The Rainbow Chorus

Brighton boasts an extraordinary number of ‘gay’ choirs but The Rainbow Chorus is the most inclusive, with members from across the whole LGBT… spectrum. It means that MD Aneesa Chaudhry has a good range of voices with which to play, but as a community choir she also has a wide range of abilities to deal with. Given this, she does an incredible job, and especially with the more challenging pieces that she programmes and the complex and exciting arrangements that she finds. In fact it is in those tougher numbers that this choir exceeds expectations. Enjoyable as the pop classics and cheesy mash-ups are, it is the striking renditions of spirituals like ‘Were You There’ and a moving and complex arrangement of ‘Shenandoah’ that more than impressed, bringing tears to many an eye. The chorus has had a massive new intake this year and given that there were so many new members Chaudhry has coached them well, perhaps not as slick as their last concert yet, but still as enjoyable – and filled with promise. Hats off to a choir that enjoys the challenge of a broad repertoire and, for the most part, pulls it off with style.

St George’s Kemp Town, 13 December 2014

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