Review: "three very talented and experienced singers" at Horsham Music Circle

At the Causeway Barn - Helen Whittington, Soprano; Sarah-Louise Ince, mezzo-soprano; Richard Woodall, Baritone; Janet Bishop, piano

The second spring concert of the Horsham Music Circle’s 80th season featured three very talented and experienced singers: Helen Whittington, Soprano; Sarah-Louise Ince, mezzo-soprano; and Richard Woodall, Baritone, all accompanied by Janet Bishop, piano. Unfortunately, James Kinsella, tenor, who was originally meant to be performing in this concert, was taken ill. Richard Woodall, therefore, had to step in in no less than twenty-four hours prior to the concert’s start; necessitating a quick change in program. Nonetheless, the trio and Janet Bishop took to the challenge, demonstrating a great chemistry between one another and providing to the audience an entertaining and well-informed concert.

The concert itself, ‘Aspects of Opera’, was filled to the brim with a fantastic blend of personal favourites, lesser-known hidden gems and other well-known pieces, each pulled from operas and other vocal works. The program covered a great deal of ground — from Mozart to Gershwin, allowing for a great contrast in styles and moods. The program totalled twenty-six individual pieces across the two halves, requiring the performers to maintain an elevated level of focus and diligence, to which they all certainly delivered. This carefully crafted concert was a brilliant way to introduce people to, or to simply enjoy the wonders of opera and other works of a similar kind.

The first-half of the concert included a number of well-known pieces namely: Flower Duet (Delibes), O Mio Babbino Caro (Puccini) and By Strauss (Gershwin), each performed with a fine sense of musicality and stylistic accuracy. One piece of particular notability was Richard Woodall’s performance of Non più Andrai from The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart). Richard Woodall gave off a wonderful presence, with the added theatrics making it a real performance. The somewhat bouncy, jolly, yet domineering character was perfectly expressed and was a pleasure to watch and listen to.

Concluding this half of the concert was Helen and Sarah with Mozart’s 'Prenderò quel Brunettino' ('I'll Take the Brunette One') from his opera ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’. Helen and Sarah not only performed the piece with a high level of musicality and competence but took this already quite comedic duet and adapted it to modern times by substituting certain passages with some possible modern-day parallels, i.e. comments about dating apps, social media, etc. This, in turn, achieved a good a few laughs from the audience and was an unexpected, though very enjoyable surprise.

After a short interval and costume change the four musicians returned to deliver a second-half packed with just as many pieces, and with arguably even more theatrics as the first. Each piece was delivered with fluency and musical excellence. The Trio from Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus again allowed the three singers to show off not only their talents as musicians but performers too telling a vivid story through the music. Like all the other pieces in this program, the piece was introduced skilfully, setting the scene for what was about to follow.

After giving thanks, the musicians brought to a close this operatic concert with a rendition of ‘The Impossible Dream’ from the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha (three voices). A truly touching performance. The melody flowed effortlessly with a great tone and expressive quality, a perfect ending to the concert.

The Music Circle celebrates its 80th Anniversary on Saturday 14th May at St Mary’s Parish Church 7pm with a concert given by The Kanneh-Masons. The concert features five siblings from this incredibly talented family. Braimah, violin, Konya, piano, Jeneba, piano, Aminata, violin, and Mariatu, cello, will be playing separately and together from solos to duos, trio and quintet.

To book tickets email [email protected]

Online from wegottickets.com/HorshamMusicCircle