Anniversary time - Come Sing and Dance
Tonight at 7:30pm, a full twelve months will have passed since Come Sing and Dance, the recital at The Undercroft, Winchester Cathedral. Quite naturally, my thoughts have been returning to it all today - especially rather deja-vu and reminiscent, as the rain falls outside against a backdrop of dark grey skies, bringing those memories quite keenly into super-sharp focus!
Musically, the year has been a quiet, reflective one. I’m still grappling with new plans, and am pursuing a slightly different vocal direction and enjoying making music with lutenist Din Ghani. Din formed the group Musicke in the Ayre in 2011, an evolving circle of singers and instrumentalists who share a love of the lute ayre and its many variants from across Europe.
It really is all about who you know - I first met Din some years ago at Dartington International Summer School when I sang for Emma Kirkby in her masterclass sessions; she encouraged me then to think about embracing early music repertoire more. Din and I made an all too brief performance of Campion’s ‘The Cypres Curtain of the Night’ - a beautiful song, but as I understand it, with tricky tablature to play with little rehearsal.
Din and I met at Dartington again this year when I returned to sing for Emma (and to do a bit of Creative Writing with James Runcie) and agreed this time to keep in touch. I recently travelled to Din’s home in Wiltshire to make a start on rehearsing and putting some repertoire together for a possible concert in 2016. All very new to me, but how exciting it is to sing these exquisite songs in such an intimate setting. Very intoxicating!
Here then at last, and as an acknowledgment of another year passing, is a basic but live recording of a performance from the recital on 8th November 2014. The programme began with this, the first song I was ever given to sing by my singing teacher when I was just eleven: The Skylark, by Eric Thiman. The evening was very much a family affair and in the weeks afterward in the run up to Christmas, I had a lovely message written from my cousin Louisa on the inside of her Christmas card. it read:
“Thank you so much for your wonderful concert in Winchester. All the emotions and mostly I am left with great admiration for you rising above the challenges of the day & give us such a life-affirming experience. It was lovely to see you and Liv playing and singing together. What a treat.”
