The beautiful chapel of the Royal Masonic School for Girls was the venue for the annual spring concert on 20 March. Musical Director, Delia Meehan, conducted the choir and orchestra in the Polovtsian Dances from Borodin’s opera, Prince Igor, with those well known themes made popular in the musical Kismet during the 1950s. Bobby Chen on the piano added a tremendous sparkle to Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia in C minor. At times with tones of a piano concerto, the work came to a splended choral finale in much the same way as did the composer’s later Ninth Symphony. Mezzo-soprano, Joanne Thomas, joined the choir as solosit in Elgar’s The Music Makers which concluded the evening’s programme. This work included themes used in Elgar’s earlier works such as Gerontius and the Enigma Variations and both choir and soloist did a fine job in making the performance a thoroughly enjoyable one.
Terry Simmonds