Gallery
Singing for the local elderly 2024
Charity work and outreach is a very important part of life with Vivace Voices and, at the end of October some of the choir visited two local elderly care homes to sing to the residents.
The pieces were selected to be a combination of arrangements of well-known songs along with some original works and the delighted audience even joined in with a rousing rendition of Abba's 'Thank You For The Music'!
Summer Concert 17 July 2024
Comments from the audience about the singing were full of praise, and the variety of the pieces was much enjoyed. Grant, the vicar, had heard the Little Jazz Mass before and was a bit concerned that we were singing it in our concert. When he heard us, he thought we were fantastic
Many thanks to Mary (accompanist) and Paul (double bass) - lovely to have those bass notes!
In addition a whopping £1,000 was raised for Daisy's Dream!
Spring Concert 2024
What a great concert. A varied programme with something for everybody! And refreshments were delicious as well.
The audience seemed to really enjoy it and several people said they always come to our concerts and love them.
We were running out of chairs and also the space to put them, which is a lovely position to be in.
Christmas 2023
The choir Vivace Voices singing their Christmas hearts out in St Mary’s Church Burghfield!
A fabulous concert with a variety of pieces with different challenges. Our guests said they were bowled over by the performances. Some highlights mentioned were ‘O Holy Night’ and ‘Cowboy Carol’. Our guest instrumentalists were lovely and added greatly to the music.
At our September AGM 2023 Norma stepped down as Chairman after 12 years in the role.
She was presented with a voucher for Afternoon Tea for two.
And a basket of flowers.
Summer 2023
What a concert! "Best yet" Over 100 attended
An appreciative audience who were generous in their comments afterwards.
A talented soloist giving our singing an extra dimension, and a generous spread of goodies on the tea table.
We were amazed, fascinated and impressed by the work of Living Paintings shared with us by two enthusiastic guest speakers.
Not just a pretty voice!
Vivace Voices brings together women from many different backgrounds and with a wealth of experience, skill and expertise between them that goes way beyond their ability to produce beautiful music. Dig a little deeper during the weekly tea and cake break and you will be surprised and delighted at what you discover ...
Lion!
This vibrant piece of art was created by Ann Moore (2nd soprano). It is just one of many works she has produced in her spare time. It is a beautiful representation of the many colourful strands of music we bring together in Vivace Voices.
Polyphony
At the centre of the polyphony
Lies an invisible mesh
That holds us,
Makes our bodies weightless.
The piano keeps Earth’s pulse
As the sky begins to ring
And icicles on peaks
Melt in a slow flow,
To wind through a valley of sound,
Whose base notes provide
A spadeful of rich soil.
This friendship of creating
Continues to reverberate
In the pauses, the silences,
The laughter,
Seamless tones slide like balm
Warming us
To the point of evaporation,
And through the blending of our voices
We weave a pool of sunlight.
By Carolyn Askar (performance poet, children's writer, creativity coach & 1st soprano)
To discover more about Carolyn and her beautiful poetry books visit her website
Cake Corner
There IS more to life than cake but a slice of the sweet stuff along with a hot cup of tea can ease a myriad of woes and certainly revitalises the energy and vocal chords half-way through rehearsals! The bakers amongst us love to share our cakes AND our recipes ...
Sheila's St Clement's Sponge
Ingredients (serves 8-12)
For cake:
5 x medium-sized eggs
150 gms caster sugar
150 gms self-raising flour
6-10 drops orange extract, to taste
For filling:
Quarter of a jar of shredless orange marmalade
For icing:
3 x heaped tablespoons of icing sugar
1 x tablespoons (or more) of lemon juice
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180C (160C fan), Gas 4.
Whisk eggs for 2 minutes.
Add sugar and orange extract and continue whisking for further 5 or 6 minutes - or until mixture is light in colour and thick in texture - consistency of softly-whipped cream and at least double its original volume.
Gently fold in flour with large metal spoon.
Transfer mixture into two prepared cake tins.
Bake in centre of oven for 25 minutes - or until well risen and golden.
Leave to cool in tins for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
When completely cold, sandwich cakes together with the marmalade.
Mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice to a thick, smooth paste consistency and then use a pallet knife to spread icing over the top of the cake.
Leave to set.
'He who sings scares away his woes'
Miguel de Cervantes