Children's Concert
Saturday afternoon saw the church filled to bursting with participants and audience for our Children's Concert. The children’s joy in singing together reminded us all of why we ever loved music and worked so hard on our skills.
Four local choirs of children aged 7-11 took part:
Churchfields Primary School Choir;
Twang Foundation Choir;
Alexandra Junior School Choir;
Penge Junior Voices.
There were also 4 young musicians who each played a solo piano piece with rhythm, sensitivity, and musicality. The piano is not an easy instrument to learn and these young people were a credit to themselves, their teachers, and to their time spent practising. Well done!
Each choir had its own spot in the programme to demonstrate their individual style and repertoire. The choirs also came together to perform some joint numbers.
It was a very happy occasion and a true celebration of the musical diversity within our local community.
Choral leader and coordinator for the day, Jess Blake, said:
“I always love to get children from different groups together to remind them that they are part of a huge community of singers. Our music festival gave them the chance to demonstrate the fruits of their hard work in front of a warm and supportive audience."
"I was particularly impressed with the way the children behaved; they were professional and fearless and clearly loved taking part in their performances. When they all came together to sing The Wellerman and Make Your Own Kind of Music, they very quickly focussed their sound and worked as a team to produce a really beautiful performance. That they did this on less than an hour's joint rehearsal was especially impressive.”
Those of us who were present early to prepare the venue particularly enjoyed the warm-up that Jess gave the children; it looked such fun that we wanted to join in! After that the children sang like angels.
A great deal of work went into the organisation of this concert and Penge Music would especially like to thank Jess Blake and the leaders of each of the choirs, Twang Music Foundation, and the many friends and teachers who helped out.
Zanyar Hesami together with SOL Band
Saturday 20th April saw the first evening concert of Penge Festival of Music 2024. In an atmospherically-lit auditorium, the audience enjoyed wine and conversation with the performers prior to the concert, setting up an intimate atmosphere for the thrilling music to follow.
The concert opened with master-musician Zanyar Hesami performing an intense, haunting set on saz (a form of Kurdish long-necked lute), full of emotion, dynamic range and technical dexterity. After some minutes, Zanyar introduced voice into his performance, adding another texture.
Next SOL (Sound of Love) Band performed a range of Kurdish traditional melodies alongside more popular Persian songs. Before long, SOL’s lute player joined the group, and then Zanyar introduced his daf. The daf is another traditional instrument of the region, like a handheld drum or large tambourine, and added intensity and drive to the performance.
The evening concluded in spellbinding style as Zanyar treated us to an extraordinary extended daf solo, displaying the full range of voice and timbre that can be achieved by a skilled performer.
“That exceeded all my expectations of this evening, I was blown away!”