Category: Events Page

Join us for “Much To Be Done” at 3:30PM and 5:30PM on Sun 12^th Sept at 10^th floor, Multistorey Car Park, 95a Rye Lane, London SE15 4TG.

Our free pop-up performances at Bold Tendencies in Peckham on the weekend of the now cancelled London Pride 2021 link directly back to the Stonewall riots in 1969. 

Bold Tendencies is a not-for-profit organisation based at the former Peckham Multi-Storey Car Park which produces an annual programme of visual art, live music, dance and opera. Bold Tendencies is a committed supporter of the LGBT+ community and the car park was home for our first few in-person rehearsals as we eased ourselves out of lockdown. 

The rooftop, where we will be performing, is home to the billboard artwork “Untitled” (1989) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1967-1996). First displayed in Sheridan Square in New York across from the Stonewall Inn, “Untitled” is a commemoration of the Stonewall Uprising that followed a police raid on the bar in 1969, sparking widespread demonstrations in response to human rights injustices and the lack of government action surrounding the AIDS epidemic. In 1989 an estimated 200,000 participants in the Gay and Lesbian Liberation Day March passed in front of this billboard. This work has an enduring power and relevance as a symbol for inclusive civic values and the celebration of free public space in the city. 

Gonzalez-Torres participated in hundreds of group shows across the world during his lifetime. Working during the height of the AIDS crisis, his work motivates social action by conveying subjects of love and loss, sickness and rejuvenation, gender and sexuality.

Performing in the context of “Untitled” will magnify the voices of our choir, deepening the historical context in which our songs will be heard. Not only will this create unity between different times and struggles, celebrating the artistic achievements of those who have battled against oppression and loss in their lives due to their sexuality; but in particular it will amplify the call by London Pride for a national AIDS memorial to remember those who died from the virus and those who cared for them. 

Taking part in this year’s LGBT+ festival will be one of our first public performances since January 2020. As well as giving our second performance of Much To Be Done (the finale of Iain Bell’s opera Stonewall, specially arranged for The Pink Singers), we will be performing a number of old favourites and new uplifting songs that resonate with the LGBT+ community and living authentically. 

The weekend of 11-12 September will now see different community groups, pop up events and parades come together to celebrate pride across the city and provide an opportunity for the LGBT+ community to be visible, to light our voices and do so in unity and safety.

Join us for our concert “Chosen Family”: 4pm Sunday 19^th September at St Matthew’s Church, Bethnal Green, London E2 6DT

It’s so good to be back and giving live performances again! Join us in Bethnal Green and hear old favourites as well as beautiful new arrangements of songs that resonate with the LGBT+ community and living authentically.

Repertoire in this 60-minute performance will include Together in Electric Dreams, Run, Strong, Brave, Proud and Chosen Family. We’ll also be giving our second performance of “Much To Be Done” from Iain Bell’s opera Stonewall which was specially arranged for The Pink Singers.

Tickets

Tickets are £10  and are available online in advance and on the door.

All proceeds will go to St Matthew’s Church, a stubbornly LGBTQ+ affirming church which has kindly provided us with a free rehearsal venue during the summer.

Every September St Matthew’s host celebrations on or near the Feast Day for St Matthew, their patron saint. They are delighted to have The Pink Singers as part of the programme this year.

Welcome to behind the scenes of our second virtual choir project. This time we’ve been more adventurous, we’ve more than doubled the size of the choir and we’ve turned on the cheese. Get ready for the battle of the 1980s versus the 2020s along with lots of technicolour, dodgy power cuts and virtual connectivity.

Our first virtual choir project of Coldplay’s Fix You involved 56 people and got over 10,000 views on You Tube. This time we wanted to do something bigger, bolder and brighter and we wanted to push the boundaries of what is possible.

Over the past few months we’ve occasionally been joined by people outside the choir for online singing and social events. We thought that asking our friends to join us in our next project would be a good way to reconnect with people we may not have seen for years. This next project is double the size with over 130 singers and musicians including over 50 former members from across the globe.

What was involved?

The first job was to decide what to sing. This involved creating the shortlist of potential songs that the choir could then vote on. There are a surprisingly high number of things to consider including choosing a song that:

• we already knew pretty well (learning and recording something new would be really challenging when we can’t get together physically to rehearse).
• contrasted with the solemnity of Fix You, our first virtual choir project.
• would engage our audience, so something recognisable was preferable.
• would be relatively easy to manage technically – more consonants and less oohs and aahs make it easier to synchronise the voices.

And finally we needed a song that wouldn’t drive our audio and video editors insane after listening to it over 1,000 times!

We came up with a shortlist of five songs and the choir overwhelmingly voted for….. big reveal…Together in Electric Dreams…apart from anything else the title resonates as being particularly  relevant in these times when we only get to see each other on Zoom.  We’d sung the song the last time we performed together in January 2020, so it was fresh in our minds. The song also appears on our latest album, so an obligatory album plug is needed here…

With the song choice nailed we needed to get the audio recorded and mixed. With 120 people that was quite some feat. We were lucky enough that this came during a lull from lockdown in the summer. One member from each section went into the studio (Francesco’s flat) to record the audio tracks and admire his collection of guitars.

Each choir member then had two weeks to record their own audio. For this we had the relevant pre-recorded audio part playing through headphones on our computer whilst we recorded our own audio into our phone. Most of us sat back for a few days whilst the team synched over 120 voices together.

Whilst the audio was being recorded it was time for the creative team to brainstorm ideas around the story we wanted to tell and how to create it visually. This was followed with a detailed story board indicating which voice parts would appear in which scene, wearing what outfit and if any props or particular facial expressions were required.  

With the audio nailed and the storyboard completed, we then received our instructions and the deadline for creating our videos and any special takes we would be involved in. This involved us lip synching along to the final audio track whilst recording ourselves on our camera / phone which was invariably perched up very high, usually precariously on a pile of boxes.  Multiple takes were inevitable until we got something where we were in the centre of the screen and we didn’t forget our lines, pull any inappropriately stupid faces or the phone didn’t fall over. A five minute take could take many hours! We enjoyed sharing photos and stories about this in the Facebook group set up for the project.

After that, most of us were done, but for our video editing team the work had only just began. There was lots of uploading, editing, zooming in and out, colour coding boxes and doing other trickery that is frankly beyond me!

Those of us who were in the 1980s had free reign to go wild with back combing, eye shadow and pop star impersonations. The rest of us who were less into dressing up or who didn’t have a box of wigs and accessories on hand in the cupboard were able to record ourselves dressed in something more sensible and fitting for the present day.

That was the end of the project for most of us until the big reveal several weeks later. The whole story and details of the individual scenes had been kept pretty much under wraps. Whilst it was disappointing to be returning for virtual choir rehearsals, it was exhilarating to see that we can still create exciting performances from the comfort of our own homes.

This has been a huge team effort, but we really do need to thank Francesco and the Video Media Production team for the many, many hours they have put into creating this masterpiece. We are lucky to have you guys! And finally we hope you enjoy it as much as we’ve enjoyed making it… and of course we hope you share it widely. Thank you!

Nicki Wakefield, Alto & Publicity Lead

Pink Singers joined other groups in Making Music virtual concert on 9^th June

Like all choirs sadly at the moment we are unable to get together to sing and make music. Physical connection is so important for us as humans and is an intrinsic part of the Pink Singers community. We miss it like crazy, but in these dark times we are finding new ways to connect within and outside our community.

When we heard that Making Music were planning to run virtual concerts we jumped at the chance to take part. We created a watch party and many of our members spent a fun 45 minute concert watching ourselves line up alongside including choirs, a brass band, a steel band and a drumming group.

If you want to scroll straight through to our performance we’re on third at 7:40.

For our song choice we selected Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody. This slowed down version of the song has organically grown to become a Pink Singers standard and a song we go back to over and over again. And like many of the songs we have performed over the years it has a special meaning during these times.

It’s counter intuitive to think you would adapt Whitney’s 80’s dance hit to a sad, reflective song about love but look beneath the fizzy pop, primary colours and you’ll find something unexpected.  You’ll find poignancy and a longing for connection.  Chris Chambers’ arrangement with its clashing and beautiful harmonies is only complete when we have every voice part included, when we are all there singing together.  It seems to be as edifying to listen to as it is fun to sing. 

I Wanna Dance, slowed down like this is a reminder of the struggle of individual isolation and the promise that sharing this sadness together makes us a bit less alone.  

In the concert we are joined by other choirs and groups including a steel band and a brass band. It’s a fun way to spend 45 minutes and to feel part of the wider musical community finding ways to connect online.

Making Music will be running these events on a fortnightly basis. Subscribe to their YouTube channel if you are interested in watching other videos and live events.

Cilla Wright, Alto

Timeline datestamp: 09 June 2020