On Saturday the Pewsey Belles featured as part of the Pewsey Carnival Gala Concert, alongside Kennet Vale Brass and the Pewsey Male Choir. The ladies sang 3 songs in each half and throughout the concert featured a number of solo performances. The first half kicked off with John Rutter’s “This is the Day” which the choir actually learnt for a wedding back in the Summer and it seemed a good opportunity to give it another airing. Next up was Adiemus by Karl Jenkins which featured a number of solos from Emma, Nicky, Lesley-Anne plus Cheryl on the Recorder. This song, which proved very popular with the audience shows the versatility of the choir which blended well with the soloists. We finished the first half with I’ve got you under my skin which again featured two soloists.
Later on in the first half the Pewsey Belles joined up with the Pewsey Male Choir to sing The Rose, which was so good it even got an encore towards the end of the second half! After the interval, the Belles were back with 3 more songs, Fly me to the moon (a cappella) For the Beaty of the Earth featuring Felicity as a soloist for verse 1 and finally an arrangement of Over the Rainbow with a stunningly beautiful solo from Harriet which was my highlight of the evening.
Aside of the singing this was another chance for me to use my backing tracks as accompaniment given that the choir do not have an accompanist. As I discussed in a previous post, the notion of conducting a choir whilst playing a piano located somewhere off stage is not to be recommended! Overall, I thought the evening was a great success and another chance for the Pewsey Belles to show just how far they have come in the last 18 months. I’ve got some great ideas for developing the choir further next year so watch this space.
To read the full review of the concert please visit the Carnival Website. You can find more about the Pewsey Belles Ladies Choir on their website.