As it has done on numerous occasions in the past, the GAOS Choral Group held a summer workshop at GAOS Headquarters from the 11th to the 13th of July under the direction of Julian McNamara with Joan Cambitsis accompanying. The idea behind such workshops is to provide singers with an opportunity to keep their skills in shape while the Choral Group is “on holiday”. At the conclusion of the workshop the participants performed a Sunday evening concert of the works studied at the Salle Communale in Commugny. Julian is well known to the GAOS community, having served as musical director of several spring shows and conducted a number of Choral Group concerts in the past.
The programme was fairly eclectic, covering areas familiar to GAOS singers such as Gilbert and Sullivan and Broadway tunes. On the classical side there were selections from the Vivaldi Gloria, the requiems of Mozart and Fauré as well as Dvorak’s Mass in D. There were also part songs in German by Schubert and an opera chorus (from Wagner’s Lohengrin). The evening closed with a rendition of Moon River, which Henry Mancini had composed for the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. All in all, a fairly demanding programme.
Given the fairly short period of time allowed for the preparation of such a challenging programme, the efforts of the Choral Group under Julian’s baton were impressive. The choir sang with enthusiasm and produced a pleasant sound. The contribution of the basses and tenors was especially commendable. It must be said that the German language in the Schubert pieces posed a bit of a problem, but articulation in English and in Latin was generally quite clear. A particularly delightful piece was Irving Berlin´s You’re Just in love, from Call Me Madam in which two different tunes are sung simultaneously, one by the ladies and one by the gentlemen. Call Me Madam is a musical that Sue Lloyd had dreamed of producing for years, and I’m certain she would have been most proud of the Choral Group’s performance of this number.
After the concert, the audience of roughly 50 persons was treated to an apéro in the Salle Communale. The atmosphere was extremely convivial, and along with the concert itself, was somewhat reminiscent of the old musical evenings that used to take place in the American Church parish hall on a Sunday evening. A collection was taken at the end of the evening for Mercy Ships, a Lausanne-based organization that sends ships carrying medical teams to provide assistance in Africa. The Choral Group is to be commended for having raised a total of 860 Swiss francs for this organization.
All in all, it was a lovely evening. Many thanks to the organizers and to the participants. Well done, all of you!
