THE RAINBOW CHORUS: STRONGER TOGETHER

Seldom is the title of a show more appropriate than last night In St George’s Kemp Town. I have for many years sung the praises of this excellent LGBTQ+ community choir, but have to confess that on the last few occasions felt that they have not been on their best form. Last night in the stifling conditions of this heat wave they were as suggested in their title, both stronger and together. There was also a sense of ambition too in their choice of programme that had perhaps been missing, certainly since their excellent performance of Pergolasi’s Stabat Mater somE while back. There was also a tangible sense of fearlessness in their performance, a confidence and a joy in what they were performing which always adds to the whole.

The evening opened with a breathtakingly beautiful performance of The Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre, delicate, precise and perfectly pitched. So good in fact that one wondered how they could top it. But top it they did with Elgar’s ambitious and charming My Love Dwelt In A Northern Land. Each note perfect, the phrasing precise and the whole so delightfully sung, as good as any choir could hope to do, let alone an amateur, non-audition chorus.

This shows that with quality leadership and ambitious choices to drive the choir forward greatness can be achieved. Challenges certainly pushed the standard high too for the rest of the evening. Shenandoah, a favourite of theirs and mine they have never sung better, and the precision displayed in their performance of A Little Respect raised it to a new level, this was way beyond a bunch of friends doing karaoke, this was pure class.

A break-out group then delivered a moving arrangement of Sunshine On Leith that kept the standard high. Sometimes these smaller groups can lack conviction, but not this one!

And with storming versions of Viva La Vida, Somebody That I Used To Know and Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop The Feeling they romped into the interval, an interval where the word wow was heard throughout the room.

On their return the mood was set with What Was I Made For, Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell and then Chosen family where gently members of the choir gradually held hands, very touchingly so.

The Rainbow Chorus has for years offered people who like to sing but for whatever reason cannot commit to the often rigorous demands of the rehearsal schedule their own opportunity with RC+. It’s an excellent initiative for sure but last night they absolutely stormed it with a thrilling delivery of Titanium and then Make Your Own Kind Of Music that sees them reaching an all time high. Had the RC not been already on top form they may well have been blown off the stage by their offshoot comrades.

Back to the full chorus after that rousing and heartening performanfance to a mash up of I Will Survive and Survivor, what’s not to love about a bit of Gloria Gaynor stirred into Destiny’s Child. This was followed by Together We Are One, a summing up of the choir’s ethic and mood and both confirmed with Rachel Platten’s Fight Song.

Off to the classics next with a choral version of Nessum Dorma which perhaps had footie fans looking at their watches in the hope that they could be home for the kick off of the England/Norway match, but one that saw the choirs impressive sopranos in full flight and the excellent basses underpinning the whole. The choir has a much fuller and rounded sound these days for certaiin.

These Are The Days Of Our Lives  showed how well a Queen number can be arranged for voices as did Mika’s Happy Ending, both sung with this re-discovered force and precision. It would indeed have made a fine ending too but the chorus director Aneesa Chaudhry and piano accompanist Adrian Ward let rip with a storming version of Freddie Mercury’s Barcelona which saw those sopranos, and indeed the whole choir raise the roof. A stunning evening of exciting music delivered with skill and with class. How I loved the whole not being crazily and artlessly lit with swirling and irrelevant lighting and what a joy to be given a programme that was stylishly designed and for once legible in the dark, hats off to Gareth Pugh who I believe is responsible for the latter. My friend, a choreographer, asked me about what has become known in choir circles as armography but I was able to explain that the movements used are actually based on sign supported English or SSE, and take on a real purpose as well as looking good. What a great evening and a new high for this exemplary family!

Andrew Kay

11 July

St George’s Kemp Town

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