Our third year at St Agustine’s for our Autumn Concert on Sunday, 22nd September. This year, to avoid ‘Strictly’ and other Saturday evening attractions that are in addition to a Leigh Orpheus Concert, we opted for a Sunday afternoon performance.
Our Musical Director, Janet Walker, had planned an eclectic programme which included two soloists and a duet.
What better way to start the afternoon’s concert than with Isaac Watts’ ‘Morte Christe’! It worked well and felt appropriate in the fine acoustic of St Augustine’s.
Next, Deputy MD took over to conduct to conduct another traditional male voice choir piece, unaccompanied, ‘My Lord What a Morning’.
With Jan Walker back conducting the style then changed again in ‘Softly as I Leave You’ followed by ‘Alexanders Ragtime Band’. Many a foot was tapping as the various sections combined the complex singing of their individual parts.
Next, the first solo with Leigh Orpheus member Jim Ryan singing ‘The Vagabond’. He claimed it wasn’t about him.
The Leigh Orpheus’s second set started with ‘Unchained Melody’ written by Alex North for the film ‘Unchained’ (which is where the song got its name from) and although recorded by several artists, made famous by The Righteous Brothers in 1965.
‘Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill’ was next. Another piece where each section sings a different part and with Jan Walker mentioning that this was the first time this piece had been sung by the Leigh Orpheus for a long time. There had been a significant amount of rehearsing! Then the Katrina and the Waves piece ‘Love Shine a Light’.
Time for another solo and this time Leigh Orpheus member Harry Rowson, one of the bass-est of the Basses, sang ‘I Got Plenty of Nuttin’ from the folk opera ‘Porgy and Bess’
Finally for the first half of the concert the Leigh Orpheus returned to sing a selection of songs from a ‘Back to the 60s Medley’. The audience joined in with some hand-clapping!
Time for the Interval, hot drinks and biscuits expertly provided by St Augustine’s, trips to the toilet and the final chance to buy raffle tickets. There were 28 prizes to be won. Good odds.
The Leigh Orpheus opened the second set with ‘The Mansions of the Lord’. Another piece written for and made famous by a film – this one ‘We Were Soldiers’. Angels were involved in the next piece too – ‘Angels Watching Over Me’. Next, a fairly recent addition to the Leigh Orpheus’s repertoire – Jerome Kern’s ‘The Way You Look Tonight’. The audience appreciated this clever piece. Again, Deputy MD Dave Smith took on the conducting of the Ben E King song ‘Stand By Me’.
Time for another break from the choir singing. This time a duet with Accompanist Kay Duell being joined by MD Janet Walker to play a Brahms piano piece written for four hands – Walzer No 15.
Then another Leigh Orpheus set – ‘You Raise Me Up’, followed by ‘Flying Free’ - with accompanist Kay skilfully playing both the piano part and the flute part (on the piano, not on a flute).
And now a classic Queen piece – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Smiles from the audience who recognised the discordant starting notes immediately and gazed in amazement as Leigh Orpheus members journeyed through the complex piece. More applause.
Next, a somewhat unusual format for the Leigh Orpheus. Soloist Jim Ryan sang ‘Homeward Bound’ (no, not the Simon and Garfunkel one) with his Leigh Orpheus colleagues providing the choruses. Charming.
Then with Deputy MD Dave taking the (figurative) baton again, and Jan Walker joining Kay on the piano again, it was time for another Leigh Orpheus favourite - ‘Rhythm of Life’. It danced along! More toe-tapping.
Eyes down on the raffle tickets then as the winning numbers were announced. Twenty eight lucky people knew that they had won a prize. But they wouldn’t know what it was until they collected their prize on the way out.
Almost to end the concert, and appropriately, as they had done at the start, singing another Male Voice Choir classic – ‘Christus Salvator’. Those Amens at the end!
Finally some words of thanks from Chairman Graham Halsey to those who had ensured that this concert was another great success – especially through the presence of our lovely audience – and it was time to go. But not before one last additional piece, originally a Zulu chorus, ‘Siyahambe’. More applause.
A great concert with some excellent feedback.