Tag: #concert

Sing for Peace

After years of waiting, months of musical and singing preparation, and weeks of growing excitement and anticipation, a large contingent of Bra-vissima’s singers descended into the northern Italian town of Bordighera for a weeklong choir tour.

Greeted by a plume of glorious heat and humidity on arrival in Nice airport, Bra-vissima were, within the space of 50 minutes driven through three separate countries -France, Monaco, and Italy. In a flash and disembarked like Phileas Fogg out of a taxi, we first caught glimpse of the town we would call home for the next week. 

With no rest for the wicked, we joined other friends who had arrived earlier to attend a vital rehearsal in a space which had its own coffee bar and machine (sooo Italian) and an electric organ which had opposing keyboards to what was expected. A quick brain and hand switch by our experienced organist Stephen allowed for a first-rate rehearsal. 

The next morning, after the night before, which many of us spent by the sea, in an evening of shared friendship and food, Bra-vissima caught sight for the first time the church which would host our Sing for Peace concert. The heat and the need for plan Bs followed us in from the sunlight into the relative darkness of the sanctuary, for a second and final rehearsal. Arrangements around heat management, altar restrictions and the lack of a vital organist mirror led to some amazing ‘off the cuff’ decisions by our musical director, Julia Wilson-James, alongside the stoic help of our Italian co-ordinator Giovanna.We didn’t just plan B it – we went directly to plan Z.

Unlike in the UK, church concerts in Italy are almost always free events; and so, we didn’t know if we would be singing to just a man and his dog, or to a few, or too many. However after another excellent rehearsal, we didn’t much care. The buzz was beginning to rise in all of us as we realised what an enormous privilege this was going to be.

 At nightfall and returning to the church in good time for the concert, we took shelter once again from the roasting evening heat in the same rehearsal space with the coffee bar and wonky organ. Walking past the coffee machine (probably in slow motion) many of us would have dearly wished for a trained barista to pop their head up with a smile and a wink and offering us all ‘caffè freddo’ to cool down with.

As the time passed, patiently waiting for the concert to begin, our Bra-vissima scouts were giving us frequent reports on the number of people that were slowly entering the church. There was no going back, with apparently more than a man and his dog now present.

Appropriately suited and booted (sandalled), and in formation,we entered the church from a side entrance, taking in for the first time the full house that awaited us. The doors at the front of the church were open, and the darkness of the night provided an ethereal backdrop to the twinkling yellow and silver lights set within the church in an array of enormous chandeliers.

From the moment we started to sing, accompanied by the organ punctuating the space with its powerful, floaty sound, the audience was clearly enraptured. Those assembled, and the many people who were drawn in (sometimes only) briefly from the night by the sound of our singing, added to the cavernous space, with their smiles and tears; their mouths agape, chests clutched – our audience wore their hearts on their sleeves and it was a glorious sight to see. 

Jo Clarke