It’s now 10:04 pm on Thursday London time and I have been awake since 2:30 am Wednesday Hawai’i time and I’m so excited that I have heard (and seen) the a cappella Choral group Voces8 live in Cadogan Hall. The large room was acoustically as dead as a doornail, requiring the group to be perfectly in tune and perfectly in sync. That they were, in additionally being perfectly in balance. Their entrances and cutoffs were very precise despite very subtle or nonexistent gestures.

What I was so amazed at was the wide range of repertoire and the wide range of dynamics they demonstrated, opening with the Byrd “Sing joyfully,” moving on to Mendelssohn (“Denn er hat seinen Engels befohlen über die”) and Rachmaninov (“Bogoroditse Devo”) and ending the first set with Jonathan Dove’s “In beauty may I walk”—all of which was memorized and sung perfectly still, no one moving even a foot, or hand or head. The incredible pianissimos were heard even from the back of the hall, and the audience of perhaps 1000+ people cooperated by being very quiet.

I mean, even the pitchpipe was blown elegantly!

The program also included Tudor secular madrigals, Benjamin Britten’s “Hymn to St Cecilia,” Monteverdi’s “Book VI: Lagrime d’amante al sepolcro dell’amata”, and a whole set of jazz pieces, the latter done with subtle choreography. The audience absolutely ate it up!

After the concert, I had the occasion to speak to the director, Barnaby Smith, and told him I had just gotten off the plane from Hawaii! He said I probably came the furthest! They have performed all over the world, including Germany, Austria, China, Japan, the USA and even Mexico, but never in Hawaii. This is the 15th year of their performances.

My friend, Joan Ishibashi, who met me at the airport, commented that the dry acoustics made the whole concert seem very intimate, as though you were listening to them in your living room from your comfy sofa.

We were told to look out for the tall tenor, Blake Morgan, by Rich Arenschieldt of the American Friends of Three Choirs Festival as “THE VOICE” and he indeed sang several solos. He is the only American in the group.

Before the concert, Joan and I met for a delicious dinner at a Lebanese restaurant.