WATCH: Billingshurst Choral Society offers an Opera Gala Evening

“If you speak about Fishers Farm Park, people will think that you're talking about a children’s playground but actually in the middle of it there is this amazing little theatre. This is pretty much a unique opportunity for people in the area to hear a lovely concert of opera in this beautiful theatre buried away in the countryside.”

The concert comes in the second season at BCS for musical director Marcio da Silva, who also runs the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and is himself a professional baritone.

“He produced and directed a production of La Boheme last year in Hastings which is where he is based and he actually sang in it. He is very much into opera, the romantic stuff like Puccini's La Boheme and he has performed baroque pieces as well. He is a very experienced singer and he has made a tremendous difference to the quality of the choir, particularly with the ladies. We've had several new members that have joined because they have attended concerts and have been so impressed by what we have done. It really does feel like a different time with him. Some people are feeling the strain but others are loving it. When I became chairman we had about 50 members and now we're up to 64. We are slowly growing.”

And this at a time which isn't necessarily terribly easy for choral societies: “The children are not being taught music in the same way that they used to be in schools and so there is not that avenue for them to move into choral societies, and a lot of people used to come to choral societies through church groups and again that isn't so popular now. So there is a very limited number of people that you can draw on but I'm just pleased that we are growing. I don't think the pandemic is a factor now, and the fact is that we are attracting people. People are coming back and we do have some elderly members who are pretty much saying that if they don't come out then they might just as well give up or words to that effect. Financially we are worse off because we haven't got quite the numbers we used to have and there was no income during the pandemic though obviously the costs were down.”

But the choir are certainly more than holding their own. At its peak maybe around ten years ago the choir numbered 121: “I really don't think that we will be able to get back to that and I don't personally have particular goals in terms of numbers. I just want people to come along and to enjoy the music and to enjoy the concerts and really just to grow. If we take the numbers back up to 80 that would be tremendous but I certainly can't see us getting back to 120 again.”

More details and tickets from https://www.billingshurstchoralsociety.org.uk/