Singing holidays 2014 - 2019
Singing holidays have been very popular in recent years. Unlikely as it may sound, the prospect of visiting an unknown country or city, and sitting in a room full of unknown singers, was long on my bucket list. Having just finished my first performance of The Rachmaninov Vespers, I saw that Nigel Short, founder and artistic director of the choir Tenebrae, was engaged to lead singers in the south of France to perform this work. It seemed I was fated to join them.
Roujan is a small town in the Occitanie region of Southern France where they speak both French and Occitan, the medieval language of Languedoc. I’d never been here before and fell in love with both the town and the wonderful space we were to rehearse in. The second year's singing course was taught by Francis Steele, a founding member of The Kings Singers, and Will Dawes of Stile Antico, exploring 600 years of great choral tradition. From Bach to Poulenc, Monteverdi to Whitacre, the music was a delight.
I so enjoyed these trips that I managed to persuade two friends to join me on what turned out to be the last course they ran. I couldn’t wait to show my friends the wonderful experience of singing in the warm Occitan sunshine. We were joined on our trip south by a lady who brought along what might best be described as a delicate bladder. This had to be attended to at regular intervals. I have recurring nightmares about our return on the TGV which we missed by seconds because we were delayed by this bladder.
Roujan is a small town in the Occitanie region of Southern France where they speak both French and Occitan, the medieval language of Languedoc. I’d never been here before and fell in love with both the town and the wonderful space we were to rehearse in. The second year's singing course was taught by Francis Steele, a founding member of The Kings Singers, and Will Dawes of Stile Antico, exploring 600 years of great choral tradition. From Bach to Poulenc, Monteverdi to Whitacre, the music was a delight.
I so enjoyed these trips that I managed to persuade two friends to join me on what turned out to be the last course they ran. I couldn’t wait to show my friends the wonderful experience of singing in the warm Occitan sunshine. We were joined on our trip south by a lady who brought along what might best be described as a delicate bladder. This had to be attended to at regular intervals. I have recurring nightmares about our return on the TGV which we missed by seconds because we were delayed by this bladder.
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We were becoming quite the experts of these holidays and chose the next one in Spain as the music looked so interesting. This was a much bigger group of people, probably over 100 singers, 80% of them women and mostly retired. We even managed to contract a stomach bug of some kind, so really got the whole experience. Madrid and flamenco dancing plus the Royal Monastery of El Escorial in San Lorenzo and the burial place of most of Spain’s Kings was also on the menu.
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