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Reviews and NewsSpring Charity Concert - 2008 >>Summer Concert - 2007 >> Christmas Concert - 2005 >> Mrs Sunderland Music Festival - February 2005 >> Bournemouth - June 2004 >> 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!!