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The Manchester Chorale on the road
The end of May saw the Manchester Chorale going further afield than we usually do. As the guests of the Kent Chamber Choir, we spent a long weekend in Kent, the highlight being a joint concert on the Saturday night in Meopham. We also had a tour of historic Rochester and dinner with our hosts on Friday and Sunday.
The Church of St John the Baptist had excellent acoustics and we are quite envious of the Kent Chamber Choir, who sing in there on a regular basis. Each choir sang half a concert and each half finished with a combined choir piece. The final anthem Hail, Gladdening Light was particularly stirring and sent the audience home knowing they had heard some inspirational singing from the two choirs.
The Chorale had only half its members on the tour; however, because of the acoustics, we could hear each other very well and had a very tight sound, with good balance and blending. There were gasps from the audience at the end of some our songs. Some very favourable comments were overheard after the concert: “the experience of a lifetime”; “the hairs on my neck stood on end”.
Our thanks go to Phil Hardy-Bishop for the photo of the Chorale here (using Jo Weller’s phone). Phil is an ex-Chorale bass, now living in Tunbridge Wells and could not resist hearing and seeing his old mates, so popped over!
