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Christmas concert 2024
Once again our Christmas concert was a huge success and our audience bigger than ever. Filled to the rafters, St Mary's church in Burghfield rang out with a fabulous mix of festive music.
Our programme ranged from John Rutter and Benjamin Britten through to Cole Porter via a bit of Abba and interspersed with traditional carols with the audience invited to open their lungs and join in.
Our guest professional musician was Amy Fitz-Desorgher who not only thrilled us all with her brilliant saxophone playing but also spoke passionately about how our chosen charity, SSNAP (Supporting Sick Newborn And thier Parents) had seen her and her husband, Laurence, through an extremely traumatic year when their son, Louis, was born very unexpectedly and prematurely at 27 weeks. Speaking powerfully as she held little Louis (now one year old) in her arms, there was not a dry eye in the church and we went on to raise a staggering £2850!
Singing for the local elderly 2024
Singing for the local elderly 2024
Charity work and outreach is a very important part of life with Vivace Voices and, at the end of October some of the choir visited two local elderly care homes to sing to the residents.
The pieces were selected to be a combination of arrangements of well-known songs along with some original works and the delighted audience even joined in with a rousing rendition of Abba's 'Thank You For The Music'!
Summer Concert 17 July 2024
Comments from the audience about the singing were full of praise, and the variety of the pieces was much enjoyed. Grant, the vicar, had heard the Little Jazz Mass before and was a bit concerned that we were singing it in our concert. When he heard us, he thought we were fantastic
Many thanks to Mary (accompanist) and Paul (double bass) - lovely to have those bass notes!
In addition a whopping £1,000 was raised for Daisy's Dream!
Spring Concert 2024
What a great concert. A varied programme with something for everybody! And refreshments were delicious as well.
The audience seemed to really enjoy it and several people said they always come to our concerts and love them.
We were running out of chairs and also the space to put them, which is a lovely position to be in.
At our September AGM 2023 Norma stepped down as Chairman after 12 years in the role.
She was presented with a voucher for Afternoon Tea for two.
And a basket of flowers.
Not just a pretty voice!
Vivace Voices brings together women from many different backgrounds and with a wealth of experience, skill and expertise between them that goes way beyond their ability to produce beautiful music. Dig a little deeper during the weekly tea and cake break and you will be surprised and delighted at what you discover ...
Lion!
This vibrant piece of art was created by Ann Moore (2nd soprano). It is just one of many works she has produced in her spare time. It is a beautiful representation of the many colourful strands of music we bring together in Vivace Voices.
Polyphony
At the centre of the polyphony
Lies an invisible mesh
That holds us,
Makes our bodies weightless.
The piano keeps Earth’s pulse
As the sky begins to ring
And icicles on peaks
Melt in a slow flow,
To wind through a valley of sound,
Whose base notes provide
A spadeful of rich soil.
This friendship of creating
Continues to reverberate
In the pauses, the silences,
The laughter,
Seamless tones slide like balm
Warming us
To the point of evaporation,
And through the blending of our voices
We weave a pool of sunlight.
By Carolyn Askar (performance poet, children's writer, creativity coach & 1st soprano)
To discover more about Carolyn and her beautiful poetry books visit her website
Cake Corner
There IS more to life than cake but a slice of the sweet stuff along with a hot cup of tea can ease a myriad of woes and certainly revitalises the energy and vocal chords half-way through rehearsals! The bakers amongst us love to share our cakes AND our recipes ...
Sheila's Chocolate Cake
Ingredients (serves 8-12)
For cake:
280g soft margerine
280g soft brown sugar
5 x medium-sized eggs, beaten (or 5 flax 'eggs' for a vegan version)
215g self-raising flour
2tsp baking powder
3tbs milk (dairy or plant)
150 gms self-raising flour
65g cocoa powder
For icing:
65g caster sugar
a dollop of golden syrup
100g good dark chocolate (at least 54% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
A little milk (dairy or plant)
Method
Pre-heat oven to 190C (170C fan), Gas 5.
Cream fat and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add the beaten egg or flax 'eggs'.
Add the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and combine well.
Add the milk and beat the mixture until smooth - use a spatula to keep the mixture in the middle so that you don't over-beat it.
The mixture will not be runny but will be thick enough to need a bit of spreading into your chosen, prepared tin.
Bake for approximately 30 minutes.
Allow it to cool on a rack before icing it.
To make the icing, put the sugar and golden syrup along with a couple of tablespoons of water in a small pan.
Bring to the boil and then take the pan off the heat and stir in the chocolate. Stir until completely melted. Add a little milk (dairy or plant) to make it shiny.
Let it cool a little before pouring it over the cooled cake. It will firm up in about half an hour.
ENJOY!
Fun Facts
The voice is presumed to be the original musical instrument and there is no known culture anywhere in the world that does not sing.
Primitive human sang to invoke their gods, celebrate rites of passage, and recount stories from the day.
The oldest known song is The Hurrian Hymn 6 which dates back to approximately 14000 years BCE! Find out all about this song and listen to it HERE.
'He who sings scares away his woes'
Miguel de Cervantes
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