Other
A big thanks to Tony
29/04/08 10:30
The photographs you can see in the
item about our Sunday Jubilee Library performance were taken by
Tony Bowall ARPS of Hove - Photography. He very generously gave up
his Sunday morning lay-in to take photographs of our performance
and we're very pleased with them and I'm sure you can see why. He
will no doubt be exhibiting at The Happy
House (with
Helene and not forgetting Sam the dog!) each weekend of next year’s
Fringe.
Sunday at the Brighton Jubilee Library
27/04/08 10:00
At an early hour, for a Sunday, we
made our way to Brighton Jubilee Library to sing at the launch of its new
Sunday opening.
We performed whilst the invited guests were having their breakfast
- mostly out of our line of sight as we were on the mezzanine and they were below us tucking into croissants and coffee.
We packed in quite a few songs, fairly gentle so as not to disturb the digestion, whilst 'up in the air' which was quite novel having a space only a few feet wide to fit the choir and Matt our musical director who luckily did not disappear backward over the railings!
We performed whilst the invited guests were having their breakfast
- mostly out of our line of sight as we were on the mezzanine and they were below us tucking into croissants and coffee.
We packed in quite a few songs, fairly gentle so as not to disturb the digestion, whilst 'up in the air' which was quite novel having a space only a few feet wide to fit the choir and Matt our musical director who luckily did not disappear backward over the railings!
After that we went outside where
the early bird readers were queuing to be first in under the new
Sunday opening hours. There was a lovely moment when two small
girls came up to Glen, our accompanist, after the second song they
each gave him 50p for the performance. Bless them! Glen said that
he should have brought his hat ...
We sang some more up-tempo numbers
outside until Councillor David Smith, Chairman of the Culture,
Recreation and Tourism committee came to cut the blue ribbon to
officially mark the beginning of Sunday opening at 11am. People
then walked in between the blue balloons, some remaining outside to
hear a few more songs from us (the sensible ones of course as they
could then still go in and get their books afterwards!).
We then got to have a refreshment break ourselves with croissants,
coffee and juice and a little bit of chat. Then it was back out the
the mezzanine for our final selection for the general enjoyment of
the people in the library. We all enjoyed it and it seemed that
those in the library did too. So, another few firsts for the choir:
first that early in the day, first in Brighton library and first
performing 20 feet off the ground!
Cheque handover to local charities
03/03/08 21:00
We interrupted our regular Monday
night rehearsal to hand over cheques from the proceeds of recent
concerts to representatives of local charities , contributing a
total of £1,300 to ‘The International HIV/AIDS Alliance’, ‘Open
Door’ & ‘Terrence Higgins Trust’.
This special event took place after the choir’s rehearsals and turned into a lovely social evening which was attended by special guests Rachel Berry (Open Door), Simon Moore (International HIV/AIDS Alliance) and Sue Peters (Terrence Higgins Trust).
Chair Simon Hicks was pleased to hand over cheques for £650 to International HIV/AIDS Alliance, £325 to Open Door and £325 to Terrence Higgins Trust. We're now looking forward to raise more money at our next concert on 3 May in St Georges Church, Kemptown (See elsewhere on this page for details)
This special event took place after the choir’s rehearsals and turned into a lovely social evening which was attended by special guests Rachel Berry (Open Door), Simon Moore (International HIV/AIDS Alliance) and Sue Peters (Terrence Higgins Trust).
Chair Simon Hicks was pleased to hand over cheques for £650 to International HIV/AIDS Alliance, £325 to Open Door and £325 to Terrence Higgins Trust. We're now looking forward to raise more money at our next concert on 3 May in St Georges Church, Kemptown (See elsewhere on this page for details)
Pink Paradiso appearance
12/12/07 20:30
The
Pink ParadisoWe appeared as part of this 'Cabaret' style evening. We sang Somewhere and Let the River Run on our own followed by us backing their singer on When a Child is Born. As the finale of the show, we let loose with the entire cast in a large-scale White Christmas.
The show actually ran for several nights, but we only performed on the two nights where food was not being served - the 12th and 17th - as they obviously needed to give us their full attention and not be distracted by the turkey.
Hazel O'Connor at Dingwalls, Camden Lock, London
18/11/07 19:30
Well here we were appearing at the
final gig of Hazel's tour:
and we left North Hove on a wet Sunday morning and it felt like we were on tour, in our own hired coach to London ...
We arrived at Dingwalls in Camden to find ourselves surrounded by
trendy looking shops
(seemed a bit like the 60s for those that can (Just) remember them)
with plenty of food in small stalls surround the lock - supplied in
one case by 'Falafal Queen'. Say no more.
The format of the evening followed that of our previous performance with her but with a slight change of lineup in that this time we were with Hazel, Cormac and Fionán (acoustic guitar and flute) and we were in North London.
We came on first preceded by a fine introductory speech from Peter (Hazel's promoter) and were met by a surprisingly enthusiastic crowd, considering that we were "playing away from home". Our set was:
Change In My Life
Nobody Knows
I Wish I Knew How It Feels to be Free
Somewhere
Homophobia
Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
Sadly, not all of the "30 strong" Rainbow Chorus could fit on the stage as it was rather small so what you see here is those of us that made it on, including some for whom it was their first live performance with the choir ...
There was then a short interval, followed by Hazel's set where she sang a goodly number of her songs from over the years, accompanied brilliantly by Cormac and Fionán.
Then it was our turn back on stage, powering into 'Blackman' as the first song which went down very well so we just got stuck in, performing Driftwood, Strong D-Days and Eighth Day. Hazel then did an audience participation number with the audience so we sort of led them in a chorus which had everyone joining in and then we were done...
Except that we then returned for chorus assistance with Hazel of 'Beyond the breaking glass' and then we all closed the show with Hazel's biggest hit - Will You?
Well, it was all really great- the audience had a whale of a time, it was a real pleasure to work with Hazel again who is wonderfully inclusive and made it feel like the stage was for all of us, not just 'Hazel and guests'. Cormac was a treat on the Irish harp too and it was great to meet with Fionán for the first time who lent a new dimension to the sound, especially the lovely flute solo on Hazel's solo version of Will You?
Thanks to Wayne for the photographs (which came out a little odd which we reckon is connected with the LED lighting as we've never seen such strange effects for any pictures we've had before).
Will we all perform together again? Well, you never know ...
and we left North Hove on a wet Sunday morning and it felt like we were on tour, in our own hired coach to London ...
We arrived at Dingwalls in Camden to find ourselves surrounded by
The format of the evening followed that of our previous performance with her but with a slight change of lineup in that this time we were with Hazel, Cormac and Fionán (acoustic guitar and flute) and we were in North London.
We came on first preceded by a fine introductory speech from Peter (Hazel's promoter) and were met by a surprisingly enthusiastic crowd, considering that we were "playing away from home". Our set was:
Change In My Life
Nobody Knows
I Wish I Knew How It Feels to be Free
Somewhere
Homophobia
Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
Sadly, not all of the "30 strong" Rainbow Chorus could fit on the stage as it was rather small so what you see here is those of us that made it on, including some for whom it was their first live performance with the choir ...
There was then a short interval, followed by Hazel's set where she sang a goodly number of her songs from over the years, accompanied brilliantly by Cormac and Fionán.
Then it was our turn back on stage, powering into 'Blackman' as the first song which went down very well so we just got stuck in, performing Driftwood, Strong D-Days and Eighth Day. Hazel then did an audience participation number with the audience so we sort of led them in a chorus which had everyone joining in and then we were done...
Except that we then returned for chorus assistance with Hazel of 'Beyond the breaking glass' and then we all closed the show with Hazel's biggest hit - Will You?
Well, it was all really great- the audience had a whale of a time, it was a real pleasure to work with Hazel again who is wonderfully inclusive and made it feel like the stage was for all of us, not just 'Hazel and guests'. Cormac was a treat on the Irish harp too and it was great to meet with Fionán for the first time who lent a new dimension to the sound, especially the lovely flute solo on Hazel's solo version of Will You?
Thanks to Wayne for the photographs (which came out a little odd which we reckon is connected with the LED lighting as we've never seen such strange effects for any pictures we've had before).
Will we all perform together again? Well, you never know ...
The Kemptown Carnival
16/06/07 12:30
We were invited to appear on stage
in Fish Square! at this regular and popular local event on Saturday
the 16th of June. We had a vocal warm-up around the corner and the
woman looking after the road barrier seemed to enjoy our rough
version of 'Fever'!
We were on stage at 12:15 which was 15 minutes earlier than planned but that's how they ran it, so I hope none of you missed us if you turned up at the scheduled time... It was a bit strange singing within something like a burger van and the acoustics could have been better, but hey, it was fun as you can see from the photos - there's a few more on the gallery page. We didn't capture in a photo the moment where one of the sound men 'crept' off the stage and caught a mic cable and brought it crashing to the stage and then half dragged it off during our last song! As true professionals (ahem) we carried on, unruffled.
The song list was:
Let the river run
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps
Steal away
Will you?
In this heart
Tonight
On stage
Lorna, Becca and Edana (Ewan and Craig behind)
Matt, our MD, giving the punters a sly (and strangely fetching) glance
Sé, Stephen, Rob, Simon (in hiding) and Michael in full flight
We were on stage at 12:15 which was 15 minutes earlier than planned but that's how they ran it, so I hope none of you missed us if you turned up at the scheduled time... It was a bit strange singing within something like a burger van and the acoustics could have been better, but hey, it was fun as you can see from the photos - there's a few more on the gallery page. We didn't capture in a photo the moment where one of the sound men 'crept' off the stage and caught a mic cable and brought it crashing to the stage and then half dragged it off during our last song! As true professionals (ahem) we carried on, unruffled.
The song list was:
Let the river run
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps
Steal away
Will you?
In this heart
Tonight
On stage
Lorna, Becca and Edana (Ewan and Craig behind)
Matt, our MD, giving the punters a sly (and strangely fetching) glance
Sé, Stephen, Rob, Simon (in hiding) and Michael in full flight
Liz and Dee's civil partnership
19/03/07 23:00
A performance at the Komedia in Brighton for Holocaust Memorial Day
28/01/07 19:30
Performed by The Life & Death Orchestra, Brighton Youth Orchestra and the Rainbow Chorus, this people’s opera commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day 2007 with a powerful narrative and music based on the words of poets, writers and artists such as Tadeusz Borowski, Arnold Daghani and Micheline Maurel.
The musical performance was preceded by a moving, and at times harrowing, talk given by Stefan Reszcynski, a survivor of three concentration camps.
It's important to remember that this is not just about something that ended in 1945, it's about the abuses of human rights which still continue around the world today.
An article from our local paper, The Argus, is here.
Some useful links related to this topic:
The Holocaust Timeline
BBC articles
Images of the Holocaust (some of this is not easy viewing)
Wikipedia
Homosexual men and women under the Nazis
Guests of the City of Brighton Gay Men's Chorus
02/08/06 19:30
International Day Against Homophobia
17/05/06 18:30
We performed in Batholomews
Square, outside Brighton Town Hall, for the International Day
Against Homophobia. There were also speeches from city
councillors.
"When You Tell Me That You Love Me" - a memorial tribute to Phil Starr
29/01/06 19:30
Phil Starr, one of Brighton's most loved Drag Queens died on
October the 18th 2005 and a concert was planned as a tribute at the
Brighton Dome. We performed at the sold-out performance where we
sang Phil's favourite song, When You Tell Me That You Love Me, as
the finale jointly with the City of Brighton Gay Men's Chorus. A
standing ovation greeted us at the end, though I suspect all the
other prior acts may have had something to do with that as
well...
Gscene magazine said: "Finally, the crowd was brought to its feet by the City of Brighton Gay Men's Chorus and the Rainbow Chorus, who delivered a magnificent finale to the show with their rendition of the show's title song When You Tell Me That You Love Me."
Pictures of the finale can be found on the REALBrighton web site here.
Gscene magazine said: "Finally, the crowd was brought to its feet by the City of Brighton Gay Men's Chorus and the Rainbow Chorus, who delivered a magnificent finale to the show with their rendition of the show's title song When You Tell Me That You Love Me."
Pictures of the finale can be found on the REALBrighton web site here.
Craig and Craig's Civil Partnership
05/12/05 12:00
On the first day that this was
possible Nationwide and the first ever to take place in Worthing,
Craig from the choir and his partner Craig had their civil
partnership. They'd invited the choir to sing and of course we
happily obliged. There was also a lot of tea and cakes during the
reception at The Grand, Brighton in the afternoon.
Here's a few choir members before the ceremony
And here's Craig (ours on the left!) and Craig emerging after the ceremony
Here's a few choir members before the ceremony
And here's Craig (ours on the left!) and Craig emerging after the ceremony
"Confessions from a Dance Floor" 'launch party'
14/11/05 22:30
We were asked if we'd like to sing
a couple of Madonna songs to enhance the party atmosphere of an
evening to enjoy Madonna's latest album release at The Bank by
Seven Dials in Brighton. Ever up to the challenge, those of us who
could make it turned up for a chance to camp it up just a little
and it was quite a good bit of fun.
Watch out Madonna!
"Intermission"
"Oh no!"
Watch out Madonna!
"Intermission"
"Oh no!"
Singing at the Royal Albert Hall!
10/07/05 19:00
We performed Carmina Burana for
our World AIDS Days concert in Brighton in December 2004, but we
had an offer to sing it again with around 1000 other sings at the
Royal Albert Hall in London. We hesitated for about 3 microseconds
then said yes! So here we are in July the following year.
Well, here we were at the Albert Monument, those of us lucky enough to be singing Carmina Burana (again!) at the Royal Albert Hall.
Yep, that's us!
As part of the Really Big Chorus along with 1,000 of our closest friends ...
Well, here we were at the Albert Monument, those of us lucky enough to be singing Carmina Burana (again!) at the Royal Albert Hall.
Yep, that's us!
As part of the Really Big Chorus along with 1,000 of our closest friends ...
Purcell and Handel at the Royal Academy
20/04/05 19:00
We were invited to perform as
guests of the Pink Singers. We'd just like to say it's a lovely
venue with great acoustics. Thank you.
10th birthday party of the Sussex Beacon AIDS Hospice
12/06/03 18:32
We were invited to perform in the
garden of the Sussex Beacon hospice as part of their 10th birthday
party.
Performance at a handfasting
10/06/03 14:00
Two members of the choir, Kim and
Tanya, were being Handfasted and asked if the choir would perform
on their special day, which of course we did. We performed
'Something inside so strong' which they specifically requested,
'Hand in hand' and others. Even their dogs wore flower garlands.
Aaahhhh.
This was to be the first of many commitment ceremonies at which we have been asked to sing.
This was to be the first of many commitment ceremonies at which we have been asked to sing.
Re-opening of Hove Library
12/01/03 18:27
The council invited us to sing as
one of a number of activities celebrating the re-opening of Hove
Library. It was a novelty to sing with us all standing on the
staircase whilst people wandered around below, setting off the
security alarms when they forgot to have their book
checked-out!
Sea Sound Sing
15/06/02 14:00
We performed in a mass sing in
Pavilion Buildings, but we had to compete with the roaring North
Street traffic.
Queen's Golden Jubilee
03/06/02 13:30
2002 was the year of The Queen's
Golden Jubilee. There were BBC organised "Music Live" events up and
down the country and they invited us to perform in Eastbourne for
BBC TV and radio. We gave a short performance for the BBC Southern
Counties Radio which was broadcast live on the day. We also
performed a number of our own songs on stage. The BBC also had
individuals and groups up and down the country singing The Beatles'
"All You Need is Love" with the idea that a number of these
performances would be spliced together live on TV from all around
the country - we were one of those potential performances. However,
despite having TV cameras two inches from our faces and rendering
our take on "All You Need is Love" into the microphones on quite a
windy day, we didn't make it onto the telly. Maybe next time
...
Live on the radio
Braving the wind!
Getting ready for more
Live on the radio
Braving the wind!
Getting ready for more
GLAM Arts Festival Concert with the Pink Singers
04/11/01 17:00
The Gay and Lesbian Arts and Media
Festival was a registered charity whose objects were to advance the
education of the LGBT communities in the arts, particularly through
education, training, exhibition, production and performance.
As our contribution to this, we invited the Pink Singers down from London to perform with us the Pavilion Theatre, New Road, Brighton - the programme was as follows:
Rainbow Chorus
Our Time
Don't Fence Me In
I Feel Pretty
Imbube
On Children
Bulgarian Carol
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Pink Singers
Uptown Girl
My Sweet Little Darling
The Silver Swan
Will Ye Go, Lassie Go
That's What Friends Are For
Anvil Chorus
Prince Igor
Every Time We Say Goodbye
We joined forces to close the show with There's No Business Like Show Business and Happy Together.
As our contribution to this, we invited the Pink Singers down from London to perform with us the Pavilion Theatre, New Road, Brighton - the programme was as follows:
Rainbow Chorus
Our Time
Don't Fence Me In
I Feel Pretty
Imbube
On Children
Bulgarian Carol
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Pink Singers
Uptown Girl
My Sweet Little Darling
The Silver Swan
Will Ye Go, Lassie Go
That's What Friends Are For
Anvil Chorus
Prince Igor
Every Time We Say Goodbye
We joined forces to close the show with There's No Business Like Show Business and Happy Together.
Elvis Presley Band at the Brighton Centre
12/03/01 18:47
This was a performance with the
Elvis Presley's original backing band and singers ("The Sweet
Temptations"). We performed two numbers "Bridge over troubled
water" and "American Trilogy". It is remembered as something very
special.
The picture here shows the choir at the left of the stage and a virtual Elvis towering over all!
The picture here shows the choir at the left of the stage and a virtual Elvis towering over all!
The Sanctuary
19/02/01 22:34
This apparently was a bit of a
squeeze onto a tiny stage - we were trying to link colours with the
music. It was an idea that didn't last long...
Rainbow Voices in Birmingham
21/09/00 15:26
A return visit to a church in
Edgebaston as we recall; a solo set, a joint song or two and
apparently a party so good that Tanya can remember precious little
about it!
Happy Together with Rainbow Voices
29/04/00 19:30
Programme cover
Programme inside
A Celebration of Remembrance
17/10/99 15:00
Apologies for the sideways
programme but it's too wide to fit and make it still readable
otherwise.
Programmer cover
Programme inside
Programmer cover
Programme inside
Hand in Hand
11/09/99 19:30
This took place in St. Philip's
Church in New Church Road, Hove and was an event celebrating our
spirituality and sexuality in song with special guest the Reverend
Stephen Terry who was the Rector of the Aldrington Team Ministry
and also a member of the Sussex Musicians
Programme inside
For this concert, the members of the choir were listed as:
Andreas Hirche, Andrew Lacey, Anya Dathan, Basil Richmond, Carl Boardman, Clarissa Bergonzi, Colin Burns, Emma Riley, Gill Stephenson, Iain Fleming, Ian Waters, Liz Terry, Lynne Bailey, Marc Warner, Martin Ellis, Michael Gough, Paul Smethurst, Peter Gordon, Phillip Worrall, Rachel Gould, Stef Lakelin, Steph Whyld, Tanya Izzard, Tom Jordaan, Trudy Ward, Vincent Aymerich, Helen Arnold-Jenkins
Programme inside
For this concert, the members of the choir were listed as:
Andreas Hirche, Andrew Lacey, Anya Dathan, Basil Richmond, Carl Boardman, Clarissa Bergonzi, Colin Burns, Emma Riley, Gill Stephenson, Iain Fleming, Ian Waters, Liz Terry, Lynne Bailey, Marc Warner, Martin Ellis, Michael Gough, Paul Smethurst, Peter Gordon, Phillip Worrall, Rachel Gould, Stef Lakelin, Steph Whyld, Tanya Izzard, Tom Jordaan, Trudy Ward, Vincent Aymerich, Helen Arnold-Jenkins
Cabaret with The Accidental Theatre Company
23/04/99 10:57
This took place in the upstairs
theatre at the Marlborough Pub in Brighton.
'Blue Skies' with the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir
26/07/98 09:45
This was our first collaborative concert as guests of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir who were on their European Tour that year.
Christmas 'busking'
14/12/97 19:02
This was a few carols whilst
busking around a selection of gay pubs.
First rehearsal
13/10/97 00:00
Carl Boardman (Musical Director)
trained at Dartington College of Arts along with 8 fledgling
members started the choir at the Lesbian & Gay Centre, Queens
Road, Brighton.