Sign up to our newsletter Community Matters

A Night at the Opera – an evening of music and dance with the Chanctonbury Chorus

Take a fine, operatic chorus, singing excerpts from almost every period of grand and comic opera, a corps of stylish ballet dancers, stunning soloists, expert accompanists, add a string quartet and you have Chanctonbury Chorus’ A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, an enticing programme that packed Steyning Parish Church till it almost burst its seams.

The choir was at its best in Vaughan Williams “See the Chariot” (from In Windsor Forest) giving a beautiful performance that was light and rhythmic - a real magical moment. In so huge and challenging an evening, some items would play to the chorus’ strengths more than others. Purcell, Handel and Sullivan were notable.

Michael Kopinski’s dancers gave strong and graceful performances which showed off their well-grounded technique and command of space. Particularly impressive was Michael who made his well overdue return to the stage dancing the Massenet’s Meditation from Thais. His virile strength and control were remarkable.
 
Chanctonbury Chorus has always been lucky in its soloists and the decision to replace an orchestra with the Florentine String Quartet was wise. Their lyrical playing of Meditation and Borodin’s Nottuno was outstanding as was Leslie Anne Samson’s brilliant keyboard accompaniments - supreme in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Dvorak’s Rusalka. The solo singers were superb, headed by Lucy Mair whose vibrant soprano, whether full of ecstatic joy in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, or Desdemona’s tortured innocence in Verdi’s Otello, filled the church with thrilling sound. Sarah Russell gave wonderful performances of both the Purcell and Mozart. Memorable also was tenor, Charlie Wood, particularly in Lensky’s aria from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, which was sung, in Russian, with the fierce and tragic passion that the composer demands.

The heroes of this extraordinary evening must be the two conductors, Siobhan Denning and Liz Kirkland. Theirs was the challenge to deliver the programme’s huge variety of genres and styles and they rose to it, ensuring that their fine choir was beautifully prepared and sensitively controlled. They lead us through a wonderful evening of opera and when the champagne cork popped and the whole stage erupted into the Brindisi from Verdi’s Traviata, the audience could only respond with an absolute ovation.

What a concert!  BRAVA!
Review by Duncan Noel-Paton.
Share this article



Content Managed by Your SteyningCrafted by Scaws