As you’ll be able to hear from the snippet from our pre-concert Friday rehearsal (see right), the hero of the hour was our wonderful accompanist, Catherine Borner. Week in, week out she makes the instrumental parts come alive with her supremely accurate (and reassuring) piano accompaniment.

On Saturday afternoon we came together with the players for the first time, and we were especially intruiged to hear the marimba in this unique version for small ensemble by Berlin-based choir director and music educator Michael Betzner-Brandt. As our Musical Director Murray Hipkin said in his pre-concert message to our supporters, “His imaginative reworking of this epic and familiar piece as a chamber oratorio opens up opportunities for smaller-scale performances and invites us all to listen to it with fresh ears.” It seems that it was a hit with our appreciative audience – none of us can remember getting quite such an enthusiastic reception in the whoops and cheers we received – a sign of a job well done, we think! The choir certainly loved being able to sing out without being overwhelmed by a large orchestra.