Singing In The Rain

DenisChrisandCharlotte

We’ve loaded a couple of videos from the Tideswell Male Voice Choir annual concert at St.John’s Church, Tideswell for you to watch.  It was a glorious day, very sunny and warm.  The journey to Tideswell through Leek, bypassing Buxton was very beautiful but ear popping.  We passed through v shaped valleys caused by glaciers according to Tom, my brother who is very into Geography.

StJohnsChurch

The church was beautiful and filled up quickly, we started promptly at 7pm with the sun-shining through the stained glass windows.  The choir started the evening off in style, under the direction of Musical Director Dennis Kay, with a very moving rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone.  I was happy to see the guys have introduced some choreography into their numbers, we’re hoping to do something together next year, I’m sure Dennis will come up with something spectacular – everyone leaves the shows I’ve been grateful to be a part of with big smiles in their faces as the choir takes you through a journey ..Over Troubled Waters to the brilliant Nessun Dorma arr.Simmons.  Christopher Ellis is the choirs very talented Principal Accompanist, he studied piano at RAM in London graduating with an honours degree in Piano and Choral Accompaniment. I am very grateful to Chris that he allowed me to add an additional song yesterday evening, following Dennis’ suggestion to add O Mio Babbino Caro to the program.  With just one rehearsal together at 5pm Chris did a marvellous job, I so admire his skill, and he gave me permission to use the video my Dad made on my blog I hope you enjoy it and the Green Finch and Linnet Bird from the first half.

We were joined on the evening with a fabulous female ‘a capella’ choir from Chesterfield called Aurora with a lovely program of songs, many arranged by Nigel Williams their Director.

GroupCharity
The evening was brought to a successful close by the choir’s President Edwina Currie.  Edwina was a Member of Parliament and is fantastic at public speaking and made several charities happy on the night presenting cheques raised by the choir recently.  These wonderful guys have raised £75,000 for charity in the last five years.

The heavens opened during the last couple of songs in the second half, adding an eerie feel to the Bohemian Rhapsody, with thunder and lightning effects.  There was no sign of the rain, that was bouncing on the pavements, stopping so we all had to run to our cars, but it didn’t dampen the end of a wonderful evening 🙂

O Mio Babbino Caro

Green Finch and Linnet Bird

141 thoughts on “Singing In The Rain”

  1. Really enjoyed these. Can you tell us more about the song Green finch and Linnet bird, it is new to me and I loved it? You are working so hard for your career, I am very impressed.

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    1. Hi Hilary, I’m very happy that you enjoyed them, my Grandad was enjoying the Shirley Bassey songs so much he joined in and you can hear him on the recordings, now I know where I get my voice from 🙂

      The Green Finch and Linnet Bird song is from the musical Sweeney Todd. Tim Burton did a fabulous musical film version of it with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Jayne Wisener and Alan Rickman to name a few.

      I saw the musical in London on stage with Michael Ball as Sweeney Todd he was marvelous and Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett both actors won top prizes at the Olivier Awards for best actor and best actress for their roles and they deserved them.

      I have a lunch time concert in Lytham St Annes this Friday and I have a show at The Edinburgh Fringe on Monday 5th August at St Mary’s and on Sunday 11th August I’m Eponine in the Tideswell MVC Les Mis Spectacular at Gawsworth Hall so I’m very busy and excited this month, I love performing so it’s fabulous.

      Warmest Wishes
      Charlotte

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    1. Thank you Jose, thank you so much for your compliment I truly appreciate it.

      It is from the Sondheim Musical ‘Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ my character, Johanna, is the ward of Judge Turpin, the man who falsely convicted her father – Sweeney Todd in order to have his way with her mother – Lucy once Johanna’s father had been exiled to Australia. Her mother is driven insane and the judge raises Johanna as his own. He keeps her like a prisoner, with only a window to view the outside world. The judge plans to make Johanna his wife once she is of age but she rejects him. Green Finch and Linnet Bird is a beautiful song and I hope that I reflect the fact that Johanna has been suffering and is kept under lock and key and longs for her freedom.

      Warmest wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Thanks for revisiting, these are my first you tube videos, I had hoped to upload them direct on to the blog but WordPress Video logs won’t be ready until version 3.6. Glad you enjoyed them.

      Reply

  5. Oh my God, you are incredible, Heather!!! I just loved it! Thank you very much for sharing your gifts with us!! I enjoyed it thoroughly. You gave me goose bumps!!! God Bless you!

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    1. Thank you Janice, good luck with your children’s book Louey the Lazy Elephant. Just as reading gives you wings to fly, singing gives me wings to soar.
      All the best
      Charlotte

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      1. Thank you Charlotte! Very nicely put!! You certainly soar with that beautiful voice. You took me up with you!! Best wishes always!
        Janice

    1. Thank you, as you say on your blog – live your life – it’s what I really, really, really want to do. I was a bit concerned about putting a video out on the Internet especially as we’re just using a little home camcorder so I was relieved to have many nice comments and likes.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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      1. I absolutely believe in it as well, living your life and doing what you really love is what it’s all about. It can also be the most frightening thing, but it will pay off in ways you can’t even imagine! Honestly though, you have a beautiful voice and I would LOVE to see more of these videos from you. I might even be lucky enough to catch one of your performances when I back my bags and head to the UK!

    1. After your lovely comments about O Mio Babbino Caro last time, I was happy to be allowed to record it and that Chris was agreeable to allow me to share it.
      Greetings to you from a stormy England.
      Charlotte

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      1. Thank you, Charlotte. 🙂 Your voice is made for this 🙂 If you are ever performing in Holland I most certainly would by a ticket!
        Greetings from an overcasted Holland.
        Francina

    1. It was a beautiful location Angie, I’ve never been to Tideswell before it was a very picturesque village with a quaint high street of village shops opposite the church. Thank you for your compliment.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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    1. Thank you, Helen Kay the Musical Director’s wife and right hand woman helped me to change after the interval. Luckily I had a golf umbrella to make the dash back to the church under.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

      1. Yes, it was just a bit wet wasn’t it! We were literally singing the famous Gene Kelly song as we made the dash weren’t we! Ha Ha!! It was a pleasure, as always, having you perform at one of our events. Roll on Gawsworth! 🙂 x x

      2. Lucky for that golf umbrella! I was remembering how, in the chapel I previously mentioned, we had to change and leave our things in a room in a nearby building. In the event of rain, the soloists got the umbrella treatment, but the choir, in our black robes, just had to make a mad dash for it!

      3. Hi Helen, I’d never have got into that dress without your help, thanks so much. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

        And Hi Matthew,
        I laughed thinking of you all running in your robes, but I did hold back to loan out my brolly :).

  15. How beautiful is your singing, and with such a dramatic backdrop. So glad to finally hear your lovely O Mio Babbino Caro, bringing back image of Helena Bonham Carter opening the window to see the Duomo in Florence. Your Green Finch and Linnet Bird is delightful. It’s been a long time since I watched Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, so can’t recall when it’s sung. Did Helena BC sing that one in the movie? Again, thanks so much for sharing with us your performance.

    Reply

    1. Thank you Arti, it’s nice to have your continuing support. The actress who played Johanna is called Jayne Wisener in the movie, it’s sung after Sweeney Todd and the character Anthony have arrived back in London and Anthony see’s her at the window.
      Helena BC plays a brilliant Mrs Lovett.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  17. Charlotte, what an extraordinary voice you have, and what a magnificent church! I saw the original New York stage production of Sweeney Todd years ago, and you performed that song marvelously.

    Your comment about the thunder and lightning effects reminded me a time when I sang in a choir that regularly performed in a chapel that was right beside train tracks (http://www.flickriver.com/photos/7355435@N04/624217310/) — I’m pretty sure the chapel was there first. We became accustomed to pausing between sections — our conductor frozen with his arms raised — till passing trains went by, but occasionally the train noises added extra pizazz to fiery works involving hell and damnation!

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    1. Hello Matthew, I loved your story of the train. I’m so glad I don’t have to contend with that :). Do you still sing in a choir, I love the camaraderie the men have in the Tideswell Male Voice Choir they are always laughing and joking.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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      1. Charlotte, I did sing in choirs for many years — the first (the one that performed in the chapel by the train tracks) for 14 years, but when the old director retired, I did not like his replacement, so I dropped out, and then another one after that, but in recent years I have had to stop singing because of a throat problem that has ruined my singing voice. I still sing along with recordings, but only in private.

        However, I have found a new outlet in my collage art, and I do thank you for following my blog The Material Whirl, otherwise I might never have discovered your beautiful music!

  18. Charlotte, I’ve got to say that me and Terry thoroughly enjoyed the concert. You were superb as usual and I am now looking forward to your next one at Gawsworth Hall. You are brilliant, well done. xxx

    Reply

    1. Thanks for being so supportive Gilly it is always lovely to see you and Terry smiling in the audience.
      Will you be packing a picnic for Gawsworth Hall? I hope so 🙂
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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    1. I’m so pleased that you dropped by to take a look, did you catch the songs I recorded at college on the side panel? They have been going down well at my church concerts. Thank you,
      Charlotte

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      1. Charlotte, I’m so glad you mentioned the recorded songs on the side panel — I had not noticed them, and having played them now, enjoyed them a lot. I was also happy to discover that I could just start up the first one and they all play through, so I could listen while doing other things on the computer.

    1. It’s a bit nerve racking having my family sit so close pointing a video at me and because they hear me all the time they’re not very slow at pointing out slips in pitch or if I don’t move enough 🙂
      All the best
      Charlotte

      Reply

      1. You sound like my wife. While she does not sing in public, thank God, she does do a lot of public speaking. When I am in the audience watching her she gets nervous. She would go crazy if I was also videoing her. But you have nothing to be nervous about. You have a beautiful voice and you project poise and charm when you sing. – CLG

      2. Thanks CLG, I need to improve my public speaking as I have to introduce my songs and talk in between sets, I was advised to improve this by a tutor at JRNCM and it made me very conscious of it 🙂 – Charlotte

  26. Thanks for stopping and its so nice to meet you…:) I so enjoyed listening to your videos, you have such a beautiful voice that I could listen to over and over again.

    Reply

    1. Thank you for visiting, I loved your photo of the rainbow, they’re my favourite colours I can never choose just one. I always forget my pocket camera and end up just using my mobile phone when I’m out which is ok but the colours just don’t get captured the same.

      At the end of the summer I hope to have a couple of more recordings from my concerts with Russell Lomas to download.

      All the best and I hope that you can call back again soon
      Charlotte

      Reply

  28. Thank you so much for your brilliant performance, you moved me so much with your beautiful, stunning performance of ‘O Mio Babino Caro’. Thank you for being our guest soloist, I hope there will be many more opportunities for us to perform together. Can’t wait for Gawsworth.

    Reply

    1. Hi Dennis, it’s lovely to read such beautiful comments from you on my blog; I’m really pleased that you visited and left a message. Can you believe that the Gawsworth Hall concert is less than two weeks away?! I got a fab ‘Eponine’ outfit in a Charity Shop in Nantwich (I thought about dusting with the top and skirt to make then dirty looking without ruining them so that they can be reused after I’ve finished with them) and hopefully Jeanette, a friend of Gill’s, has a hat that I can borrow. I’m getting very excited now 🙂

      Warmest best wishes,
      Charlotte

      Reply

  31. Loved O Mio! Just amazing! Thank you for following PeopleTreats! So thrilled to have a new follower. Just added your blog to my list of following. I look forward to seeing more of your posts 🙂

    Reply

    1. Thanks for visiting Marie, I’m going to put all of my food bloggers in an address book on my system so that when I need inspiration, and I need plenty of inspiration cooking!!!, I can check them out again when I’m back cooking for myself in October. Hope you get the chance to come back, there are so many good blogs out there.

      Best wishes and thanks again,
      Charlotte

      Reply

      1. Anytime, Charlotte. I am so glad to have found your wonderful blog. I am definitely a fan :)! I think I listened to O Mio five times on my way to work this morning, so beautiful! ‘Til next time :)!

    1. Thanks Christina and Greg, you should try dancing together for fitness, latin or ballroom or both, once you start you get hooked and it really is a fun workout. I used to dance every week with my eldest brother Matt, he went on to represent his University and still dances now even though he works in the City in an office. One of my tutors Alastair has promised to teach me the Argentine Tango and I’m going to hold him to the promise.

      Best wishes,
      Charlotte

      Reply

  33. Hi Charlotte – first of all, I just wanted to say a massive thank you for being the first ever subscriber to Mrs Holder’s Legacy! I was pretty sure no-one would bother, so thank you so much for saving my ego. On topic, in what I think qualifies as a freaky coincidence, I was listening to O Mio Babbino Caro just yesterday – your recording was the first thing I listened to this morning and it was a wonderful way to start the day. Thank you!

    Reply

    1. Hi thanks for visiting, you need to link your little gravitar to your blog mrsholderslegacy so that when people want to click through to your blog for a little look it goes straight there. My brother Tom has just started a geography blog, he has been busy looking at blogs all over the world to expand his knowledge and put his first post up this last weekend so I know what you mean about to get your first followers.

      Thanks for the compliment too.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Thank you 🙂 here’s how the conversation went,
      Me – “Mum, I’m singing Bassey”,
      Mum – “oh good, your Grandad loves Shirley Bassey songs”
      Me – “What on earth can I wear to pull that off!” 🙂

      Best Wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Hi Cristian, I am thrilled that you approved of my pronunciation; I worked so hard on that in Italian classes this past year. The problem for me last month when I came off stage is that the audience in Italy anticipated that I could speak Italian 🙂 I will continue to work hard to learn to speak and understand more Italian, it’s a beautiful language.
      I migliori auguri! (best wishes)
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. This was one of the first opera songs I heard regularly in competitions and I love working on it each year, it gets easier to manage as my technique improves but it is a young girl singing it to her father so I like to make it as realistic as possible.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  41. You have a beautiful voice! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog — I’m so glad to have the chance to hear you sing.

    Reply

    1. Thanks Patti, beautiful picture of you with your violin, reading that you teach piano too has just reminded me I must find time to practise on my piano next week! I sometimes wish I’d chosen guitar at least I could carry it around ;), the violin takes too much dedication for me.

      All the best,
      Live, laugh, love (great sentiments)
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Thanks for visiting Panda Mommy, I love your rice cooking instructions maybe even I can get that right. I love to sing, dance, act, arts & crafts – cooking really is a skill I need to learn to like! I love eating though.

      All the best
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Hi Oghie, that is really a compliment from you I love your fashion and style tips, I hadn’t heard of Ankara but the colours and bright patterns are right up my style street ;). I saw your recipe for Green smoothies too, this follows a great recipe for green shots from Koko ‘atkokosplace blog’ (see the link on the ‘into the woods thread’) if I didn’t know better I’d think my Mum was putting everyone up to recommending more greens!

      Thanks again,
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. It would be good if you link your ‘life in the slow lane’ blog to your gravatar so when people click on your photo it goes straight to your blog. I was passed that tip 🙂
      Thank you for your encouragement,

      Best Wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Thanks for dropping by again and I just love your gravatar Violet. I love Bollywood too, I went back into school to teach a Bollywood dance to a whole year group, we all had a fabulous time and they were exhausted 🙂

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

      1. Thank you Charlotte so much re: compliment on my gravatar. I love it as well! 🙂 Bollywood dancing is indeed fun and tiring eh! ^^ I’m in the process of getting certified to teach it as a dance fitness class (known as BollyFuze) here and hopefully I’ll pass my exam tomorrow. Wish me luck!! 🙂

      3. Thank you very much for your well wishes and good luck. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough “boundless energy” on the day of my exam; I was actually feeling really under the weather for about 2 weeks now, and I guess a few hours before my exam, my body and mind shut down and I had to cancel it last minute. 🙁 It will be rescheduled when I’m 100% healthy again! 🙂

    1. Hi Manelli,
      My good friend Danielle in California Danielle DiDonato who accompanied me on the five recorded songs in the side bar of my blog has said she’d love me to visit her in San Francisco – who knows what the future holds 😉
      All the best
      Charlotte

      Reply

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