Now that the Bristol Beacon is available to us, Bristol Choral Society can put on the bigger works that have been off the menu since 2018. First up was Verdi’s Requiem – a work that is thoroughly ingrained in me from multiple hearings and definitely a personal favourite, although I haven’t actually performed it all that many times.
We expanded the choir with some invited singers from other choirs. The layout of the choir stalls in the Beacon is completely different from its previous incarnation (gone altogether is the seat I always used to occupy – I used to wonder about getting a small brass plate with my name on for it). The choir stalls are now some way above the orchestra (for this concert it was the British Sinfonietta), although with bigger numbers for this concert some singers were put down near them. I don’t actually have much to say about the performance itself except that it was appreciated by our large audience (and by the reviewer in the Bristol Post).
I see that Gloucester Choral Society have the Verdi down for Spring 2025 so I may well get another pop at it before long.