Hammett on Facebook

"Buzzzzzzzing! Such an enormous privilege to sing in St George's again with you guys, gals and non binary pals , something I had thought could never happen again. Thank you so much to those who put in the long hours of work to make it happen especially Jen and Gena and the whole Sing Out team  Never give up friends. We are Glorious! " - Lis Beere on Facebook

"I'm so happy and proud of each and every one of you!!! So many people absolutely raved about how great you sounded, how amazing you were from start to finish & how they were deeply moved to tears of joy!!! THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK AND... YOU TOTALLY, ABSOLUTELY, BLOODY, BRILLIANTLY SMASHED IT!"  - Gena Rose (MD) on Facebook

IN REPLY TO GENA'S POST
"Cheers Gena, much appreciated" - Alfie Green

"And thanks to you for all your hard work too x" - Andrew Rosser

"What Andrew Rosser said! Thank YOU! And Jen and all the wonderful Sing Out family " - Lis Beere

"Wow, what a show. I've had a number of comments telling me how fantastic our moves were last night. I know that movement and Choralography is not to everyone's tastes and can be challenging in terms of pushing you out of your comfort zone, but I'm genuinely in awe of how each and every one of you trust us and just throw yourselves into it, and really commit to it. This concert has been especially challenging to prepare for due to timescales, but you have all worked so incredibly hard (especially the newer members, absolutely amazing!) and last night we reaped the rewards from all that effort and hard work. You should all be really proud of what you've achieved. This choir is so special, and so unique - it's a genuine privilege to be a part of it.
Also, huge shout out to Avery, Nick, Keyz and of course, superhuman Jen - who have all been putting in a lot of work behind the scenes, getting to choir early and sacrificing breaks to get us concert ready. Avery & Nick had only joined the team recently and were massively chucked in the deep end and have done such a great job considering.
Thank you all for your hard work - now time to relax and celebrate! xx" Vince De Freitas (Choralography co-lead) on Facebook

"And you too, Vince. You are equally amazing in your quiet, but always dedicated and hardworking way. X" - April Pye

" While I was busy taking myself on holiday straight after the concert, for a couple of days R&R, Gena, Vince and others have said everything I could possibly want to say. So I’m just gonna add a huge thank you to all of you, and leave it at this - SMASHED IT!" - Jen Talbot (Concert Coordinator) on Facebook

IN REPLY TO JEN'S POST:
"Thank you Jenny - You've worked so hard without complaint to produce a brilliant show  So patient with everyone's demands, never mind singing and dancing aswell !!! Just fabulous. Xx  - Hilary Miller

"Thank you Jen, you did an awesome job!" - Karen Goddard

"I'm awestruck at how brilliantly you coordinated the concert, right down to sitting by me when I was feeling inadequate. An awesome job indeed, Jen, and thanks so much" - Lesley Welch (stage manager for the evening)

"Thank you Jen" - Serena Hevesi

"You were amazing and seemed super chilled despite what must have been a stressful time on the day of the concert I am sure that helped us all be so amazing! You have organised the concert and done lots of the choralography too! We definitely need to get you a superhero cape or something! Well done on an awesome concert!          Xxx xoxo" - Becky Unwin

"Thanks again Jen, it was so nice having you in charge (you have a lovely approachable style) Fab job done xx  Ps. That brilliant This is Me finale was one of my favourite moments ever! " - Lis Beere

"Awesome. You should be so proud. You did such a magnificent job under very difficult conditions. I am so very proud of you." - Dave Johnson

"You did an amazing job, Jenny!! Congratulations and now enjoy a rest xx" - Andrew Jarrett (screen controller for the evening)

"Thanks for all your hard work, Jenny" - Andrew Rosser

"Enjoy your well deserved rest. Loved our concert." - Alfie Green

"Totally agree with all the other comments. Added to which you remained cool, calm and collected when asked questions or needed to clarify things. If that was a facade it was a very convincing one!" - Nick Gill




"Brilliant Concert  " - Peter Twining (former member) on Facebook

"Was a fab evening. Was lovely to see you all singing live." - Peter Lyth on Facebook

"Yes.. Brilliant. An unscaleable wall of sound and energy with beautiful on-point harmonies. So impressive. " - Eddie O'Sullivan (former member) on Facebook

"What a fab show you put on last night - really einjoyed it. So lovely to see you all. Sounded great! xx" - Jane Emma (former member) on Facebook

"You sounded fantastic last night a huge well done. Lovely to hear some old music and you sang it beautifully. Miss you all should definitely think about coming back soon x" - Polli Mulder (former member) on Facebook

"Another great show! Well done all involved x" - Pete Spain (former member) on Facebook

"It was a fabulous evening. Well done to all involved " - Saadia Thomson on Facebook

"You always improve year on year, which always amazes me, but this time you jumped ahead 10 years! Incredible" - Chris, audience member 


To view the complete concert as a playlist click here

01 Save The World/Don't You Worry Child


02 Opening Speeches (Gena and Jen)


03 Truly Brave


04 Viva La Vida


05 Just Give Me A Reason


06 Second Speeches (Nigel, Alfie and Matthew)


07 Asimbonanga


08 Shallow


09 Purple Rain


10 MD Speech (Gena)


11 Let The River Run


12 Rise Up


13 Closing Speeches


14 This Is Me


15 Thank You Speeches


16 Finalé: I'm Still Standing (all choirs)




CLICK ANY IMAGE BELOW TO SEE THE FULL GALLERY