"Like a West End Review"

The Second Thursday of the music eisteddfod always feels like the start of the home stretch for me - we have a morning off, and then there seems to be a renewed energy that comes about once we get going in the afternoon. 

Kicking off the afternoon session we had a series of Viola Classes; Under 14, Under 16, and Under 18. Nancy has frequently mentioned the fine string teaching here in Guernsey, and these Viola classes proved it once again. I’ve mentioned before how the Viola often feels like a forgotten instrument, but it is clearly alive and well with these youngsters. It also seems perhaps a little trickier to fine repertoire purpose built for the Viola; quite often pieces are repurposed Violin or Cello pieces shifted into a suitable range for the Viola rather than specifically written for it. Composers out there! Write more music for the Viola (she says having not written much for the Viola herself…) - It’s a fabulous instrument! Some excellent playing in these classes, which included Ben Davidson's version of Cello Suite No.1 by Bach (adapted for Viola), and George Walker's performance mature and assured playing of 'Morpheus' by Rebecca Clarke. The Winners of each class were George Walker (Under 14 with Distinction, and Under 16 with Outstanding), and Sze-Ching Chung (Under 18, Highly Commended). Before the interval, we had the Guernsey Girls Choir, performing in the Choirs; Madrigal & Part Song Secondary School Age Class. These girls always look very professional onstage, but I wonder if perhaps they were not as centred as they have been in previous performances, I didn’t feel their usual flair from them as I have previously - but hey, everyone’s allowed an off day! It's always worth noting that choirs like this do sometimes go through what we call 'rebuilding years', where a lot of strong older singers leave, and there is an influx of younger and less experienced singers coming through. They still sung beautifully, and I particularly enjoyed their version of ‘Yesterday’. The Guernsey Girls received a Highly Commended, and won the Island Singers Trophy.

Continuing the afternoon session, we had another choirs class, the Choirs; Unison & Two-part Secondary Year 7-11, featuring The Ladies College Junior Choir, and The Schola Cantorum (from Blanchelande). Some excellent singing from both of these groups here. I thought Scholar Cantorum did particularly well with Ola Gjelio's 'The Rose'. Such a tight competition here between these groups, so much so Nancy couldn't split them, and decided to award both groups a Distinction, and a shared trophy. Next up we had the Violin Under 14s. Nancy made clear with this class that she was marking the performers on the way they have performed their piece, relevant to the level they are at. Particularly at this age, everyone can be at very different stages of development, with some players having performed for years, and others just starting out. I do think this is important for people to consider, that adjudicators ARE given an indication as to a competitors level, particularly in the younger classes, and that a more complicated and harder piece of a higher level doesn't necessarily mean this will be a better piece or performance. Some really fine playing in this class, as well as some lovely choices of repertoire, with the class winner being Sam Cole with Distinction for his performance of 'Baal Shem ll Nigun' by Ernest Bloch. 

- Closing the afternoon we had the Chamber Music; Secondary Age, which feature three sets of duets - we had Jacob Wright & Sam Cole performing the Double Violin Concerto by Bach, Joseph Stoller & Matthew Moody performing the other Double Violin Concerto by Vivaldi, and Evie Hart & Jacob Wright performing Passacaglia by Handel. An exceptionally high standard of playing here in this class with both the Violin Concerto's taking Outstandings, but the overall winner today was Joseph & Matthew. Well done everyone! 

The evening session, well what can I say? It was electric in the theatre this evening! We started with the Choirs; Male Voice Under 18, which featured the Elizabeth College Close Harmony Group. I thought these lads did well to tackle the material they chose, particularly ‘Africa’ by Toto, which as a pop song has a huge vocal range which they managed to throw around through all the parts. Their performance of 'Bobby Shaftoe' was really quite effective, and Nancy awarded them an Outstanding for their efforts and the Seren Trophy. Next up, the Violin Open Class, which featured a wide variety of styles of violin, from classical style, to more traditional fiddle-style playing. I always love seeing performers push the boundaries of what we expect in a class - the Open Violin has traditionally been only classical in nature, but there is in fact nothing in the rules that says this must be so…. it’s just called ‘Violin Open’, so to my mind that is Open age, AND Open genre! So, I applaud Emma Lancaster for bringing something different to this class for us, and I hope this inspires people to try new things themselves. Some exceptional playing from the young lads in this class. I must commend Sam Cole for performing his piece (which must have been 10minutes long), entirely from memory, which is truly exceptional. Joseph Stoller's performance of 'Ciaccona in G Minor' by Tomaso Vitali was an incredible performance from such a young player; there is real maturity in Joseph's playing. A tough feat to pick a winner, with such exceptional playing, and we soared to knew heights with Sam receiving 95, and Joseph won the class with an unprecedented 96. What a class! 

And then we moved on to the big class that perhaps most of the audience were waiting for… the Songs from the Shows Over 18. Always a stellar class this, but there was something about this years class that just seemed to raise the bar from previous years. Nancy herself said this was an “exceptional evening” which felt reminiscent of a West End Review. The variety of music presented was fabulous, with everything from old favourites like Les Miserables, Evita and Oliver! to new productions like Frozen, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Next to Normal. This class always manages to take everyone on an emotional roller-coaster as well, moving us from power-house show-stoppers like ‘Stars’ through emotional heart-wrenchers like ‘He’s not Here’, and out the other side of insanity and Hilarity with the likes of ‘I’m Breaking Down’ and ‘Otto Titsling’. My personal highlights in this class included Dominique Ogier’s spectacular ability to deliver ‘Let it Go’ with incredible high belt technique (take that Idina Menzel!), Darren Alderton & Alison Castles fabulous ‘Dramatical Cats’ (with a superb array of cat puns on display), Michael Sullivan, Laura Simpson and Scott Dorrity’s moving and beautifully acted ‘He’s not Here’, and Lindsey Veillards insane performance of ‘Les Poissons’ from the Little Mermaid. I was equally pleased with my performance of ‘When I Look at You’ from Scarlet Pimpernel. 

Comedy Gold! Class joint winners
Lindsey Veillard, and Julie Tostevin-Hobbs

- Now, when we get into the marks… hold onto your hats, because this is going to go stratospherically high! On 90 marks in 7th (yes, 7th!!) place, we had Louisa Mace who performed ‘Could I Leave You?’ from Follies, who I thought delivered this with class and perhaps the best vocal performance I’ve heard from her. In equal 6th place we had Darren Alderton performing ‘Someone to Fall Back on’, Darren & Alison performing ‘Dramatical Cats’, and Laura Simpson performing ‘The Flagmaker’ from Songs from a New World. Laura gave a suitably powerful performance of this song, delivered with such sincerity. In 5th place on 92 was the side-splitting performance of ‘Otto Titsling’ delivered by Lindsey Davies, Sam Nichols & Kirstin Radford, and with Steve Rouxel providing the character of Otto. This is what I do love about our Eisteddfod, the madness it draws out! In 4th place on 93, was Dominique Ogier for her most impressive (and in my opinion, better than the original) version of ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen. The flinging off of the fur stole was also a highlight! In equal 3rd place with 94 marks, we had myself (yay!), Julie Tostevin-Hobbes & Kim Reece-Sheerin performing a beautiful rendition of ‘My Love, My Life’ from Mamma Mia 2, and Michael Sullivan, Laura Simpson & Scott Dorrity for ‘Here’s Not Here’ from Next to Normal. Equally her Pop song mark and somehow only coming in 2nd if you can believe it, with 95 marks was Jo Marsh with ‘Maybe this Dream’ from Crazy Ex-girlfriend. I must say, I played piano for this, and I really struggled to not laugh my head off - Jo struck such an incredible balance of crazy personality and beautiful soprano singing technique in this! And finally… soaring to the heights of 96 marks, would you believe we had TWO winners, in Lindsey Veillard for what can only be described as a hilarious and psychotic interpretation of a chef in ‘Les Poissons’, and Julie Tostevin-Hobbs performing ‘I’m Breaking Down’ from Falsettos, which I said to Julie “accurately reflected the emotional roller-coaster I seem to go through every Eisteddfod!” - An incredible end to this class, which saw a flood of emotions from Lindsey, who I am incredibly pleased for for having won this trophy after so many years of competing, I honestly don’t think she really thought she had a chance of winning! Lindsey has always said to me that she enters because she enjoys it, and I’m so pleased that someone like her, who is a committed performer year in and year out be rewarded like this. Bravo Lindsey, and also many congratulations to Julie on another stellar performance. 

What a truly incredible day this was - I’m pretty sure everyone who was there is on cloud nine! 

We're all mad here don't you know?...