"Joyful, Joyful!"

The Sunday of the Music Eisteddfod is always a special day - we move venue from Beau Sejour, and, from previous years we have been at St James, but this year we moved to Les Cappelles, which as a venue I think has some wonderful pros, but a few cons to (more on that later)

Opening the session we had the Church Organ Under 18, and Open classes. Much like using the piano for the pianists, the Organists are at the mercy of whatever organ is available at the venue. Luckily, all these players seem to have a good grasp on their instrument, and clearly know their way around! The winner of Under 18 was George Walker, which his performance of 'Joie Et Clarte Corps Glorieux' by Oliver Messiaen, receiving a Distinction, and for the Open we had Joint winners with Distinctions both for George Walker and Archie Purdue, both playing two challenging pieces by JS Bach. Continuing the afternoon classes we had the Sunday School Choirs class, featuring Les Encores Start Up Singers, which was beautifully introduced by a young singer who also stated that unfortunately she was 'too old now to sing with the group' - this was a delightful little moment, and lovely to see that this singer clearly still supported the group that she was once part of. This group had a lovely unified vocal sound, and some promising solo work coming from one of their older singers (I didn't get her name unfortunately). My only wish for this group was that I would have liked the conductor to just hold off starting the next piece until the applause had died down, because they sang so well and earned their applause, I would have been nice for them to enjoy it! Some promising work from this small group, who earned themselves a Distinction and the trophy. 

Continuing the choir theme, we had three very well contested classes: The Choirs Sacred; Junior School Age, the Choirs Sacred; Secondary School Age, and the Choirs Gospel & Spiritual Under 18. These classes were were we saw some of the issues with Les Cappelles as a venue - trying to fit ALL the singers in the venue, as well as their audience members (and struggles with the carpark layout) made this quite a challenge for the organisers. However, I personally think this venue has so much potential given it's more than adequate 'backstage', and these issues are going to be happening wherever this days events are. Perhaps the day needs to start earlier to allow for adequate changeover time, and/or perhaps the choir classes can be dispersed further with smaller classes (like vocal and organ solos). Regardless, the huge pros of this space are the wonderful acoustics, which is such a valuable experience for young singers in particular to experience (not to mention a confidence boost), and from an audience perspective, the venue is warm and comfortable, which makes for an overall much more pleasant experience. Anyway, I digress...
- The choir classes featured some truly stellar singing, and a wide range of wonderful sacred repertoire. In the Junior School class, I thought both groups once again gave some lovely unified singing work, but I was particularly impressed with class winners ECJS singers for their ability to follow their conductor, who was also their accompanist - no mean feat for young singers! They won their class with a Distinction. In the Secondary School Class, some impressive repertoire for the choirs, including 'Ubi Caritas' by Ola Gjeilo, and 'Ave Verum Corpus' by William Byrd - this class was won by Cantabile with Distinction. And finally, in the Gospel and Spiritual Under 18 class we again had a wonderful variety of this genre of music. I thought Class winners Guernsey Music Centre Youth Choir gave a wonderful performance of Bob Chilcott's 'All my Trials', creating a gorgeous sonorous sound. I'd like to see everyone in this class let loose a little more though, and really get into the vocal aesthetics of gospel singing. That said, some promising choral work on display this afternoon, well done everyone.

Finishing off the afternoon we had the Sacred Solo Under 18, which featured such a wonderful variety of vocal styles within the sacred category. Every year, this does spark some debate as to whether classical and contemporary should be split, but I feel this is a wonderful unique class for the very reason of diversity - the only stipulation for the class is 'sacred', which doesn't even specify a religion, it just needs to be sacred, regardless of genre. What an amazing way to experience different styles, cultures and experiences, don't you think? Important for performers and audience alike in my book. The vocal technique on display from all the performers was first rate, with each individual voice showcasing clear diction, wonderful vocal tone, and engagement with their choses style and text. I actually personally couldn't pick who I thought would win this class. On this occasion, Ben Costello chose Genevieve Evans as the winner, awarding her a Distinction for her sophisticated performance of 'A Christmas Carol' by Arnold Bax. Congratulations Genevieve, and well done to all the singers in this class, a lovely way to close out the afternoon. 

The evening session opened with a fair amount of gusto, as we were treated to the Choirs Gospel Over 18, featuring States of Harmony, and The Accidentals. Both choirs tackled this repertoire with suitable energy and aplomb. States of Harmony (this time in an SSA format rather than the TTB format we saw from the Barbershop class) gave a convincing performance of their two spirituals, with very tight harmony and ensemble work. Like the juniors though, I would love to see this choir explore a different vocal sound for this genre, and perhaps let loose even more! The Accidentals followed with two, for want of a better term, absolute belters within the gospel repertoire, 'Joyful Joyful', and 'Total Praise'. The latter piece, if you don't know it, is a truly wonderful work by Richard Smallwood, which really gives the choir a chance to explore the very widest dynamics, and all possible vocal colours. Suitably impressed by this choirs performance, Ben awarded them an Outstanding mark of 90, stating that the last part of 'Total Praise' in particular "took his breath away". 

Continuing the evening, we had the Groups, Sacred Song Over 18, followed by the Sacred Solo Over 18. Again, like the juniors, these two classes made for some wonderful variety of genres within the sacred world, with everything from the likes of Anton Brucker (classical) to Curtis Mayfield (country/gospel) to Jason Robert Brown (legit musical theatre). The sacred groups class was won by Darren Alderton and Mike Ozanne performing 'King of Kings', for which they earned themselves a Highly Commended Mark of 86. I was in fact the winner of the Sacred Solo, for which I performed 'People Get Ready', receiving a Distinction mark of 87. I actually personally thought Jo Marsh's performance of 'Christmas Lullaby' was beautiful and heartfelt, which a great command of her vocal range and tone - she was my winner! Our next classes, as Ben stated during his adjudication, are ones which are sadly dying off in the festival circuit, the Oratorio Over 18, for which we had split into two classes for our festival: Amateurs (those new to the genre) and Previous Winners. Oratorio work is challenging at best and insanely demanding at worst, and requires a lot of technical prowess from singers, particularly in the forms of breath management, pitch accuracy and flexibility. A great cross section of the repertoire on display here, including Rossini, Fauré, Handel and Bach. Winners of the classes were Louisa Mace for the Amateurs class, and Joan Le Flem for the Previous Winners class, both receiving Highly Commended.

Finishing off the evening, what can only be described as a truly epic class, the Choirs Sacred; Over 18. The visiting Jersey Choir Les Conteurs Singers actually performed their set earlier in the afternoon, but were adjudicated along with the other choirs in this class, the Guernsey Welsh Male Voice Choir, and the Accidentals. Each individual choir gave stellar performances of their repertoire, with my highlights being: 
- Les Conteurs Singers performance of 'Grace' arranged by Mark Hayes - a beautiful setting of the traditional 'Amazing Grace' which this choir delivered with warmth and wonderful ensemble tone. 
- Guernsey Welsh Male Voice Choir's incredible 'wall of sound' - there's nothing quite like a lower voice ensemble and the absolute power it can emulate, as displayed most intensely in the final closing moments of 'Deus Salutis'
- The Accidentals performing a stunning arrangement of 'Finlandia Hymn', which features such (as Ben Costello referred to them) 'tasty harmonies' that just subtly weave in and our of the piece, as well as a wonderful key change. The arrangement is originally performed by Voces8 if you want to look it up! 
This was a really wonderful final class for the day, with the winners being The Accidentals, with another Outstanding mark of 90. Although I sing in The Accidentals, I really thought The Guernsey Welsh Male Voice Choir were going to win, just the incredible sound this choir makes is so impressive, I don't think I stopped smiling through their set! 

A wonderful day in the new venue for the Sacred classes - perhaps a few logistical things to work out, but I think the venue works so well for the music of this particular day, it'll be worth figuring things out moving forward.