Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
What a delightful evening! It was with some trepidation that I looked at the depleted numbers of Sinfonia members and Manama Singers in the programme notes, but I was about to be proved wrong!
Animal Magic was a light-hearted romp through some of the most entertaining of children's music and show songs.
Lydia Martin quickly overcame her nerves and proved that she was every bit as good a conductor as we wanted her to be!
The opening choice of Saint -Saens ' The Carnival of the Animals' was pure pleasure with many of the children recognising music they probably knew better from TV commercials or cartoon shows!
Mark Heaton's rendition of the Le Cygne (The Swan) was deliciously haunting and beautifully depicted the image that Saint -Saens had worked to create.
While L'Elephant (The Elephant) left many of the youngsters asking their parents what it was about, Aquarium (The Aquarium) and Fossiles (Fossils) held them spellbound.
Alice Phelps made a brave attempt as the Narrator but, for me at least, having an actor deal with the prose would have been more exciting for the children.
This led into David Rutter's wonderful piece, Wind In The Willows. It is difficult to pick anyone out from amongst this group of singers and musicians but Mike Keates Toad was so flamboyant and totally in character that the others were able to bounce off of him. 'Magistrate' Mike Franklin's diction was also so masterful that I suspect they are both secretly Gilbert and Sullivan addicts!
The high point for one of the young members of the audience, was the rendition of Toad's car by the entire chorus. It was such fun that he had to be led out when to his loud dismay it ended too soon!
David Hollywood's masterful narration, powerful and attention grabbing, held the entire work together as he wove the tale in the air for the audience.
The music after the interval was for a slightly more mature audience and, as it was getting past younger bedtimes, a slightly depleted one as well. What a shame as the individual performances were well worth waiting on for.
Erika Nottingham Rawles and Sian Brown had great fun with Rossini's Cat Duet only to be followed by Paul Bagshaw, playing Rimksy-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumble Bee. I believe that the flute is one of the most difficult instruments to play and Paul did an upstanding job.
Next came David Hlawiczka playing Pablo Sarasate's Tarantella on the violin. I have to confess to not being much of a fan of that particular instrument but even I could see that it was a fine performance.
And, lastly to end the evening in style, we were treated to a selection from Andrew Lloyd- Webber's Cats. This is where the choir came into its own creating once again the 'Manama Wall of Sound'; a glorious fanfare to the spirit of song and voice.
To all those members of the Singers and Sinfonia who chose not to carry on when Alistair Auld left, I can only say ... you made a huge mistake!
In this light-hearted romp conductor Lydia Martin, The Singers and The Sinfonia showed us that they are more than just Mr Auld's creation and hopefully they will continue to entertain us for many years to come.
- Christine Hasan
