2014 certainly had some very high points – comparable to if not better than the annus mirabilis of 2007.
These include, in approximately chronological order:
- singing Messiah in Bombay and Goa with the South West Festival Chorus
- performing the Glagolitic Mass and the Petite Messe Solennelle for the first time*
- two concerts in the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra*
- performances with the Birmingham Conservatoire Camerata in Wells Cathedral and Cheddar
- some other lovely Cathedral visits: Southwell, Peterborough, Gloucester, Norwich
- reacquainting myself with Berlioz’ Grande Messe des Morts*
- singing Gerontius live on Radio 3*
* all of these with Bristol Choral Society (in some cases joining other choirs)
There were of course downsides to the year. I made a gaffe in one performance of the kind that makes you wish the platform would open and swallow you up. I wasn’t able to sing with Priory Voices (all the dates clashed). The only solo work was intoning plainchant responses at a service in Wells Cathedral (part of the reason for this is my choosing to do more large-choir work).
What is there to look forward to in 2015? I don’t think it’s going to be able to compete with 2014, though at least two of the performances listed above came at short notice so you never know. One piece on my wishlist is coming up shortly: Poulenc’s Gloria just after Easter. There’s a prospect of singing part of Gurrelieder (yes, really) in the summer. ‘Cathedral’ trips include Worcester (as I’m writing this review a little late, I’ve already done this one), Bristol, Canterbury, St. George’s Chapel Windsor, York Minster and St Edmundsbury.
And to work on? Probably my sight-singing, which I know could be better than it is. A rather vaguer ambition is to sing with or for one or two people in the Bath area that I have yet to meet properly. I seem to have fallen off the Bath choral circuit (another consequence of doing large-choir work in Bristol) and would like to have a foothold on it again.
On the concert/opera front, things were a bit quieter, though I got to WNO’s Moses und Aron, and Traviata at the Royal Opera House. Honorable mention to my youngest for singing in a concert at the Bath Festival, though the state of the Festival itself is a cause for concern (however there is news on that front, which I’ll report on separately).
You should certainly be doing solos, and I can’t understand why you’re neglected at church – you’ve been there a couple of years at least – Unless there are personal factors at work
After I sneaked in under the radar and sang a solo one week when the choir was depleted, people are now asking questions and this looks likely to change.