Saturday 16th October was a special day:
- at St Peter’s Church
- for Amadeus, singing the first ‘live’ concert
- for Mr & Mrs Public, being able to attend a real concert
- for St Peter’s Uganda Project
£2,000 – what an wonderful achievement
AET
£2k is £2k anywhere, but in Uganda it goes so far
For example the man in charge of the chickens is paid £20 a month – and feels well rewarded
submitted by MC from Liverpool
It was a privilege to write reviews for Formby Choral Society – back in the days of normal.
MC
And it was a privilege to be at last Saturday’s concert in St Peter’s Church, Formby, when Amadeus were able make their return to the concert platform.
After SO long of rehearsals by Zoom, and a very successful (financially speaking) BUT virtual concert last year, it was such a huge delight to be able to attend Amadeus’ first live concert since February 2020.
MC
That last concert was a musical triumph, but what would this be like? – after months with restricted chances to rehearse, and certainly no opportunity to perform to an audience.
Well, if anyone doubted the wisdom of scheduling a concert on a Saturday evening – clashing with Strictly on the TV – the large audience in St Peter’s clearly thought it would be worth leaving the dancing to catchup.
Amadeus chose Mozart’s sublime C minor Mass – if anything more sublime than his Requiem … and repeated Feel the Spirit which had been such a success back in February 2020.
I’m not sure whether the choir (clearly very well polished in rehearsal), or the soloists stole the show. there was phenomenal solo vocal virtuosity from Barbara Ruzsics and Joyce Tindsley, admirably supported by Phil Clieve and Armond Rabot. There again, Jon Barton (organ and piano) definitely had the most notes to deal with. As we are accustomed to hearing, he accompanied and supported both sympathetically and with panache.
The choir dealt with the very demanding 8-part pieces admirably, but perhaps they really came alive in Feel the Spirit. I know we heard it back in February 2020 – but that certainly didn’t matter – it was full of energy and the choir was nothing if not committed. They clearly enjoyed it! They enjoyed the whole concert – and from the audience’s side, it was a sheer delight from start to finish.
David Holroyd must have felt much encouraged that his choir is still in good shape – and I know he feared at times that choral music could well have been extinguished by misinformed media reports, and unsympathetic politicians. Fear not, David, Amadeus is back, and clearly on top form. I’m looking forward to the Christmas Concert.
I heard that the concert at CHET was very well received. The barn isn’t a huge space, but the regular audience there is used to their music being good. I also hear that Amadeus have been invited to perform in the Sunday afternoon series in 2022, so I hope to be able to get to that one.
MC
But I did get to the Christmas Concert at Holy Family Church, in Ince Blundell – and thoroughly enjoyed it.