The Pink Singers’ 30th anniversary celebrations continue with a special performance for the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. This year the LLGFF is celebrating its 27th birthday, which makes it almost as old as us! On the menu this time are a couple of performances, one for the public in the main foyer near the box office (anyone who has ever been there at festival time knows that this space temporarily becomes the communal living room for London’s LGBT community) and one specially for a screening of the film Thick Relations. We’ve not seen the film yet, but we’re told it features a choir, so what better way to set the stage?
The Foyer performance is free. BFI Southbank, Foyer, Saturday 23 March 2013 at 5:45pm. For more information please visit the BfI website, or add this to your Facebook events.
Tag: community
LGBT History Month 2013: Glad to be gay at the V&A
They say life begins at 30…and for the Pink Singers it doesn’t seem to have stopped since the anniversary concert! As a choir we were honoured to accept the invitation to perform at the Victoria and Albert Museum (arguably the most prestigious museum in the UK). The performance concluded a whole day’s events organised by the LGBT curatorial group at the V&A as part of the LGBT History Month.
A stone’s throw away from where Queen Victoria was born lays a museum packed with variety ranging from neo-classical paintings to the finest ceramics. As suspected the men paid a lot of attention to David that day…(created by Michael Angelo).
After warming up thanks to the 14 flights of stairs we headed to our performance space and on the way I walked past my second favourite place in the museum, the café…and if that wasn’t good enough I then walked past my third favourite place…the shop (a crying shame I didn’t get to visit my favourite place which is the Theatre and Performance exhibition…naturally).
Amidst renaissance and medieval paintings and statues (with Christ hanging over us) the choir gathered to sing some of the repertoire from P.S. We’re 30! An intimate crowd of 150 – 200 people turned out to hear us sing a range of music ranging from Massive Attack’s Teardrop to Mozart’s Lacrimosa. Opening with Hand in Hand seemed both prominent and appropriate to celebrate LGBT History Month and still reinforce the strong message it prevails.
The audience ranged from familiar friendly faces to those who may have been visiting the museum for the first time, who stopped, listened and acknowledged the work of a community choir that has grown over the years. One highlight for the onlookers seemed to be our rendition of the William Tell Overture which didn’t surprise me really as I know a few members had felt a little hoarse that day.
As the famous phrase goes they say ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ but in this instance it was the keyholder. Closing our set with Hand in Hand (of course) we were then strictly escorted back to a Seminar room to collect our belongings as the Museum was officially closed….time for Victoria and Albert to reflect on the days activities and remember the day the Pink Singers created history in the spectacular V&A. And if you missed it…fear not. We’re back on Friday 15th March just because we loved it so much!
David
Tenor
Timeline datestamp: 23 February 2013
LGBT History Month 2013 at the V&A with the Pinkies
The Pink Singers are proud to celebrate LGBT History Month 2013 with a special performance in the galleries of the Victoria & Albert Museum. We are singing as a part of unique series of events where you can experience performances and listen to curators discuss alternative queer readings of Museum objects, discover the histories of the people who made them and explore how sexual identity can inform the way we interpret the past. All events are free. Saturday 23 February 2013 at 5pm. For more information, please visit the V&A website, or add this to your Facebook events.
A night at St. Mungo’s
This week saw a small group of Pinkies putting on a show for a very worthwhile charity event. We had been invited by the homelessness charity St Mungo’s to perform for both clients and staff at the launch of their 2011 Action Week. The focus of this special week is on enabling homeless people to rejoin society with an emphasis on accessing healthcare and advice on getting back into employment.
Not only was our performance going to be treat for the audience but it also gave us the chance to show off some of the numbers we will be performing at Razzle Dazzle on 16 July. The concert also included some excellent solos from Phillip, Chris, Sally-Ann and some Debussy on the piano from our very own Musical Director, Murray, along with a group number from the very talented Gin and Harmonics.
It was a wonderful evening and various numbers from Tchaikovsky to Tina Turner had the audience giggling with glee and tapping their feet in delight and I feel proud that the Pink Singers were involved in both entertaining and supporting such a great charity.
Tim
Timeline datestamp: 28 June 2011
Carolling to fight cancer
In December the Pink Singers went a-carolling to support the fundraising efforts of Marie Curie Cancer Care. We performed both at Victoria Station and in Trafalgar Square. Here Bruce and Sue tell us about their experiences.
At Victoria Station
A group of enthusiastic Pinkies arrived around the start of the evening rush hour on the eve of 14 December ready to entertain the public with our dulcet tones. It must have been the pre-cursor to the deep freeze — as although covered, the main concourse at Victoria is definitely not heated! Within a few minutes my feet were starting to feel distinctly cold. During this time, many of our throng had adorned ourselves with tinsel, a variety of other decorations and had agreed what the first carol was going to be.
And then they were off….! We launched into our first carol, a little tentatively at first and then as we got used to the acoustics, each other, the words and the music we built up to a good volume, the sopranos doing some rather impressive descants on a few of the numbers. Continue reading “Carolling to fight cancer”