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The Scottish Opera
Things are hotting up for the cast of Macbeth (Verdi), the latest production from Blackheath Halls Opera. We’ve met and heard all the principals, and we’re firmly off the book and managing to move and sing at the same time, though getting up from kneeling (to various kings – we get through a few) and…
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Celebrating Benjamin Britten
So, it’s still LGBT History month, and it’s also Benjamin Britten’s centenary so what better way to celebrate the magnificence of BB’s unapologetic gayness and talent than to sing in Noye’s Fludd? A. has had an ambition to sing some Britten for many the long year so we were thrilled when we heard that our…
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Festive Spirits
Christmas is all about singing for me, either performing, or in the audience. This year was no exception, starting with a superb workshop of traditional folk carols with Lester Simpson on the 1st December. We learnt Adam Lay ybounden (15th Century), Dunstan Lullaby (very simple, very effective) and a couple of variants of While Shepherds…
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Gearing up for Yule
I don’t care how many shopping days, what matters now is, how many singing days are there til the Solstice? And how many reading days? My evenings are split roughly equally between singing and promoting the books between now and Christmas. Rehearsals every Monday for Vivaldi Gloria at Blackheath Halls Christmas Concert Tuesdays at the…
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Blackheath Mini Prom – better late than never
As someone should probably have told me when I was a nipper, don’t promise what you can’t deliver. So here, very late, is my review of the Mini Prom at Blackheath Halls way back on the 5th October. In my defence I’ve been busy promoting Arachne Press, and I carried the programme around with me…
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Mini Last Night of the Proms at Blackheath Halls
I regard Blackheath Halls as an extension of my home, despite being a good twenty-minute car journey away. For about half the year I spend at least one evening a week there, singing; we had the party for our civil partnership there, and I am happy to turn up to be in the audience on…
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The Singing Season
Not that the singing season ever went away, it’s a bit like football, the break gets shorter all the time; but we didn’t do Sing for Water this year because of A’s broken leg, so larynx and lungs feeling a bit under used. So the good news is that Raise the Roof is back next…
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Blackheath Cendrillon: A slipper and a ring
L.C. here. This is my last post on behalf of Cherry. She says I’ve behaved very irresponsibly and I am lucky not to have been had up in front of the Leveson Enquiry. Anyway, I’m feeling a bit crest-fallen because I didn’t find out who the mystery woman was first after all. But I was…
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Blackheath Cendrillon: A Post from the Court Poet, Grand Duchess Elizabette
‘CENDRILLON’ – A TRIBUTE The skies above were leaden, the clouds loomed dark and grey, but, at the Halls, the mood was light, all musical and gay. Forget the Jubilympics, forget the Torch Relay, ‘Cinderella, the Opera’ is the order of the day. Nick Jenkins was regaling us with tales of Gay Paree, La Belle…
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Blackheath Cendrillon: Prince Charming’s Dilema
L.C. Spinetti here again, I got in a bit of trouble with that recording earlier, Harriet says she’s going to sue me, but only when she needs the publicity. However the head honchos at REALly?! really liked it, and I got a pay rise and a commission to take pictures of all the eligible Gels…
Cherry Potts, Writer 