We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected for the solo part of ‘Hey Soul Sister’."
Then came the day of the first rehearsal at the UoM chapel - Tuesday 26th June... I was feeling a mix of anticipation and anxiety, at the thought of spending two hours singing with 200 people of which I only knew 4 - my sister, Fiona, and my friends from the Sliema Salesian Oratory: Joanne, Aldo & Francesca.
 |
| Representing the Salesian Oratory in Voices - Joanne, Francesca, Aldo, Fiona and myself with our super amazing choir directors Martina and Tony |
Fast forward to the end of September on stage at the Mediterranean Conference Centre and I just couldn't believe how many new friends I'd made! (spending all that time standing and singing next to each other is bound to lead to new friendships!).
 |
| Joanne singing her heart out during rehearsals at the Chaplaincy |
 |
| Aldo and his fellow Low Tenors listening attentively... (credit to Johann Cardona Schranz) |
 |
| Joanne and Francesca singing with the Low Altos at the Chaplaincy (credit to Yentl Spiteri) |
 |
| Fiona in the midst of High Altos and Sopranos (credit to Johann Cardona Schranz) |
 |
| The choir at the Chaplaincy during a short talk from Ira Losco :) (credit to Johann Cardona Schranz) |
 |
| We've finally moved to the MCC!! :) |
Although it was getting increasingly difficult to get up each morning during the final two weeks, I was looking forward to 17:30, when I'd drive from work to Valletta, run down the steps of Cottoner Hall through to the Stage Right entrance, and down to the make-up area to get ready for yet another breath-taking experience on stage with the people I grew to call my Voices family!
As well as the usual rehearsals, we sometimes got a guest speaker to give a short talk prior to a particular rehearsal. Among these were Ira Losco - who came by to share some tips re: stage presence and microphone handling for the soloists - and the beneficiaries from the previous edition of Voices - The St. Jeanne Antide Foundation - which was particularly heart-warming, as we got to hear how much our hard work was helping the community by the people who benefited from it themselves.
The final set of rehearsals were particularly interesting as we were literally experiencing the set being built around us... Each day a new set of clouds, or a new form of embellishment would be added by the amazingly dedicated stage crew and each new addition signalled that our performances were getting closer by the day!
 |
| The stage being set-up! |
 |
| ...TO THE DRESSING ROOOOOMS!!! |
 |
| The make-up station :) |
One thing I should mention is that by this point, each voice group (Sopranos, High Altos, Low Altos and the Bases/Low Tenors/High Tenors) was assigned one of the four dressing rooms at the MCC (being in a minority the 3 male voice groups shared one room), and it was up to the members of each group to make our rooms as "homely" as possible for the coming fortnight. Cue a variety of charts, streamers, tinsel and one very troubling "female drawing", resulting in what I could only describe as Voices-gone-Christmas!
 |
| Jeanelle hanging up our flashing clouds in the High Alto dressing room |
 |
| The HA decorators... |
 |
| Our wall of dreams... :) |
 |
| The delicious (and beautiful) HA cake baked by Mrs. Justine Odom! :D |
 |
| The High Alto Wall of Fame - 'cause we're all stars! :D (credit to MarTina Farrugia) |
 |
| The Soprano's chart :) |
 |
| The Low Altos' Chart :) |
 |
| ...props to the men for this amazing chart - clearly this year's winners! :D |
Shenanigans aside, we still had two weeks of hard work ahead of us - even though it didn't exactly seem like hard work, more like keep-fit-slash-singing-slash-laughter. From the very first performance in front of an audience - the Beneficiary night - to closing night yesterday, we gave our all, all for a good cause, and we were greatly rewarded by the applauses, smiles on our audience's faces and the positive feedback we received on various news sites:
The only glitch that happened during the 10 performance nights was that on Friday the 12th the sound mixer somehow got shut down, resulting in a 50-minute delay before the concerts, however not even this could stop us, for the absolutely brilliant sound team managed to solve the problem and the show went on!
So, with all that said, I guess this rounds up today's post... Yes it's long, but it was a very enriching experience, and I felt I couldn't do it justice with just a few words.
Thanks to the Voices committee, all the choir members, sound/lights/camera/photography/stage crews, directors, group co-ordinators and mostly the late Louis Naudi, for dreaming up this noble cause 21 years ago!
Never underestimate your dreams, and you never know how well they might turn out!
Cheryl
xXx
II ara Doris u Marika!! - Martina
ReplyDelete