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Reviews and NewsGood Housekeeping Choir of the Year - October 2009 >>Llangollen Eisteddfod - July 2009 >> Worthing Choral Festival - July 2009 >> Spring Charity Concert - 2009 >> Spring Charity Concert - 2008 >> Summer Concert - 2007 >> Christmas Concert - 2005 >> Mrs Sunderland Music Festival - February 2005 >> Bournemouth - June 2004 >> Good Housekeeping Choir of the YearWith choral singing very much in vogue these days, Good Housekeeping magazine decided to launch its own Choir of the Year competition. We were very pleased to be selected to appear in the final, which took place at Grosvenor Chapel in London in October 2009, in front of a panel of judges that included Suzie Digby, Jane Asher and G4's Jonathan Ansell. The choirs had clearly been selected to represent every facet of choral singing from children to adult barbershop, and we were proud to be the representatives of the long tradition of female choirs.
Sadly for us the current fondness for youthful voices - as evidenced by recent high-profile choral events such as BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year and BBC TV's Last Choir Standing - meant that we were not chosen as winners or runners up' despite giving one of our best performances for quite some time. But it was an enjoyable day nonetheless, and at least we all came away from it with a free GH recipe book and an advent calendar to satisfy our sweet teeth! << top Llangollen Eisteddfod July 200911 July 2009 saw Impromptu give another out-of-town performance, this time at the world-famous Llangollen Eisteddfod. It was a huge honour to have been selected to perform at this our first-ever international competition, and we were determined to do ourselves proud. We had been selected to compete in the Female Choirs category against choirs from Estonia, South Africa, Iceland, USA, Canada, Wales, Italy and Latvia.)
As expected, the standard of singing was extremely high and as we took to the flower-bedecked main stage we knew we had a lot to prove. Starting with Holst's Ave Maria, we moved on to Malcolm Forsyth's Auyuittuqbefore finishing our set with Philip Lane's Song of Love - a varied programme, which we hoped would capture the imagination of the judges. During the adjudication the judges were very complimentary about our performance. They also gave us a great deal of constructive criticism that will certainly be taken on board for future competitions. When the final results were announced, we were delighted to have come seventh out of 10 competitors - a fantastic achievement for our first foray into international competitions, particularly as we were the only unconducted choir there. Later in the day we were pleased to be asked to perform a half-hour set on one of the open-air stages in the showground. It was wonderful to be able to relax and enjoy our singing without the fear of being judged, and for many of us this was the highlight of the day. 
<< top Worthing Choral Festival July 2009On 5 July 2009 Impromptu spent a lovely day at the seaside, taking part in a singing workshop and performance of Karl Jenkins' Adiemus at Worthing Assembly Hall with local choirs JuSSt Singers, Horsham and Steyning Cantatrice and Amici.When Impromptu were invited to perform, we jumped at the chance: not only was it a perfect opportunity for us to get valuable performance practice of the three songs we were due to perform at the Llangollen Eisteddfod the following weekend, but we would also have the honour of performing the competition programme in front of internationally renowned conductor and musical director Jonathan Wilcocks, and the pleasure of being conducted by him during the evening performance of Adiemus. ) The whole day - brilliantly organised by Zoë Peate, musical director of Cantatrice - was an absolute joy. Jonathan Wilcocks gave us some very valuable feedback (and lovely compliments!) on our performance of our Llangollen songs, the other choirs' individual performances were wonderful to listen to, and our joint performance of Adiemus with orchestra was tremendous fun and very well received by the packed audience. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday! << top Spring Charity Concert 2009
March 2009 saw Impromptu once again performing at St Andrew's Church in Cheam, in their spring concert in aid of Sutton Association for the Blind. And after all the excitement of the prolonged build-up to the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year final in November 2008, it was wonderful to be back singing purely for pleasure again!
As a change from the entirely choral programme of 2008's concert, we were delighted to be joined by some wonderful instrumentalists, who presented us with a variety of pieces ranging from a beautiful 18th-century Mozart sonata to some stunning 20th-century American jazz. We were also really pleased that two other Surrey-based choirs were on the bill. Cantamus Reigate Chamber Choir and New Voices have both won great praise for their performances around the country, and their varied programmes were crowd-pleasers again at St Andrew's. As always, Impromptu bookended the concert, kicking off the first half with four contrasting songs ranging from the early 18th to the late 20th centuries, and finishing the show with four upbeat songs that ensured everyone left the hall smiling. Clarinetist Alan Lakin, accompanied by pianist Elizabeth Wardle, gave a very moving performance of Schumann's Fantasiestüke for Clarinet and Piano, followed by a rousing rendition of Benny Goodman's Caprice XXIV, which really took the audience's breath away. Next up were New Voices, a fabulous girls' choir formed by Tali Glynne-Jones from her singing pupils. Their splendid renditions of four very different songs were all the more remarkable because the girls do not sing together regularly. After the interval, Cantamus Reigate Chamber Choir, conducted by Nicholas Landauer and skillfully accompanied by Antonina Dembinska-Kenner on violin, got things under way again with a lovely Durufle setting of The Lord's Prayer and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, which featured some wonderful solo singing. The final instrumental entertainment was provided by Charlotte Bassett-Chan on violin and Elizabeth Wardle on piano, who performed a wistful Mozart sonata with a rich depth of feeling that left listeners feeling very moved. The whole evening was a fantastic success, with the varied programme ensuring there was something to keep everyone in the audience happy. And best of all, the evening raised a fabulous £821 for Sutton Association for the Blind. Many thanks to all those who took part in the concert. Impromptu looks forward to performing with you again in the future. << top Spring Charity Concert 2008Impromptu's charity spring concert, which took place on 10 May 2008 at St Andrew's Church in Cheam, was yet another roaring success.We were very lucky that four other popular local choirs - Spectrum, The Downsmen and the two John Fisher School choirs - had agreed to join us for the evening, which meant that the audience was treated to a wonderfully varied programme with songs ranging from traditional folk tunes to Broadway showstoppers. During the course of the evening we made stops in such disparate places as Hungary, New Foundland and the Arctic Circle, making the show a virtual round-the-world tour with music. 
Impromptu book-ended the concert, beginning the evening with a selection of songs from our competition repertoire and rounding things off with some popular crowd-pleasers. The audience was also very impressed by the two John Fisher choirs, who both gave beautiful renditions of the songs that have swept them into the National Selection stage of the 2008 BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year competition. Elsewhere on the programme, Spectrum and The Downsmen each pulled out all the stops with their lively performances of several well-known popular songs. The evening ended with all the choirs coming together to perform a rousing gospel number entitled I Feel Good - an appropriate choice considering how much pleasure the concert had clearly given to singers and audience alike. This concert was particularly special for Impromptu, because all of the profits were to be donated to two organisations that are very close to our hearts: St Raphael's Hospice and The Royal Marsden Hospital. We were therefore delighted to discover that the evening raised £1,600, which was split equally between these two very worthy charities who carry out such fine work in our community. Thanks again to all those who attended the concert and to all those who took part. GalleryPlease click on each thumb to enlarge:
<< top The Summer Concert 2007Impromptu's June 2007 concert was called Music for a Summer Evening. A more appropriate title might have been Tunes for a Tempest, Melodies for a Monsoon or Arias for Ark-building. But as the rain battered the roof of St Andrew's Church in Cheam, the audience inside was treated to a wonderful night of song, made all the more pleasurable by the fact that they had opted for this musical performance, rather than one of the many open-air concerts taking place that evening elsewhere in the borough.As always, the programme offered something for everyone, with songs ranging from the 13th to the late 20th centuries , taking in everything from a couple of World War 2 morale boosters to a sitcom theme tune along the way. )
The evening began with three early-music pieces: Flos Regalis, a 13th century English devotional song; The Silver Swan,
an Elizabethan madrigal; and Vivaldi's Laetatus Sum, in which the choir was accompanied by cello, violin and piano -
much to everyone's delight.
Two folk songs followed next: Shule Agrah, a traditional Irish folk song, and Ah! Si Mon Moine Voulait Danser, a Quebec folk song, sung in French, about a young woman's desire to seduce her local priest! As the choir took a break, the audience was entertained by Impromptu accompanist Philip Aslangul, who took to the stage with Charlotte Dodwell and Simon Ferris - collectively known as The Q Trio - to perform Josef Suk's Piano Trio No 2 in C Minor. The choir then returned in Forces mode to perform two Andrews Sisters crowd pleasers - Bei Mir Bist du Shön and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - complete with snappy salutes and trumpet accompaniment.  The second half began with two spirituals: the simple, moving My Lord What a Morning, and the rousing Ezekiel Saw De Wheel. These were followed by Magnificat, a powerful contemporary piece by Z. Randall Stroope, and Howard Goodall's The Lord is My Shepherd, made famous as the theme tune to The Vicar of Dibley. The musical journey took us next to eastern Europe, with a sensitive rendition of Tchaikovsky's The Nightingale followed by Hoj Hura Hoj, a haunting song sung in Czech to really keep the choir on its toes. Diane Merchant then delighted the audience with a solo rendition of She Moved Through the Fair, before the choir returned to perform two pieces written by rock performers but beautifully adapted for choirs: Fields of Gold by Sting, and And So It Goes by Billy Joel. For the grand finale, the choir rounded off the evening with Rhythm of Life and And All That Jazz. After months of practice even the choreography went off without a hitch, and as the audience filed out into the (mercifully dry) night, they must surely have been thanking their lucky stars that they had chosen to spend the evening with Impromptu, rather than huddled under an umbrella in a local park. << top The Christmas Concert 2005It was a case of friends reunited for Impromptu in December 2005, as former choir members joined the current group for a very special concert at Carshalton High School for Girls. As always, the audience was treated to a high-quality selection of songs from the existing choir. Pieces from the varied repertoire included Cantate Domino by Hassler (1562-1612), The Lord is My Shepherd by Thompson (1899-1984) and And All That Jazz, the latter accompanied by dance moves that would have made Catherine Zeta Jones proud. But what made this concert really special were the pieces performed by smaller groups of singers, some existing members of Impromptu, some returning just for the night. A very sweet rendition of Chapel of Love came complete with wedding veils and thrown bouquets, while two Andrews Sisters songs were performed by a sextet garbed in GI gear and accompanied by piano, drums, guitar and, of course, a boogie woogie bugle boy. Beautiful solo performances and duets included Faure's "Après un Rêve by Faure" performed by Fiona Pagnamenta, Mozart's "Ah perdona al primo affetto" performed by Barbara Binns and Emma Wilson and "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables performed by Joanne Hanscombe. With such variety on offer, this really was a concert with something for everyone. The evening ended in crowd-pleasing fashion as choir members old and new joined together on stage for a moving rendition of some favourite Christmas carols that proved once and for all that while you may be able to take the girl out of Impromptu, you can never take Impromptu out of the girl. GalleryPlease click on each thumb to enlarge:
 
 
 
 << top Success at the Mrs Sunderland Music Festival
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Third Place Finalists - February 2005
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Nine years after our first visit to the Bournemouth International Music Festival, we decided it was high time we
returned. 1995 had been a huge success, winning all three of our classes and the "Adult Choir of the Year" final.
It was such a special memory that for a long time we were nervous to return!!