As the curtain goes down on our 10th year of capturing the Celebrate Voice Festival, we look back at our favourites from this year’s event. Over the decade since we started, the festival has gone from strength to strength and this year’s was the best yet.
The festival opened with the world-renowned BBC Singers (conducted by Bob Chilcott), performing in Wilton Italianate Church. The beautiful choral music filled this equally gorgeous venue with an uplifting mix of songs and melodies.
Ronnie Scott’s All Stars returned to the festival from the internationally-renowned London Jazz Club, with songstress Natalie Williams, one of the UK's most popular soul/jazz artists. People travel from around the world to visit the Soho club, but we were lucky enough to be part of this fabulous evening in our own home-town city of Salisbury.
Come and Sing HMS Pinafore, was a chance for members of the public to immerse themselves in the action, and be part of the production with the stars. A morning of rehearsals, led by Musical Director David Gostick was followed by a performance in which the public became the chorus, and put what they had learnt into action.
Comedic opera “Cosi Fan Tutte” was a riot of a show, full of fun and hi-jinx (set in a 1950s holiday camp; with a nod of inspiration from Hi-de-Hi). The trials of life, love, romance and betrayal twisted and turned to keep us enthralled to the end.
Live at the Musicals brought together Zoe Curlett, Katy Hanna, Keiron Crook and Simon Shorten direct from the glittering stages of the West End, to perform a wonderful mix of iconic and universally loved show tunes. This really was an intimate, up close and personal performance, and we LOVED it.
Comedy and Cabaret at its very best with performances by award winning and acclaimed comedians Amy Webber and Andrew Drew. Their solo shows had the audience (and us) in stitches with their individual takes on modern life and employment issues.
Always the biggest highlight of the festival for us. SEND brings local people with learning difficulties together with the professional singers, to produce and star in their own special performance. It’s just the most amazing, incredibly joyous, emotionally uplifting and inclusive celebration of our local community, and it’s the one we look forward to the most each year.
Showcasing up and coming talent, we were treated to performances by local young artists. Recommended by their schools, these truly are the stars of the future and the ones to watch. We are so looking forward to seeing how their careers progress.
One last word - if the Celebrate Voice Festival has somehow escaped your notice, please do watch out for next year’s offering. It’s well worth the visit and maybe we will see you there!