The next class, one of my favourites, the Sacred Solo Under 18. It's great to see so many young singers in this, as I really feel this class offers so much opportunity. Often when we think of 'sacred' music, we immediately go to hymns and think of, perhaps slightly dull, church music. But really, there is a wealth of artists out there producing some fabulous sacred music in a more contemporary way, such as the group Selah, and singer Chris Tomlinson. And of course, there are wonderful gospel style songs to explore as well, Moses Hogan being a particular favourite. It was nice to see in this class the variety of styles we had, and it made for a really interesting session. One small bugbear of mine, which is nothing to do with the performers, is the piano. For the Eisteddfod at St James the upright is used, and it's just not quite up to scratch these days because it never gets played; the sustain pedal in particular is just really boomy, almost too responsive, which makes it really difficult for the accompanist to play sensitively for the performer - just my opinion, but I think that piano needs a bit of maintainence and conditioning before next year! The singing in this class was lovely, with some really promising voices coming through. Having seen her perform for a few years now, Sapphire Brewer-Marchant's voice is really coming into it's own, with a gorgeous tone developing - just relax your face a little Sapphire! Promising work there. Luella Taylor's rendition of 'How Great Thou Art' was a wonderful arrangement which really suits her as a singer. Just my personal opinion, I think it went a bit too big too soon, I just think that there was scope to just hold back the power until the later in the song, to allow more time to build, but again, wonderful work. Elliott Hearne's performance of Moses Hogan's 'Were you There?' really had the audience enthralled, and his lower register is really starting to develop into a rich sound. The class winner was Louise Madden, who, in contrast to Elliott is showing a fabulous command over her top register - those top notes just soared. Well done to all in this class, and congratulation Louise.
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| Alderney Voices on stage in St James |
Alderney Voices. I really thought that Alderney voices showcased the best of themselves today. Their unison singing in Jerusalem was powerful, and amazingly together for being un-conducted. I had the great joy of hearing them perform one of my own arrangements, 'Lord of All Hopefulness', which I thought the tackled incredibly well, as it's not as easy as it might sound! Their final piece, 'God's Gonna Set this World on Fire' was the highlight of this set, as it enabled them to show their personality as an ensemble. Festiva's strength lies in their size, as they do create a rich wall of sound as an ensemble, and Elizabeth was also very complimentary about their soloists; one male soloist in particular I thought showed great promise (although I don't have a name to go with the face, so if you know who this was, let me know). On this occasion, Festiva pipped Alderney to the trophy, with a Distinction mark of 88.
- One rather amusing anecdote from this class actually all took place backstage. Due to a miscommunication between myself and my fiancé Michael Sullivan, I accidentally took his clothes for performance home from a morning rehearsal rather than straight to St James. As such, this left him without any trousers to perform in helping out Alderney Voices! After frantically searching around for a potential replacement pair (which included asking my own father for his!), eventually Mike created a hilarious pair of 'makeshift' trousers, made from his cropped jogging bottoms, tucked into his black socks pulled all the way up to the knee... although to make the socks long enough he had to cut the toes off!.... I sometimes wonder what it is I'm marrying into.... #loveyoureallymike
After a brief Sacred Duo Over 18, we moved on to two super choir classes; Gospel Choirs Under 18 which featured the Guernsey Girls Choir who were awarded an Outstanding, and the Sacred Choirs Secondary School Age, which in a change to the program featured Elizabeth College Male Voice choir rather than the combined choir as stated, with Distinction. Some fabulously high quality singing in both of these classes, with both choir showcasing their passion and dedication to their singing. The final class of the afternoon was the Sacred Solo Over 18. As with the youngsters, this class showcased the amazing variety of vocal styles available within the realm of 'sacred' music. For Elizabeth, she stated that she was looking for communication within the song. One tip I always give my student singers is, 'Who are you singing to?' - and it's not a good answer to say, 'The audience'! As a performer, we need to be specific with who we are connecting to with our singing - it could be a friend, a loved one, or someone completely imaginary, but if you are specific and connect with that person in your mind, the audience connects to that. A really high standard of class once again here - I thought that Charlotte Hardwick sung 'Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child' with such elegance and grace, and that class winner Julie Tostevin delivered a very commanding and engaging performance of 'Your Grace still amazes Me'. Elizabeth said of Julie that when she stands on stage it says, "I'm going to sing to you, and you're going to listen!", which is absolutely spot on! Julie has always had an amazing ability to just own the stage in whatever she does. Congratulations on the win Jules!
- A lovely moment which happened right at the end of the session, at the suggestion of competitor Lindsey Veillard, was to sing Happy Birthday for Grace Ozanne. Grace will be 89 on tuesday, and competed herself in the Sacred Solo class. It was a truly magical moment to hear the entire hall singing Happy Birthday to Grace in four-part harmony - Guernsey know how to do birthdays right!
The evening session started slightly differently, as due to the weather some classes from earlier in the week were moved to the Sunday session. These were the Operatic Solo, and the Voice and Piano Over 18. In my opinion, the Operatic Solo belongs on the Sunday Session, as the acoustics of the Hall just give the performers a chance to really show off their voices. It was a shame that so many pulled out of this class however, as the class size was whittled from six to two competitors. The winner of this occasion was Joan Le Flem with a Distinction mark of 88, who performed 'Il Est Doux, Il Est Bon'. The Voice and Piano Class which followed, for me, was not as successful in this setting as the Opera - this is in no way a critique on the performers (I wouldn't dare, one was my mother!), but it was just that piano again - I don't think that the upright piano in this hall was worthy of the class, so it meant that Marilyn Pugh had to work twice as hard to balance and match Niall McCathie - fortunately, Niall has an amazingly well projected voice, and my mother is a master at sensitive accompaniment, which even Elizabeth acknowledged her ability to get a great sound of out it, so they justifiably won with a mark of 88.
The next class, Sacred Groups did not take place, and has been moved to Thursday evening, so watch out for that one later in the week. So, I'm actually going to talk about two classes which didn't run together, but are essentially the same class separated by a technicality. The Oratorio Solo Over 18 for novice competitors, and the Oratorio Solo Over 18. The reason for the separation of these two classes is because the novice class is for those that have never won the class, and the other is for those that have won the previous class. It's an interesting split, and it's one that seems to work quite well, as it allows the less experienced oratorio singers to develop their skills and understanding of the style before competing against more experience competitors. The winners of these classes were Joy Ligget (86), and Joan LeFlem (88) respectively.
The Sacred Choirs Over 18 saw myself in a rather demanding class, first as conductor for the Guernsey Glee Singers, before quickly jumping off stage and back on again to sing with The Accidentals. One amusing note, which some of you may have spotted in the program, was that there was a lot of similarities in the programming of the music for each choir; both choirs performed a piece by Anton Bruckner, and also a piece written by myself as composer - must be that mother-daughter thing again, picking similar repertoire! As their conductor, I was so very pleased with how the Glees performed, especially with my composition 'Celebration of Song', which I wrote specifically for them as part of their 90th Anniversary celebrations. The Accidentals also performed a piece of mine, 'Hiding Place'. This was a truly special moment for me, as this was the UK premiere of this piece, which was written and premiered in New York last summer. Elizabeth was hugely complimentary about my piece, and how the choir performed it - I'm not too proud to admit that I did get a bit emotional about it all, and some of the audience have been kind enough to tell me that they were also moved by this piece - it really is so special to me - if you want to hear the recording from New York, please have a listen to it on my soundcloud page:
https://soundcloud.com/lydia-jane-pugh/my-hiding-place-psalm-32
- The Accidentals were the winners of this class with an Outstanding mark of 90. Elizabeth said that what is most impressive about this choir is the control of dynamics, particularly in the quiet passages. She was also particularly impressed by the unified sound in the un-conducted piece 'I will Sing with the Spirt'. And, I tell you what, who knew 15 singers could create such an incredible fortississimo (that's fff!!) in the Bruckner piece 'Christus Factus Est' - what amazing power, and what an amazing class! - Just so you know, 'My Hiding Place has also been entered into the Over 18 Composition class on Monday evening, so watch this space!
The final class of the evening saw The Accidentals back in action for the Gospel Choirs Over 18. After the seriousness of of the Sacred Choirs class, this was a fabulous way to let loose a little bit and create a completely different colour of sound. One thing The Accidentals are great at is changing their sound to match the genre of music. The opening piece of this set, 'Abide with Me' sung in this gospel style created such a warmth of atmosphere, and the ending in particular with it's crunchy harmony and use of nasalised 'n' sounds just explored such a wealth of tonal colour. There were definitely a few audible "wow's" from the audience at the end of that piece! The last item, a gloriously funky "I sing because I'm happy" saw the choir really let loose, and show-off some of the real stylisms of the gospel genre, complete with an epic double-time solo section in the middle. Elizabeth was blown away by this class, and awarded The Accidentals an Outstanding 92, the highest mark for a choir so far in this festival.
Safe to say, this was a Super-duper Sunday of Sacred music, which reflected such a wide variety of genres, sounds and atmosphere. We are truly lucky to have, not only the performers to deliver this calibre of music, but the incredible venue within which to do it all! This year marks St James' bicentennial celebrations, and I think this Sunday session highlighted how glad we are that St James Concert Hall has made it to 200 years - long may it continue to house such quality local music!
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