2013 saw the achievement of something that’s been on the wishlist a lot longer than this blog has existed (10 years now and counting). I performed in the 42nd and last English Church of England Cathedral – Bradford. And I had a party to celebrate.
That aside, it’s been musically quite a good year. I sang lots of other Cathedral services, including mass for All Souls’ Day in Winchester, certainly a highlight in that particular choir’s history. I sang Verdi’s rarely performed Quattro Pezzi Sacri (or to be precise, three of them), renewed my acquaintance with Rossini’s Stabat Mater and got to know the War Requiem rather better. And performed in the Forum for the first time (doing a whole lot of Russian stuff, also for the first time). And through all of this I was singing well – the long-standing problem with vocal tiredness which I think I acquired through bad singing in Manchester has gone, I hope forever.
2014’s ambitions? Well, there’s one struck off the list now. I shall continue to angle for a chance to sing in the Lord Mayor’s Chapel, if only in one of the Chapel Singers’ concerts rather than at a service. I am due to sing a couple of major choral works on the wishlist. And I resolve to be more precise about the lengths of the notes I sing.