50 years of choral joy
IF you felt more emotional than usual on Saturday night and weren’t sure why, let me explain. You were caught in the overspill from the Albert Hall which for three hours generated enough high-voltage emotion to power the whole city. Cantamus, Mansfield’s multi-award-winning girls’ choir was celebrating both the 50 golden years of its existence and the 500 golden voices which it has nurtured and brought to perfection.
The celebration in every way lived up to the audience’s stratospheric expectations. As usual everything was sung by heart and in a wide diversity of languages. Under their Director Ann Irons, Cantamus opened the concert with Gounod’s intensely moving Sanctus whose soloist was star alumna Rebecca Von Lipinski. The faultless intonation displayed here and the hairs-breadth control of dynamics continued into Antognini’s Agnus Dei and Judith Bingham’s Lacemaking, as rhythmically exciting as it must be fiendishly difficult to sing.
The presenters read out tributes from past members living across the world. One contributor spoke of the musical qualities embodied by Cantamus which she most cherishes: discipline, purity of tone, expressiveness, togetherness, love for each other and complete commitment.
These qualities shone in this concert not only from Cantamus itself but also from its two offshoots, the young (9+) Training Choir and Cantus Amici, formed from former members. Each group gave their all, with highlights including Can You Hear Me? (sung so tenderly by the Training Choir), The Butterfly by Cantus Amici and a spectacular version of Waltzing Matilda by Cantamus, a virtuoso display of vocal acrobatics and linguistic mastery as well as a reminder of their Australian tour named in honour of the choir’s inspirational founder Pamela Cook.