The Vivace Chorus
The Vivace singers show
their versatile talents
A venture to thrill the heart of this exopera singer took place last night at G
musical entries get behind as the
choir moved onstage already singing,
Live.
but it happens at Covent Garden too.
Guildford’s new concert venue
hosted the Vivace Chorus in an exciting programme of operatlc favourites
old and new.
We are used to the serious side of
‘this choir in the soaring space of
Guildford Cathedral, even the plush
grandeur of the Royal Albert Hall, but
tonight we saw Vivace in a new light.
Singing one or two works chosen to
complement each other in a programme is one thing, but dipping a
The Triumphal scene from Verdi’s
Aida encapsulated all the strengths of
this excellent choir; beautiful piano
singing, especially in the section for
ladies only; full rich forte sections,
and excellent entries. Thanks too to
the wonderful trumpets. All the soloists deserve mention. Sara Lian Owen
has a soprano voice which showed itself capable of singing with the colour
necessary for Dido’s Lament but also
The Brandenburg Sinfonia opened
the programme with a lively perform-
able to spin out the limpid lines of
Rusalka’s Song to the Moon. However
it was in the Puccini arias that it found
its home.
Thomas Faulkner’s bass had all the
Russian darkness necessary for Boris
ance of the overture from Mozart’s
The Marriage of Figaro and then the
stage quickly filled with townsfolk ea-
the future. Gareth Brynmor John has
a baritone voice of beauty and flexi-
ger to welcome the picadors and tore-
bility and sang with ease and control;
adors in the March of the Toreadors
from Bizet’s Carmen.
With such a large chorus, moving
on and off the stage might require
firmer choreograpy in future, but the
singing was full of vitality and the difficult choral entries in this Bizet chorus were precisely executed.
As number after number went by,
the choir showed mastery of French,
German, Italian and Russian, not just
another voice to look out for in future.
toe into so many, and varied, styles of
opera, not an oratorio in sight, is not a
venture for the faint hearted!
and I expect to hear more of him in
The tenor, Philip Modeno, brought
us all the opera ‘pops’ and, except for
a slightly hard edge to the tone in the
Boheme aria, sang with all the full and
ringing tone one has come to expect
when hearing these well loved numbers. Special praise for Nessun Dorma
just imagine singing that straight after
the Brindisi.
The orchestra in full flight some-
the language but the styles too.
times overpowered the singers, but
The broad sweeps of sound in the
choruses from Die Meistersinger and
Boris Godunov were a joy, though the
Slave’s chorus from Nabucco might
have benefited from a slightly slower
tempo to enable the string sextuplets
to be heard and a greater sense of
yearning to come through.
Only in the Easter Hymn did the
this is an accomplished group, as it
showed in its sparkling performance
of the Polovtsian Dances. This was an
encore to be proud of, and a definite
‘party piece’ for Vivace.
Thanks to Jeremy Backhouse- for
conducting throughout with verve
and commitment.
Gillian Ramsden