St Bede's Singers Hailsham Concert

Last night nearly 20 singers from St Bede’s entertained an enthusiastic audience at a concert held in Hailsham’s Parish Church, St Mary’s. The concert was given in aid of the Friend’s of St Mary’s and Hailsham in Bloom.

After Mr Ken Lacy had opened the evening with a series of gentle guitar pieces covering four centuries, Georgia Ellis sang Franck’s Panis Angelicus, followed by Where’er you walk from Handel’s Semele . Zac Kahn then performed Sorasto’s challenging aria In Diesen Heiligen Hallen from The Magic Flute. L’ho Perduto, from Le Nozze de Figaro was then wonderfully sung by Cristina Ruffle. Schumann’s Susser freund, du blickest, was sung by Sophie Booth with the assurance and sensitivity which we have come to expect from her. Roz Lloyd- Bostock then gave a stunning performance of the difficult Be kind and Courteous from Britten’s Midsummer Night Dream, and brought the first half to a close with Silent Noon by Vaughan-Williams. She sang with stylistic conviction and power.

The second half was of lighter works and was opened by the St Bede’s School Barbershop singers. The classic Blue Moon featured Lydia Bannister, and Always on my mind had Harvey Brown bringing Elvis to life. Lydia, accompanied by her father on the piano,then sang Desperado, made famous by the Eagles. Charlie Pullen’s dead pan, upper class rendition of Tom Lehrer’s Fight Fiercely, Harvard had the audience in fits of laughter. Alice Auer, accompanied by Louise Morris, changed the mood beautifully with Billy Gilman’s Oklahoma, a song with a real story, sensitively sung. Hennie Kaye followed this with the much livelier Unfaithful by Rihanna. She is a real talent to watch in the coming years at St Bede’s.

Nikita Leys Somewhere from West Side Story followed, and then, accompanied by Roy Hilton, Georgie Collinson sung the unusual Nice weather for ducks, followed by Gershwin’s Ain’t Necessarily So. Her marvellous performance was an evocation of a 1940’s night club ambiance. The evening was brought to an end by a slightly depleted, but still wonderful, Jazz Choir with When Sunny gets Blue, Errol Garner’s Misty and finally the Cole Porter classic I’ve got you under my skin.

Mr Barclay and Mr Scamardella accompanied with their usual skill and sensitivity at various points throughout the evening. The audience left having been marvellously entertained and stunned by both the quality and range of the music they had heard.
The music department would like to thank St Mary’s Church for their kind hospitality and everyone agreed what a superb venue the church was in which to perform. The school will continue its links with St. Mary’s Church to further the inclusiveness and diversity within the local community