The Pro Carmine Choir raised more than R3 000 at their annual Christmas concert for the Grocott's Mail Christmas Cheer fund which goes again to Grahamstown Child Welfare.
The Pro Carmine Choir raised more than R3 000 at their annual Christmas concert for the Grocott's Mail Christmas Cheer fund which goes again to Grahamstown Child Welfare.
Pro Carmine's concert last Tuesday night, which was lively, entertaining and plain funny in parts, raised R3 620 for the benefit of the children in the Ikhaya Losizo Cluster Homes.
John Norwich's Twelve Days of Christmas (you know – two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree etc) is a classic and choir member Priscilla Boschoff got the tone just right for the parody which by 3 January degenerates to: "As I write this letter, ten disgusting old men are prancing about all over what used to be the garden – before the geese and the swans and the cows got at it; and several of them, I notice, are taking inexcusable liberties with the milkmaids. Meanwhile the neighbours are trying to have us evicted. I shall never speak to you again."
And it gets worse.
That along with Jayne Morgan's appropriately dry reading of Ogden Nash's The boy who laughed at Santa Clause and founder/conductor Peter Breetzke's reading from another classic, The Velveteen Rabbit – "once you are Real you can't be ugly…" engaged an already enthusiastic audience.
The choir went to the back of the Christ Church, Speke Street, venue to perform with organ accompaniment the Kyrie from Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Messe de minuit. The highlight was an exquisite three-tenor section.
Mary's Boy Child and Follow that Star brought a lighter touch to the mix which combined very early and very modern in a way that surprisingly makes perfect sense, and was successful in this case.
Also successful, and a nice touch, were the sherry and (fruit) mince pies welcoming an audience that comprised an encouraging number of newcomers along with family, friends and regular supporters.
Listen to the Pro Carmine choir sing the medieval carol, Gaudete, brought into the popular repertoire by Steeleye Span, here:
https://www.facebook.com/grocotts/videos/10154029955695911/
The Christmas Cheer fund is still open for donations.
Account Name: Christmas Cheer GBS Bank
Bank: First National Bank
Branch FNB Grahamstown
Account number:
5232 200 3436
You can also drop off your contribution at our 100 High Street offices. Please request a receipt.
