2016 Review
It's been another full year. Less cabaret work (by design) but still lots of Tonic Choir activity (teaching and conducting). No new writing but we are expecting a new and exciting commission in 2017 for performance in 2018. Photos of Tonic events here.
Highlights
February
Took CD delivery of our Fighter Command CD.
March
Our Tonic choir gave 4 concerts in support of The Alzheimer's Society, Homeless Action in Barnet (the borough not me!), Harrow Arts Centre and Parkinson's UK. These were part of The Magnificient Seven, our project to mark our 7th year by giving 7 concerts for 7 good causes. More details here.
April
We launched the Fighter Command CD at Bentley Priory Museum with a concert of songs from the 1930s and 1940s which feature on the CD. Excellent reaction and lots of sales. We also did a Quiz Cabaret, number 89.
May
Another Quiz Cabaret, number 90 taking our total QC audience to 9,000 (min 30, max 200).
June
Tonic's summer concert, Nostalgia, rased money for our local hospice, St Luke's, and featured songs from the past 7 years of our successful choirs.
July
A truly amazing evening in St John's Wood church. The programme consisted entirely of Bryan's music and I had a very busy time, performing and compering. The concert started with our Seven Ages of Man cantata sung by members of Tonic choir. Unlike the previous performances, this one was accompanied by a 20 piece orchestra. We recruited two excellent solists, but I sang The Tablet Tango, my favourite part of the piece. 'Seven' was followed by Tonic singing two pieces from Bryan's Voices that should be heard which I conducted. After that I sang two solos from Bryan's Dreyfus; Prisoner of Devil's Island and the first half finished with Bryan, Alex and I singing a trio from our comic opera, The Time Traveller. There was just one piece in the second half, Bryan's new cantata The Zimbabwe Suite. I joined the tenor section of a choir mostly formed by a group from St Albans. The orchestration used much percussion and brass giving rise to some heart-stopping moments.
September
We ran a number of workshops for the choir focussing on music from the 1960s. This was great fun. We took a small group to lead some open air singing at a health fair run by our local medical centre. Bryan and I gave two further performances of our 30s/40s songs at Bentley Priory Museum as part of their Battle of Britain weekend.
October
Another big Tonic concert, this time together with a choir that works with people who suffer from mental ill health. It was a fund raiser for them. We gave our choir a more challenging repertoire for this one including Zadok the Priest (Handel).
December
Various Tonic and cabaret performances.
Highlights
February
Took CD delivery of our Fighter Command CD.
March
Our Tonic choir gave 4 concerts in support of The Alzheimer's Society, Homeless Action in Barnet (the borough not me!), Harrow Arts Centre and Parkinson's UK. These were part of The Magnificient Seven, our project to mark our 7th year by giving 7 concerts for 7 good causes. More details here.
April
We launched the Fighter Command CD at Bentley Priory Museum with a concert of songs from the 1930s and 1940s which feature on the CD. Excellent reaction and lots of sales. We also did a Quiz Cabaret, number 89.
May
Another Quiz Cabaret, number 90 taking our total QC audience to 9,000 (min 30, max 200).
June
Tonic's summer concert, Nostalgia, rased money for our local hospice, St Luke's, and featured songs from the past 7 years of our successful choirs.
July
A truly amazing evening in St John's Wood church. The programme consisted entirely of Bryan's music and I had a very busy time, performing and compering. The concert started with our Seven Ages of Man cantata sung by members of Tonic choir. Unlike the previous performances, this one was accompanied by a 20 piece orchestra. We recruited two excellent solists, but I sang The Tablet Tango, my favourite part of the piece. 'Seven' was followed by Tonic singing two pieces from Bryan's Voices that should be heard which I conducted. After that I sang two solos from Bryan's Dreyfus; Prisoner of Devil's Island and the first half finished with Bryan, Alex and I singing a trio from our comic opera, The Time Traveller. There was just one piece in the second half, Bryan's new cantata The Zimbabwe Suite. I joined the tenor section of a choir mostly formed by a group from St Albans. The orchestration used much percussion and brass giving rise to some heart-stopping moments.
September
We ran a number of workshops for the choir focussing on music from the 1960s. This was great fun. We took a small group to lead some open air singing at a health fair run by our local medical centre. Bryan and I gave two further performances of our 30s/40s songs at Bentley Priory Museum as part of their Battle of Britain weekend.
October
Another big Tonic concert, this time together with a choir that works with people who suffer from mental ill health. It was a fund raiser for them. We gave our choir a more challenging repertoire for this one including Zadok the Priest (Handel).
December
Various Tonic and cabaret performances.