For the last few years SACO has been presenting a Sunday afternoon Tea Concert three times a year. As we are unlikely to be able to do so live for a little while, we would like to present to you a weekly virtual treat into your inbox.
We start with "Braid The Raven Hair" from The Mikado, performed by Emily Blanch (our Merry Widow) and ladies of the SACO Chorus, all singing from their homes. The photographs in the video, by our own Michael Readman, are from our 2015 production of The Mikado which was directed by Peter Kestner and David Ireson with colourful designs by Paula Chitty.
Our next offering for Afternoon Tea: Bryony Burnham and David Woods singing "Ah, Leave Me Not To Pine Alone" from The Pirates of Penzance. Bryony and David recorded this for us at their home in Harrogate.
Bryony and David have appeared in several SACO productions and concerts over the last few years. Both sang in the Gilbert and Sullivan concerts last year, and most recently, Bryony played Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, David was Harry Benn in The Boatswain's Mate last autumn.
Leila Saleh, training at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, sings Despina's aria In Uomini, In Soldati from Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. Leila has taken part in several recent SACO productions at the Abbey Theatre, including Die Fledermaus and The Pirates of Penzance.
In this aria, Despina, mocks Dorabella and Fiordiligi, saying that they must be mad to expect faithfulness from men and soldiers. Leila's singing in the original Italian - click on the "cc" button below the video to display English subtitles..
Here we have the exquisite Flower Duet from Léo Delibes' opera Lakmé. Here, Catrin Lewis sings both parts, accompanied by her friend and colleague Louisa Lam in a recording they made from their homes.
In the opera, the duet takes place as Lakmé walks to the river with her servant, Mallika, to gather sweet jasmine intertwined with roses.
Catrin has sung in several productions with SACO over the last few years: she played Rose Maybud in our production of Ruddigore in 2019, and before that you may have seen her as the mischievous maid, Adele in Die Fledermaus or as the Sandman and Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel.
This Tea Concert video is a double treat of Hail, Poetry! and an extract from Tower Warders. The company made these audio snippets from our homes to cheer up one of our singers while she was in hospital, having fallen very seriously ill with COVID-19 in March. She spent several weeks in intensive care, but thankfully is now back home and on the road to recovery. Michael Readman's photography is from our productions of The Pirates of Penzance in 2017 and The Yeomen of the Guard in 2011.
This version of Saint-Saëns' famous cello solo "The Swan" is from Katy' Bingham-Best's one-woman show" Jelly Bakewell Learns To Sing".
When Jelly, the heroine, joins a school production of "The Mikado", she finds herself having to sing the same note endlessly in the Act I Finale. Jelly gets bored and starts painting her nails, so her choir mistress banishes her to the orchestra, where she debuts as a cello - hence this number "Definitely Not A Swan Song".
Katy's most recent stage appearance with SACO was in Ruddigore in 2019 as Dame Hannah. At the piano is Julian Barber, who accompanies most Tea Concerts, SACO rehearsals and musically directed SACO's "Tosca" and "The Boatswain's Mate" from the keyboard.
"O Isis und Osiris" is from Act 2 of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in which Sarastro invokes the gods Isis and Osiris to protect Tamino and Pamina as the undergo the trials of wisdom which will lead to their enlightenment. In this Virtual Tea Concert, recorded in their homes,
Des Turner is accompanied by Julian Barber. Des has appeared numerous times on stage and in concert with St Albans Chamber Opera. His recent roles with SACO include the evil Baron Scarpia in Puccini's "Tosca" and the equally evil, yet witty, Sir Despard Murgatroyd in "Ruddigore". Julian Barber accompanies most Tea Concerts, SACO rehearsals and concerts.
Recording at home and in her garden, Sara Hartley-Llewellyn brings us her re-imagining of the sparkling Alleluia from Mozart's motet Exsultate Jubilate, K165.
In 1772, the 16 year-old Mozart was on tour in Italy for the première of his opera, Lucio Silla in which the title role was sung by the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini. Rauzzini's voice captivated the young composer, so he set about writing Exsultate Jubilate (Rejoice, Be Glad) specially for Rauzzini.
Sara Hartley-Llewellyn sang the role of Mrs Waters in SACO's production of Ethel Smyth's opera The Boatswain's Mate which you may have seen at the Abbey Theatre Studio in October, 2019.
Robbie Haylett takes us to the Musicals with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s famous “Some Enchanted Evening” from the first act of South Pacific. Emile de Becque tells of how he and Nellie Forbush eyes met across a crowded room and were immediately attracted to one another.
Robbie was due to be our Danilo Danilowitsch in The Merry Widow in March, 2020. We do hope that we will be able to restage the production in Spring, 2021, with Robbie again singing Danilo.
James Schouten takes us to Paris and Off To Chez Maxim's this week with a song from Lehár's Merry Widow in which Danilo explains how he likes to escape the stuffiness of the Embassy to drink champagne and enjoy the delights of the grisettes.
James' last appearance with SACO was as a rather splendid Pirate King in our 2017 production of The Pirates of Penzance. Since then, he has been singing with the Glyndebourne chorus and should have been taking part in this year's festival.
Peter Martin and Julian Barber preformed Schubert's song cycle "Die Schöne Müllerin" at a Tea Concert in Autumn 2018. Here they perform "Am Feierabend" ("After Work"), the fifth song of the cycle. The young man tells how he wishes he could stand out from his peers so that the miller's daughter would see how much he loves her.
Peter has taken part in several live Tea Concerts and many stage roles with SACO, including Spoleta (Tosca), Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance) and Alfredo (Die Fledermaus). Julian accompanies most rehearsals and concerts and directed SACO's productions of The Boatswain's Mate and Tosca from the piano.
This concert is rather different. We thought you'd like to see what happens before a production and so present a short series of some of our performers' auditions.
This is Richard Woodall who auditioned for the role of the evil Scarpia in our 2017 production of Puccini's Tosca. Accompanied by Martin Pacey, he is singing the Te Deum scene from the end of Act One: Scarpia orders Spoletta to follow Tosca, then gloats about how he would like to possess Tosca.
With the video are images by Michael Readman of the dress rehearsal with Laura Wolk-Lewanowicz as Floria Tosca.
Ruby Magee, our Chairman's granddaughter, recently started at The Royal Northern College of Music, on a joint performers' course with Manchester University.
Here she sings Batti, Batti, Zerlina's aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni, with Julian Barber at the piano. Masetto, Zerlina's financé, has accused her of cheating on him. In this aria, Zerlina tries to convince Masetto that nothing happened between her and Don Giovanni. She tells Masetto to get angry with her, but to forgive her - we get the feeling she is laughing at him, because she has been able to get away with cheating!
Ruby played the part of Mary-Ann in our production of Ethel Smyth's The Boatswain's Mate in October last year.
This week, we have something from the archive. Bob Little and Peter Jenkin used to take part in an annual concert for charity, and in 2013 they perofmred at All Saints' Church, Berkhamsted Flanders' and Swann's satire of the British tradesman: The Gas Man Cometh.
In their younger days, Peter and his wife Jo were members of many local societies, and Peter could be found accompanying rehearsals all over the area.
Bob has also sung with many companies in the area including Opera East and Felici, and last year took part in our production of The Boatswain's Mate and our Gilbert and Sullivan concerts. He was about to play St Brioche in The Merry Widow when lockdown struck us in March.
Here is the second of our Tosca videos.
Laura Wolk-Lewanowicz is auditioning for the role of Floria Tosca in SACO’s 2016 production of Puccini’s opera. She sings “Vissi d’Arte”, Tosca’s aria from Act 2 which is set in Scarpia’s room in the Farnese Palace.
Tosca rejects Scarpia’s advances but reflects how she has dedicated her life to art and to love, yet she feels God has now abandoned her. The fate of her beloved Cavaradossi lies in Scarpia’s hands.
Here, Lina Saavedra brings us Salomé's aria from Massenet's opera Hérodiade. Salomé arrives in Jerusalem and explains to Phanuel that the kind and gentle John the Baptist was the only person who helped her as an abandoned child.
With SACO, Lina has appeared both in concert - you may have heard her singing in our Gilbert and Sullivan concerts last year - and on stage. She played the mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors and Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard.
Over this series of Virtual Tea Concerts, Julian Barber has been seen accompanying many times. This week, for a change, Julian takes centre stage, playing one of Rachmaninoff's Six Moments Musicaux, Op 16.
Julian plays the 5th Moment Musical - a gentle barcarolle in D flat major, which shows Rachmaninoff in a more lyrical light. Julian says he loves playing all six pieces, but this one has a particular significance for him.
Julian has been involved in numerous SACO performances over the years, accompanying rehearsals and concerts, as well as directing stage productions from the piano. He directed The Boatswain's Mate in 2019 and TOsca in 2016.
It's our chairman's turn now. Accompanied by Julian Barber, Peter Kestner sings Papageno's aria Der Vogelfänger bin ich, ja! from Mozart's The Magic Flute. Papageno enters and tells Tamino all about his cheerful life as a successful birdcatcher, but laments that although he is really good at catching birds, he has had no success in finding himself a wife.
SACO last staged The Magic Flute in 2004. It was the first of our Spring productions which Peter directed - you may remember that it was in modern dress, and Peter had Papageno play the Stylophone rather than the pipes. Hoping that we might put on a more traditional version in the not too distant future, Peter's found a set of proper Papageno pipes which are getting their first public outing today!
This week we have a song by Gerald Finzi, first performed in 1933. Peter Martin, accompanied by Matthew Jorysz, brings us The Comet at Yell'ham, a setting of a poem by Thomas Hardy.
This setting is part of the cycle A Young Man's Exhortation, exploring the futility of war and the natural beauty of the world. Hardy wrote The Comet at Yell'ham having watched Encke's Comet from the top of Yellowham Hill in Dorset.
Peter has recently completed his Masters of Performance at the Royal College of Music and is now working as a freelance tenor alongside teaching. Matthew Jorysz holds the position of assistant organist at Westminster Abbey.
This week, for our 20th Virtual Tea Concert, we have one of Verdi's most dramatic arias for bass. Accompanied by Julian Barber, Andrew Tinkler sings King Philip's aria She has no love for me from the opera Don Carlos.
Purely for political reasons, King Philip II of Spain has married a French princess, many years his junior. Unable to sleep, he recalls her sadness when she first saw him and realised how old he was. It is all too clear that she never loved him.
Andrew's stage roles with SACO include Sarastro in The Magic Flute and Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville. He also sings in many of our concerts, and performed this aria a few years ago in our Verdi programme at the Maltings.
For our 21st Virtual Tea Concert, James Schouten sings Siegmund's song from The Valkyrie, the second opera in Wagner's Ring cycle.
Earlier in the story of The Valkyrie, Sieglinde, the daughter of Wotan, was forced to marry Hunding. She tells Siegmund, who has taken shelter in their house, about a sword which only a true hero can wield, hoping that Siegmund might rescue her. When Siegmund speaks of his father, Wotan, Sieglinde realises that he is her twin brother from whom she was separated at birth, and as moonlight floods the room, they embrace passionately. Siegmund sings Winterstürme, comparing their feelings for each other to the union of Love and Springtime.
James' last appearance with SACO was as the Pirate King in our 2017 production.
This week Angharad Little, accompanied by Peter Jenkin, sings Alone and yet Alive, Katisha's poignant song from The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan.
In this song, Katisha sings of her sadness that Nanki-Po, the heir to the throne of Japan, has been executed. Katisha has been a terrifying character in most of her scenes, but here we see she has a much softer, more vulnerable side.
Angharad first performed with SACO in The Elixir of Love, and subsequently played Peep-Bo in The Mikado and Kate in Pirates. You may also remember her Tea Concert last year when she sang Elgar's Sea Pictures and Schumann's wonderful cycle Frauenliebe und -leben. Peter has accompanied many local theatre companies and appeared on stage in several of our productions with his wife Jo and daughter Kathryn.
As everywhere becomes carpeted in gold, Peter Kestner, accompanied by Julian Barber, sings "Autumn Leaves", recorded during the second English lockdown by his grandson, Arthur Sawyer.
Joseph Kozma, a Hungarian composer who spent much of his life in France writing film music, set Jacques Prévert's poem "Les Feuilles Mortes" to music in 1945. The English lyrics are by Johnny Mercer, who also gave it the title "Autumn Leaves" and made the first English-language recording in 1950.
SACO had planned a live Tea Concert for late November which we had to cancel because of the second lockdown, so we have recorded a couple of numbers from the programme for the next two Virtual Tea Concerts.
Here Richard Woodall and Katy Bingham-Best, accompanied by Julian Barber, perform Lerner and Loewe's Ah yes, I remember it well from the 1958 film Gigi.
Richard and Katy have taken part in many SACO concerts and stage performances, the last time being in Ruddigore in the Spring of 2019 when they played opposite each other as Sir Roderick and Dame Hannah.
In today's Virtual Tea Concert, we have not just a song, but a dance too, from Katy Bingham-Best, Richard Woodall and Julian Barber.
They are performing Oh Rapture Unrestrained from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Utopia Limited. For many years, the South Sea island of Utopia has been the home of a languid and lazy people, ruled by a benevolent King who is, in theory, an absolute monarch. The King, a great admirer of English culture, is deeply in love with the English governess, Lady Sophy. She initially believes the King is much beneath her in terms of respectability. Until just before this duet in Act 2, that is!
Members of the Company, recording in their homes all over the country, would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas with Irving Berlin's classic White Christmas!
White Christmas marks six months since the project started back in June with Braid The Raven Hair.
In what has been a difficult year for everyone, your support for SACO has meant a great deal to the Company. Thank you so much.
A trip to the archives here. with two excerpts from "Trial by Jury", recorded at our October, 2018 "Evening with Mr Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan". Accompanied by Julian Barber and conducted by Peter Kestner, the company perform "Hark the Hour of Ten is Sounding", then David Woods sings the defendant's song "Tink-a-Tank".
The audio recording is illustrated with photographs from SACO's 2012 studio production of "Trial" and then from our 2019 G&S concert in Harpenden.
Since the recording, David has held a Fellowship with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and now studies vocal performance at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Here we have an extract from what one website calls "Offenbach's sexy medieval spoof"!!
Offenbach revised his operetta Geneviève de Brabant in 1867, adding in two new characters: a couple of comic men at arms. This new version took the rest of the world by storm, and the Gendarmes' Duet brought the house down wherever it was performed.
The operetta has now disappeared into the mists of time, but the gendarmes live on. Our Bold Gendarmes are Peter Kestner and Andrew Tinkler, recording from their homes, yet seemingly able to transfer props through the ether! Julian Barber as ever accompanies.
This week, the next in our short Offenbach season is the famous Barcarolle Belle Nuit, Ô Nuit d'Amour from The Tales of Hoffmann with Catrin Lewis and Louisa Lam.
Each act of The Tales of Hoffmann tells a different part of Hoffmann's life and is named after one of the ladies he encounters along the way. The Giulietta act is set in Venice and opens with this duet, sung by the courtesan Giulietta, with whom Hoffmann is falling in love, and Hoffmann's poetic muse, Nicklausse, who has been accompanying him on his travels.
You may remember that Catrin and Louisa appeared in a Virtual Tea Concert last summer with the Flower Duet from Lakmé. Once again, Catrin sings both characters.
To conclude our Offenbach series, we have Isabella's Hangover. Offenbach toured America in 1876 and contemplated writing an operetta for performance there, but never did so. A hundred years on, Don White took some of Offenbach's lesser-known music and wrote new lyrics, creating Christopher Columbus, the tale of how Columbus came to travel to America.
Just before this song, Queen Isabella of Spain has been at a party and is now trying to recall what happened.
Katy Bingham-Best, whom you may have seen as Dame Hannah in Ruddigore, and who appeared in several virtual tea concerts just before Christmas, is accompanied by Julian Barber.
John Ireland’s setting of Masefield’s Sea Fever is heard in many a recital. Less well-known are the settings of three of Masefield's other ballads by Frederick Keel : Port of Many Ships, Trade Winds and Mother Carey.
Masefield wrote a prose version of Port of Many Ships which tells how the 'great sea-snake' will rise up from his 'sea cave, all roofed with coral' on judgement day, and lead all the ships in the world to 'an anchorage in Kingdom Come'. Trade Winds is a wonderfully descriptive picture of a Caribbean harbour village, and finally Mother Carey, the wicked witch of 18th century sailors' folklore who conjures up storms to wreck passing ships and drive them into Davy Jones' Locker.
Des Turner, accompanied by Julian Barber, sings Keel’s complete cycle of three songs for us in today's Tea Concert.
Robbie Haylett, accompanying himself, sings Come Paride Vezzoso (Like the charming Paris) from Donizetti's opera "L'Elisir d'Amore" ("The Elixir of Love").
Introducing the aria, Robbie writes, “In this aria, the proud sergeant Belcore arrives on the scene and presents the prettiest girl he can find, Adina, with a flower. Singing a high-flown aria strewn with references to classical mythology, he takes her astonishment as a sign that his attempt at wooing was successful. Not that he’s particularly surprised - after all, who can resist a man in uniform?”
The New York Times, in an article celebrating Clara Schumann's 200th birthday, referred to her as "music's unsung renaissance woman". Clara was a virtuoso pianist and composed many works for piano, as well as for chamber ensembles and choirs.
Shortly after Clara's marriage to Robert, she decided to compose settings of the poems of German romantic poets for him. Robert encouraged her to publish many of these as a cycle, and her opus 13 set of Six Songs appeared in 1844, dedicated to the queen of Denmark.
Accompanied by Julian Barber, Peter Martin sings the fourth of the cycle Der Mond - The Moon, a setting of a poem by Geibel.
When thinking of Handel’s work for the voice, it is generally his oratorios which first come to mind. Yet he composed almost twice as many operas as oratorios after he moved to London in 1712.
Accompanied by Julian Barber, Ruby Magee sings Tornami a Vagheggiar (Come, let me gaze fondly upon you) from the end of Act 1 of Handel's opera Alcina. Alcina dates from 1735 and was the last of Handel's magical operas. Alcina’s sister, Morgana sings of her love for Ruggiero, one of the enchanted knights under her power.
This is Ruby's second Virtual Tea Concert for us, and you may remember her performance as Mary Ann in our 2019 production of The Boatswain’s Mate. She is now in her first year, studying at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte - The Magic Flute, tells the story of Prince Tamino’s attempts with the bird catcher Papageno to rescue Pamina.
In this charming duet from Act 1, Pamina, delighted to discover that Tamino loves her, and Papageno, who longs for a wife, reflect on the joys of marital love.
Inspector Morse fans amongst you may remember this duet was used in the Masonic Mysteries episode.
Enjoying the sunshine in their garden, Bryony Burnham and David Woods made this recording for us before they left to continue their Masters in Performance, Bryony in London at Trinity Laban and David at Peter Kestner’s alma mater, the Royal Northern College of Music.
SACO presents an arrangement by Philip Salmon of Musetta's aria from Puccini's "La Bohème", together with the song made famous by Edith Piaf "La Vie en Rose" - both very Parisian! In the opera, Musetta makes her man jealous, singing how she simply walks down the street and can't understand why everyone stares at her from head to toe. Here, he just sees everything through rose-tinted glass. The tune shows that in music, as in love, there is nothing new under the sun!
In a Parisian cabaret bar, we find Julian Barber at the piano, while Dominique Thiébaud and Philip Salmon listen and sing in their rooms upstairs.
This is Julian's 20th recording from home in our series of Virtual Tea Concerts. We are all immensely grateful to him.
Continuing the theme of love, we welcome back Catrin Lewis and Louisa Lam with a performance they recorded at their homes of the jazz standard A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. The song was written by Eric Maschwitz and Manning Sherwin in the French village of Le Lavandou just before the outbreak of the Second World War.
The story goes that Sherwin played the song on a piano in a local bar with the help of the resident saxophonist. Maschwitz stood, holding a glass of wine, singing the lyrics, but the patrons of the bar were not impressed. In 2002 an attempt was made to find the bar in order to hang a plaque commemorating the birthplace of the song. Unfortunately, despite help from elderly residents in the town and the local tourist office, the bar was never found.
Here we are delighted to bring you a performance of The Easter Hymn from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana.
Dominique Thiébaud sings Santuzza, joining 25 members of the company who have been preparing this performance since the beginning of March, recording in their homes all over the country.
Mascagni wrote his most famous opera for a competition in 1889. It took Mascagni just two months to compose. Then, when the time came for him to submit the score, his courage deserted him. Fearing failure he put the music in a drawer, where it might have remained had it not been for his wife who sent it off.
Cavalleria Rusticana, with its stirring melodies, was unanimously voted the competition winner. In May 1890, it had its premiere in Rome where it received no less than 60 curtain calls; in less than a year it had been performed all over Europe.
We now move on to a short series of Gilbert and Sullivan with Frederic's song Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast from The Pirates of Penzance performed by Peter Martin and Julian Barber. Sadly, in today's performance recorded at home, the Major-General's daughters have completely abandoned poor Frederic!
You may remember that Peter played Frederic in our 2017 production at the Abbey Theatre; last year, he repeated the role during the Summer outdoor season at Opera Holland Park.
Recording in their homes, Ruby Magee and Peter Jones perform the Evening Prayer Abends will ich schlafen gehn from Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel.
The children are lost in the woods and as they settle down to sleep, they say their prayers that angels will watch over them.
Ruby is currently studying at the RNCM, her grandfather’s (Peter Kestner, our chairman) alma mater. This is her third Tea Concert for SACO. Though Peter accompanies some SACO rehearsals, he is more usually seen on stage as a member of the chorus or singing in our concerts.
We return to our Gilbert and Sullivan series this week with the Kissing Duet from The Mikado.
David Woods and Bryony Burnham have put together a rather special recording for us at their home in Harrogate of Were You Not To Ko-Ko Plighted. Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum reflect that even though they are madly in love with each other, they have to practice social distancing!
Bryony and David have been producing a lot of video output over the past year and have enjoyed the opportunity that has given to experiment. In this video, as well as using black-and-white, they explore different camera angles and recording techniques.
During the unique operamentary, Jelly Bakewell Learns To Sing our haphazard heroine Jelly encounters an arch-rival, Bette Getter. Previously Jelly took over Bette's opera role when Bette got a job singing on a dog biscuit commercial instead. But this advert caused an outbreak of canine tinnitus so Bette is now back in circulation and the pair meet again - at an audition.
Katy Bingham-Best, accompanied by Julian Barber, sings from her own one-woman show. For A Matter of Busyness, Katy adapted Gilbert and Sullivan's patter trio My Eyes Are Fully Open from Ruddigore.
With this song from South Pacific, we start a short sequence of weekly visits to the musicals. Richard Woodall is accompanied by Julian Barber in One Dream in my Heart, Emile's song from the second act (a song which is actually called This Nearly Was Mine). Having been rejected by Nellie who is shocked to discover that he has two children by his Polynesian first wife, Emile reflects what might have been.
South Pacific was a resounding success everywhere, not just because its songs brought the house down, but because of its frank treatment of racial prejudice, a difficult topic in 1947.
Robbie Haylett sings The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha. Book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion.
Introducing the video, Robbie writes: In this song, Don Quixote proudly speaks of the gallant quest of, and devotion to, his life’s calling as a knight. In a shamelessly romantic and epic ode, he speaks of a battle against all odds, to remain true to the cause. ‘It is the mission,’ he says, ‘of each true knight. His duty… nay… his privilege!'
We welcome back Catrin and Louisa for our 45th Virtual Tea Concert as they perform the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein classic Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man of Mine from Show Boat.
First staged in 1927, Show Boat was considered to be a new art form in American musical theatre, in that it used songs to further the plot in a cohesive drama with strong characters rather than just a series of song dance numbers.
Katy Bingham-Best and Julian Barber are performing today one of the lesser-known animals in Michael Flanders and Donald Swann's Bestiary: The Warthog or The Hog Beneath The Skin.
Flanders and Swann used to perform this in the first of their phenomenally successful reviews At The Drop Of A Hat. Like a number of the animal songs, it’s a duet for one person, and reminds us that beauty is only skin deep.
Richard Woodall sings Stars from Les Misérables, accompanied by Julian Barber (with a brief appearance from Wolfie, Julian's cat!). The song takes place in the first act, after Javert unwittingly saves Valjean and Cosette from the Thénardier, and subsequently discovers that Valjean, his old time rival, has surfaced once again. He vows to complete his manhunt.
The French version of the musical was developed by Claude-Michel Schönberg in the 1970s, and there is a concept recording from 1980 which makes interesting listening - most of the songs are there but in different arrangements, some shorter, some longer. Somewere only added when the English version was produced to Herbert Kretzmer's lyrics. Stars is one of these.
Accompanied by Stephen Wood, Leila Saleh sings Helena's aria Injurious Hermia from Benjamin Britten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Both Demetrius and Lysander have been interested in Hermia instead of Helena. Suddenly, however, they both fall in love with Helena because Oberon's magic. Suspicious and angry, Helena asks Hermia if the friendship between them that has lasted since childhood is now forgotten.
Leila Saleh is a soprano based in Cardiff at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Before studying in Cardiff, Leila was a member of St Albans Chamber Opera, performing in Pirates of Penzance, Die Fledermaus and as a soloist in various concerts. Stephen Wood is Assistant Head of Music for Welsh National Opera and has been a full-time member of the music staff there since 2008.
Today , accompanying himself, Robbie Haylett sings Let Beauty Awake. It was in 1904 that Vaughan WIlliams' Songs of Travel were first performed in London. The cycle of nine songs for baritone draws on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Let Beauty Awake is the second song of the cycle. Robbie writes, "The text of this song seems to tell us that beauty can be found in dusk or at dawn, in solitude or in company of a tender friend. However, a slight tinge of sadness comes from its context in a song cycle concerned with loneliness, and losing or gaining one’s sense of belonging. The music is urgent, and seems to start and end in a key in which it doesn’t really belong; perhaps it is suggesting that the need to find and create beauty is imperative, and ever-present."
We welcome back Peter Martin and Julian Barber with Benjamin Britten's setting of Thomas Hardy's poem Midnight on the Great Western or "The Journeying Boy". Britten set this collection of eight poems by Thomas Hardy in 1953 after the premiere of his opera Gloriana.
Midnight on the Great Western is the second in the cycle, and from the start, the clever accompaniment evokes the train whistle and the constant motion of the carriage. The poem is a touching picture of the lonely child travelling towards an unknown destination.Peter has appeared many times both on stage and in concert with SACO. Since he completed his Masters at the Royal College of Music in 2019 he has worked with British Youth Opera and Hampstead Garden Opera. He is currently singing in The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Holland Park (for which he had to grow his moustache!).
Leila Saleh, accompanied by Zanete Petersone, sings "C'est l'Extase" from Debussy's "Ariettes Oubliées", a setting of a poem by Paul Verlaine.
C'est l'Extase is the first poem in Debussy's cycle, describing the ecstasy of love.
Having recently completed her Masters at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Leila is generously supported by the Sound Foundation, Harpenden Music Foundation and the Sir Richard Stapley Trust. Zanete has also just completed her MMus at the RWCMD.
We come to our 52nd and last weekly Virtual Tea Concert: the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi's Nabucco, sung by twenty-three members of the company and accompanied by Julian Barber and me - our first piano duet!
Because government restrictions preventing amateur singers gathering indoors continued during June, we have again recorded from our homes, but this has meant that our singers from all over the country have been able to take part. You will find us in the video along the banks, not of the River Jordan, but of the River Ver in Sopwell.I do hope that you have enjoyed this year of virtual recordings. We still have one or two recordings to publish, but we will be saving these until the run up to our live concerts in the Autumn.