Monday 25 June 2007

A Lunchtime Recital at St Alfege Church

Last Thursday, Whimsy ChiChi attended a recital at St Alfege Church in Greenwich as part of Greenwich Alive festivities. What she found there was truly inspirational.

The recital was presented by students from the Trinity College of Music which is situated within Greenwich University Campus. The schedule promised a Soprano (by Kalthleen Garner- a name you may want to remember), a piano (Nazuna Takahama & Leah Wingham) and a guitar recital (Emily O'Hara) and it was all about music from Latin America and Spain. Now, it was just after midday that the event took place yet the attendance was quite impressive.

Kathleen's performance was breathtaking and she had excellent command of the pieces and the way in which they were performed. Even the angels drawn on the Church windows seemed to sway as Kathleen's voice resonated about the place. Just by looking at the faces around me, you could tell that she had nailed it.

Quite the pianist myself, I was equally impressed with the piano performance carried out by Nazuna Takahama from Japan, who just recently competed in Trinity's Chopin Piano Competition. The other pianist, Leah Wingham, still fresh in the trade, seemed to effortlessly glide through the performance. Truly impressive.

The program included Manuelle De Falla's '7 Spanish Folk Songs', Fon-Fon (a tango), Nocturne no.15 in F minor, '4 Love Madrigals' by Joaquin Rodrigo that deal with love in various guises: Betrayed, discovered and joyful.

The performance was sweet, touching and only an hour long. It was wonderful to see school children there, quietly and raptly listening to the music. This, for me, as well it seemed to those around me had been a lunch hour well spent.

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