Tis the season to be choral, tra la la la la… and throughout December you will find me at at least five concerts given by the city’s LGBTQ+ choral groups. See one, see them all has become my festive mantra and I do it with pride and a sense of joy. In all my six decades I have seldom seen a more vibrant and cohesive meeting of souls who enjoy and revel in their society, brought together by song. It transcends gender, race and sexuality, and it generates a sense of belonging that few of us ever achieve.
On Saturday, December 14 I enjoyed the pure essence of the above in experiencing the annual yuletide Rainbow Chorus offering. I have followed this choir for over ten years now and always enjoyed the energy they bring to what they do. Early on it was the energy that delighted, musically perhaps they were not, shall we say, not quite there. But my how they poured heart and soul into what they did and how they performed.
Now, many years on, that sense of passion is still present, but with it comes real musicality, soaring vocal talent and ambition too. Where once their repertoire might have been light and fluffy, these days they are taking on complex challenges, technical challenges that push their choral qualities to new heights from season to season. Who would have thought that they would now be tackling Pergolesi? I certainly didn’t.
But they have, and they impressed, and through that process this choir has become ever more adventurous and professional. I raise my hat to them, one and all. Actually, at this performance I kept my hat on because this year’s venue, St Mary’s, was damned cold, baby it was cold inside!
Their ever-present musical director Aneesa Chaudhry took to the platform and they were off with White Winter Hymnal, Sure On This Shining Night and Rainbow Connection, and the choir were on fire, showing off their skills and what I sensed is a new found confidence. Of course they do benefit from having the full range of voices, so that sound is rounded and complete, but it wasn’t just that, it was bold, balanced and unafraid of enjoying being loud but also of being quiet.
A Holly Jolly Christmas came next, seasonal silliness but delivered with style. Nothing wrong with a bit of secular fun when done well in my book. And then a small break out group appeared and delivered a truly hilarious rendition of The Sugar Plum Fairy, in the style of The Swingle Singers (ask a grown up if you have never heard of them). It was joyously silly, camp as the proverbial row of tents and brought smiles and a huge round of applause. I loved it and I bet Tchaikovsky would be dancing in his grave, well he was gay after all!
Next Martha’s Harbour took them back to serious, White Christmas had us all singing along, at their behest I hasten to add, and brought back that festive feeling we all love.
Next they sang Run, beautifully but perhaps a little too slow, almost tentative, but very good none the less.
The Benedictus by Karl Jenkins from his work The Armed Man came next and the choir nailed it. His work is familiar, comforting, delicious even and they pulled it off with style and dare I say it with ease, or that is how it came across, beautiful playing too from accompanist Olly Parr and guest cellist Siriol Hugh-Jones.
Part one ended with Together We Are One, an appropriate choice for sure and one that had signer Marco Nardi at his most expressive, and on this occasion Marco shared the signing platform for the evening with a fellow signer who I apologise for not finding her name.
After mince pies and mulled wine, no wine for me as mulling is a waste of both wine and spice in my view, the choir returned to the platform and delivered an impressive and moving O Magnum Mysterium, once more showing how they are growing in quality and stature as a choir. Then Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer showed they can rock, a skill that some choirs fail to display when delivering pop.
Winter Song, Someone You Loved next kept the standard high before Silent Night where members of the choir delighted us with bell chimes and a guest shocked us by emerging from the rear of the church playing ear drum piercing bag pipes, not the Scottish sort but equally unusual in tone. I am no fan of bagpipes, in my view they are to music what porridge is to the culinary arts, but that’s just me and they did make smile on this occasion.
The chime bars remained for Carol Of The Bells, delicately delivered, which this was followed by their mash up of Wonderful World and I Love You which one can clearly see that they love performing.
Their penultimate number was Kate Bush’s December Will Be Magic Again which they stole the show with at the World AIDS Day Concert, and once again it was a show stopper. Well not quite as they finished with, not an encore as such if you list it in your programme, Carl Orff’s O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, a festive choice no doubt given its link to the ubiquitous dad gift of a certain aftershave!
What an evening, what a choir! Strength in… well strength in every sense! It’s an unashamed five from me.