I had a wonderful day yesterday. Alan and his lovely wife Fiona invited me to come out with them to see their daughter Miriam perform in The National Youth Choirs 25th Anniversary Gala Concert at Symphony Hall here in Birmingham. The arrived mid afternoon and the concert didn’t start till 7pm so we had time to head into town and go and see the Art of the STITCH exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which Fiona wanted to see. I was absolutely amazed by some of the pieces on display. I vividly remember walking over to a piece, The Needle & Thread by Mariana Fatich, and rather embarrassingly commenting that it was a beautiful painting when Fiona pointed out it wasn’t paint but the piece was entirely stitched! The picture opposite really doesn’t do the piece justice, like many of the exhibits you had to see them to believe how wonderful they looked.
After the exhibition we had a lovely meal and spent well over an hour chatting and catching up. I tried not to tease Alan too much about the fact that he actually got dressed up, but as always we had a laugh and joke but also talked about some interesting work related ideas around the Talis Platform, and the difference between open and closed world applications. We also spent some time chatting about the fact that I need to find myself a Medieval Costume for a traditional archery shoot (still hoping Fiona will make one for me lol ) later in the year, yes there were lots of jokes about me going as Friar Tuck etc. but I deserved that after repeatedly making fun of the Welsh (the only subject Alan ever looks like he’s getting ready to hit me over). I had a lot of fun catching up with them both, and I do regret the fact that we don’t get to see each other more often – Alan has always been great inspiration for me and it’s no secret that he’s helped shaped my understanding on so many things.
After the meal we headed over to Symphony Hall for the Concert. I have to confess, that although I do go to Symphony Hall regularly I have never been to any NYC event before so I was a little excited at the prospect but certainly had no idea what to expect.
The event was, in a word, sublime!
The entire Choir must have been comprised of almost 400 youngsters (Alan reckons it was at least that number), and their ages ranged from 9 to 22. However because the event was the 25th Anniversary of NYC they were joined by previous members of the Choir as well as current and previous members of Laudibus, the NYC’ Chamber Choir. They were also joined by the amazing King’s Singer’s who performed several pieces. Ben Thapa from the band G4 even took part as a guest soloist during the choir’s performance of Naiman Sharag. If that doesn’t sound impressive enough they were conducted by some of the finest conductors in the world, along with some of the most wonderful composers.
The gala lasted for four hours which sounds like a long time but the truth is it didn’t feel like it at all – you couldn’t help but get so immersed in the performance that you really didn’t notice the passing of time.It was a magical evening.
For me personally what made this event stand head and shoulders above anything I’ve seen at Symphony Hall is that it was fun, every member of the choir from the youngest to the oldest, every conductor, every composer, looked like they were having a whale of a time. One of the difficulties I often have with Classical Music concert’s is that whilst the music is lovely, it can often feel impenetrable or quite exclusive. Yet with the choir, their’s something about listening to people sing, the emotion in their voices which you can’t help but be drawn to – particularly the voices of children … there is something angelic about it, something inherently uplifting.
Everyone who helped organise this event and everyone who performed in it deserves the utmost praise.
I managed to take a few pictures which you can view on my flickr account, below are a couple from the evening:
Me, Alan and Fiona
