BREMF – ‘Triumphant Days, Charming Nights’

The BREMF Community Choir have a reputation for enthusiasm, thorough rehearsals and discipline. They also have a developing core of musicality and some very good voices. Henry Purcell’s birthday ode for Queen Mary ‘Come, Come Ye Sons of Art’ made a delightful first half. It’s a joyful work with enough solos for the more accomplished voices. They were held in place by a handful of excellent instrumentalist, the international collective ‘Nymphes et Monstres’ which includes Sussex soprano Kat Carson. The choir’s director Andrew Robinson, a fine bass-baritone, joined her for the final duet. They set the bar very high and the choir responded very well.

Kat Carson

The second half was a selection of Purcell songs, mainly from ‘The Fairy Queen’ and set in a mysterious twilight. There were instrumental interludes with dancing lights and spoken excerpts from Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. The capacity audience was spellbound and very appreciative. This was a very ambitious project and required a mountain of preparation and effort. It certainly paid off and leaves us wondering what will they be doing next? Well, ‘The Whispering Dome’ is a large-scale multi-media event booked for 15 October, 7.00pm, in St Martin’s Church – event 10 in this year’s BREMF season. See you there…

St Paul’s Church
6 July 2023
Rating:
Andrew Connal