A performance to treasure

WRITING a revue about the Manama Singers and Bahrain Sinfonia’s rendition of The Creation by Joseph Haydn, which they performed at the Diplomat Radisson Hotel last Friday,  is arguably the hardest revue I have ever had to write.
 
Not because I thought the event was not up to par Ö on the contrary, I have no idea how NOT to sound too gushing !
The entire evening was a delicious tour de force and surpassed everyone’s expectations.

The concept of a newly-formed orchestra and a very depleted choir, especially with the recent, sad death of tenor Vinod Matthew Thomas who had been a mainstay of the Manama Singers for 22 years, pulling off such a well-known and intricate Oratorio seemed unlikely at best.

Although the guest soloists Henry Bennet (Bass), Robert Millner (Tenor) and Dorit Schaper (Soprano) shone, the evening belonged not just to them, but without exception to every member of the Bahrain Sinfonia and the Manama Singers.

The choir members have the amazing ability of resembling the Red Army Choir in their softer pieces and yet being as powerful and graceful as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as their voices  soar triumphantly, in the more operatic choral pieces. Their pure joy in singing resounds with every note.

The Singers and Sinfonia have been doubly blessed in having Michael Natzke as the musical director. He brings with him an intrinsic sense of fun whilst wielding the highest expectations for all who join.

Haydn’s delightful exploration of The Creation is dramatic, adventurous and enchanting in all its complexity. To achieve such a successful rendition has to have been one of the high notes in the history of the Manama Singers and something for everyone who performed or watched to treasure.

The work itself was first performed in 1798 and was based on The Book of  Genesis, The Book of Psalms and Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. The three narrators take us through the six days of creation with the choir glorying in the news with soaring and epic choruses whilst the orchestra paints a delightful musical picture of everything taking place – from the magical sunrise to the storms and the sounds of the animals and birds.

All in all, it is a feast for the senses and everyone concerned deserved the standing ovations they received.
Congratulations are also in order for David Hlawiczka who leads the Bahrain Sinfonia and is the core that holds them together – also, those who work behind the scenes organising the event and making it run like clockwork, leaving the musicians and singers free to revel in their performance.

Now we all have to wait and see what they have in store for us next.

– Christine Hasan