I’m rather ashamed to say that I am not sure I’ve ever been to a concert in St John’s Smith Square (though I have heard countless broadcasts from there). However, I have now, rather unexpectedly, had the chance to perform there. I answered an invitation to join the Parliament Choir for a performance of The Dream of Gerontius<\/i> in Rome (more to follow on this) and a perk of this was a ‘dry run’ at St John’s, with an invited audience in the space left over.<\/p>\n
The church normally hosts concerts with fewer performers, but we and the orchestra (the South Bank Sinfonia) just about squeezed in. And it did bring a certain advantage; in the words of our conductor ‘the chamber music parts of the work were more apparent than in the usual cavernous spaces where Gerontius is performed’. The building seems to have rather odd proportions but I can’t fault its acoustic – the conductor could stand in the centre of the nave and address us all without amplification. <\/p>\n
Our performance was dedicated to the memory of Barry Humphries, whose death had just been announced. Not so strange, as our conductor had collaborated closely with him in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m rather ashamed to say that I am not sure I’ve ever been to a concert in St John’s Smith Square (though I have heard countless broadcasts from there). However, I have now, rather unexpectedly, had the chance to perform … Continue reading