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Our upcoming concert on Saturday 11th January at London’s Cadogan Hall will feature homegrown arrangements from our talented choir members. The concert will include an amazing song “Define Me” that we all absolutely love performing and which has been known to move audience members to tears.

Tenor Simon Harrison talks about his music choice for the concert.

I first heard Define Me when I was on the music team a few years ago finding songs for our concert “Sing (when words are not enough)”. We were looking for songs that – as they so often do – help us to express deep and powerful feelings at different key times in our lives. When we saw this video and listened to the words we all agreed that we absolutely had to perform it.

As an LGBT+ choir most of us know what it has felt like to be labelled and judged and the pain and anger connected to that experience. Sometimes it can be hard to find any response at all. And then along comes Ryan Amador and suddenly he puts into words and music this amazing combination of vulnerability, hurt and defiance that connects me to my heart and soul. In the amazing music video of this song (where he duets with Jo Lampert) he expresses his vulnerability in his voice and with his face but they slowly undress to reveal their bare skin and this adds to a sense of both their courage and fragility. As the song progresses you see more and more slurs and labels are literally written on their bodies. Through the second half these words are intentionally and carefully wiped off. “You can brand me and burn me, but I won’t let it hurt me…”

We wrote to Ryan to ask for permission to arrange and sing his song and he has given the Pink Singers rights in perpetuity so this wonderful song can be performed freely by us forever – I never get tired of it! Our arrangement is by the talented Chris Chambers who builds the song over time to something very anthemic and moving. Each time we sing “let’s open up a song of safety and carry through the night…” I get goosebumps

Watch Ryan’s video and then come see the Pink Singers perform this for only the second time at a London concert.

Simon Harrison

By Special Arrangement – Part 2
Saturday 11th January 2020 – 7.30pm
Cadogan Hall, Sloane Square, London SW1X 9DG

Our upcoming concert on Saturday 11th January at London’s Cadogan Hall will feature homegrown arrangements from our talented choir members. In the run up to the concert we are sharing information about some of our favourite arrangements, some of the artists and pieces we will be performing and how we go about creating such a magical sound that delights our choir and audience alike.

Soprano Charlotte Rushworth talks about her music choice for the concert and what the piece means to her.

As a child I lived in a coastal area on the borders of Suffolk and Essex. It’s a beautiful area of the country; flat, marshy, salty, windy and remote. I would play music, sing music, listen to music and dream of becoming a famous musician travelling the world and breaking free from this eerie coastal backwater. I lived in an area that was immensely proud of its connection to our most famous local musician Benjamin Britten. We could all sing or hum his ‘big numbers’ by heart and loved and adored him and his fantastical ability to paint in music the surroundings and environment in which we found ourselves.

When I was asked to find a piece of classical music that could be sung in the fantastical environment in which I now find myself, the obvious starting point was Benjamin Britten and I spent a blissful two days listening to every choral work he wrote searching for a connection to the theme of this concert.

And eventually I found it.

Advance Democracy was commissioned in 1938 by the London Co-operative Society as the writing was on the wall for the outbreak of the second world war and Europe was swirling in a mire of pure evil. It was designed as political propaganda to be used as a rallying cry against a pan-European dictatorship. 

This incredible piece of music documents the rise of fascism with staccato rhythms and clashing intervals. A deeply disturbing legato soprano introduction (repeated through all the voices) evokes the creep of fascism. The unison rhythmic lines unite in a call to resist the rise of evil. And the section towards the end where the word time is repeated 8 times invokes the listener (and performer) to resist evil, question the world we want for ourselves and empowers us to seek change and a more equitable future free of menace.

Advance Democracy has the magic ability to transcend the twentieth century and travel forward to where we find ourselves today – in turmoil with the world that surrounds us. We need a rallying call to rise up against the menacing powers that creep forward to pollute, discriminate and divide. It’s as if Benjamin Britten has risen from the salt marshes and pebble beaches and has come forward to shake us around the necks and implore us to “rise as a single being … time to rise up and cry”. 

Charlotte Rushworth

By Special Arrangement – Part 2
Saturday 11th January 2020 – 7.30pm
Cadogan Hall, Sloane Square, London SW1X 9DG

Saturday 21 September 2019 – 6:45pm
St Mary’s Church, Rye, TN31 7LB

On Saturday 21 September we will be performing at the famous Rye Arts Festival! Featuring numbers from our recent show Divas Through the Decades, the evening will celebrate the likes of Barbara Streisand, Kylie, Annie Lennox, Diana Ross and many more – all wrapped up in gorgeous 8-part harmony.

16-18 August 2019
Cardiff

In August we head to Cardiff for the LGBT+ choir extravaganza that is the Hand in Hand choral festival! We will be joining 35 choirs from across the UK and Ireland for a weekend of singing, dancing and events all across the city.