Yesterday we took in one of the best events of the week — a concert by the critically-acclaimed Apollo5, an outstanding a cappella ensemble with two women and three men:
Penelope Appleyard – Soprano
Lily Robson – Interim Mezzo-Soprano / Alto
Thomas Mottershead – Tenor
Joseph Taylor – Tenor
Augustus Perkins Ray – Bass
It was not only that their blend and balance as so good — they performed vocal pyrotechnics and managed extremely close harmonies with ease, addition to doing choreography and fun motions. The soprano described one of the pieces as “mad,” as in madrigals, and even “bonkers!”
They sang a widely-varied program, from traditional composers like William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi to more pop and contemporary composers such as Lucy Walker, Seal, and Yazoo. They even sang as an encore, “Chitty chitty bang bang!”
They are a sister choir to Voces8 and are part of the Voces8 educational foundation. The VOCES8 Foundation is dedicated to inspiring and empowering individuals through the transformative power of music. By fostering artistic excellence, delivering world-class performances, and creating innovative educational initiatives, we aim to enrich lives, build communities, and nurture the next generation of musical talent.
I just found out that they sang a concert in Honolulu recently and I missed it! And it was on a Sunday afternoon at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, only two blocks away from my condo! I could kick myself for having missed it, but at least I listened to and enjoyed their concert here.
They were the second group I saw sing from iPads. All the large ensembles use printed music to sing from, but the smaller ones use tablets on music stands.
In the afternoon, Bill Potter and I went to the special Evensong which was live broadcast by the BBC. The queue was very, very long to get into the chapel, but we sat in our usual spot just outside the chapel, with a good view of the video monitor. The combined choirs of the cathedrals from Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford sang a commissioned Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from Gavin Higgins, who is the composer in residence for this Festival.
We briefly stopped at the Three Choirs Deans’ Bake-Off which was a friendly, fun-filled competition between the Deans in a cupcake decorating contest. The emcee tried to hype up the competition to make it sound like a wrestling match. The winner was the Dean of Gloucester!
We then joined the American Friends for dinner at the Fountain Inn, a pub which we have visited several times before. It was quite noisy but we enjoyed making new friends, and the food was delicious.
The evening concert was Beethoven’s Mass in C. preceded by two pieces by Cecelia McDowall and Edmund Rubbra. The performance was excellent, but it was the end of a very long day, and I didn’t take many photos.
