Classical crossover duo Tesoro offer Festival of Chichester concert

They are offering Tesoro at the Pavilion – at The Pavilion, Graylingwell Park, Chichester, PO19 6DA on Saturday, July 5 at 6pm when they will be joined by sax and piano. The free event will move indoors if the weather turns wet.

They are promising a wonderful mix of Mediterranean and Riviera inspired songs from the world of movies, musicals and more, plus their signature classical crossover songs and numbers from the great American songbook. As they say, it will be perfect for a

warm summer's evening drink or relaxing on a picnic blanket with the family.

As Simon says: “We started really during Covid. We both sing a lot but the opportunity to perform just blew out of the window with Covid. We did a few things online. Karen and I did a few things, and we did something for QA Hospital. We then decided to do a couple of concerts ourselves, a mix of solos and duets, and we thought that we should do something as a duo when we finally got back to a normal situation and so we did. We've been singing crossover music and musical theatre and also some American songbook songs. We also do the Disney and the Bond and so on. We do all sorts of modern music, as I say especially the crossover.

“We go into care homes as well in the local area. We do one of those maybe nearly every week. This time of year we are very busy and Christmas is also very busy as well. At Christmas we did 24 gigs from December 1 to December 24. There were quite a few days when we did two on one day and some days when we did three on one day but it's really great for the type of music that we do. We do pop and the easy listening type of music and there is a lot of Christmas music in that realm. Our first Christmas gig was at the end of October!”

Karen also loves the variety of it all: “Every single gig is different. You might enjoy singing to somebody in a care home that's got dementia and you see the reaction and their response and the way it makes them feel but equally we could be busking or doing a theatre gig. We get such a lovely feeling from it. I think there's nothing better for a performer. When you see people enjoying it, you realise just how much you are enjoying it yourself.

“We do come from different backgrounds but when we talk about the music we love, there is such a big crossover, such a big overlap. Simon can bring out the amazing opera voice and Matt Monro style and I can do Karen Carpenter and Ella Fitzgerald. There's so much that we can do.”