by Geoffrey Churchman
Yesterday afternoon on a 13-C grey day in Waikanae Beach I went to this choral concert by a Porirua based group of singers, and a few instrument players — piano and violin — that took place in St Michael’s Anglican Church.
The theme above of this year’s song collection (last year’s was Love’) didn’t sound cherry but reflected the mood I was still in from the KCDC meeting two days earlier. Actually there was a mix of song styles with different dispositions: whimsical like ‘Carol Brown’ by NZ duo Flight of the Conchords to dark like ‘The Worst Betrayal’ which was actually written by a choir member, Kyle Owen, a part time student at Victoria University.
There is solace in knowing that others have experienced the things that were sung about, and in fact it would be hard to go through life without experiencing at least some of them. I certainly have: being strung along, dumped, deceived, taken advantage of and so on. Meeting others in the same boat helps to deal with it, and listening to songs that you can identify with does too.
The full list of songs sung was:
Act One
I heard it through the Grapevine (by Marvin Gaye)
All by Myself (by Sergei Rachmaninoff)
Yesterday (by Lennon/McCartney)
Liebeslieder Waltzes 2,5,18 (Johannes Brahams)
You don’t bring me Flowers (by Neil Diamond) sung as a duet
Cry me a River (by Arthur Hamilton)
On my Own (music by Claude-Michael Schonberg)
I dreamed a Dream (ditto) from Les Miserables
The Worst Betrayal (by Kyle Owen)
Act Two
Mamma Mia (by Abba)
Someone Like You (by Adele and Day Wilson)
Crying (by Jeramine Clement and Bret McKenzie)
Carol Brown (Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie)
Four Strong Winds (by Ian Tyson)
Time to Say Goodbye
Wherever he Ain’t (by Jerry Herman)
Respect (with the letters sung separately) (by Otis Redding)
I will Survive/Survivor (a medley of the original song matched to the song from the stage show Glee)
The musical Director, Eric Sedoti, is from Canada which he mentioned in introducing the song ‘Four Strong Winds’. He commented, ‘In the end we sing about hope for a better future even while we mourn the loss recently suffered.’
While individual singers may or may not have impressed Simon Cowell, collectively they impressed the audience who were most appreciative.
I sat next to the vicar, Tim Mapplebeck, and his wife and he said he was keen to have more concerts like it, particularly at Christmas time. I mentioned the planned ukeluke orchestra in the beach zone nine years ago, see the post linked below, and he was interested in knowing what became of it too.