SASHGATE!

Well, the gig tonight was FANTASTIC. But it almost wasn't, because it looked for a while as if there was going to be a bit of a rebellion, which wouldn't have had people in the right mood at all. Luckily Jamie sorted out the problem by speaking to Mark on our behalf, and a possible crisis was averted.

That was probably all a bit cryptic, wasn't it? At least to those who weren't there... Here's what happened. The gig (and Sunday's Proms gig) featured 3 choirs: us, the Hallé Youth Choir, and the London Philharmonic Choir. The ladies of the LPC wear long black outfits of their own choice. The ladies of the Hallé Choir wear standard long black outfits with turquoise sashes. The girls of the Youth Choir wear red short-sleeved shirts (with black skirts). Well, at the rehearsal this morning, Naomi announced that we wouldn't be wearing our sashes in either concert, so that we would look the same as the LPC. The amount of instant bad feeling this created was immense. People were using words such as "angry", "furious", "livid", "militant"... one person even said "I'm so upset about this that I can't sing". Within a few minutes, all the altos around me had agreed that we needed an urgent alto section meeting at the break so that people could voice their displeasure. This took place, and Judith and I (as alto reps on the committee) agreed to approach Jamie and/or Naomi to convey people's views. We met Meg and Cathy before we did this, who were about to do the same on behalf of the sops.

We spoke to Jamie and Naomi together and learned that it was Mark who had made the decision. Jamie thought that people would probably be OK with the decision when Mark explained the reason for it (i.e. that he thought it would look better on TV). We disagreed and reiterated how strongly people felt about it. (People have a real sense of pride about being visibly a member of the *Hallé* Choir, as opposed to just a generic "main chorus" as contrasted with the Youth Choir, and to have the only outward symbol of this removed - just when we will be at our most visible - is what everyone was upset about.) Jamie agreed to speak to Mark.

We never did get an official announcement, but at the end of the rehearsal Jamie could be seen talking animatedly to Mark for several minutes; Mark appeared to just listen without commenting. But it was not long after that that the word was spread that we could wear the sashes \o/

I was actually quite worried about what might have happened if Jamie hadn't persuaded Mark. A lot of people were saying "I don't care what they say, I'm wearing it, there's not much they can do if we all do it, is there?" Another representative comment was "I don't often get militant, but I'm feeling militant about this!" So thank goodness he stood up for us :-)

There's not much to say about the concert itself, because it was just GREAT. No disasters. Not even anything that "went a bit wrong" (or at least, not as far as I can remember). Soloists were fabulous (and Alice Coote looked truly angelic in a lovely white dress). Orchestra (91 of them on stage, I counted!) were fabulous. Mark was fabulous. All three choirs were fabulous (though I say so myself!) I was very impressed with the LPC. We've had choirs singing with us in the past who know the music well enough but totally ignore stage instructions (such as, keep your folder open at the end till you sit down). The LPC behaved impeccably, so I'm glad we're doing other stuff with them soon, not just Sunday! (Pity we're not doing more stuff with them - have you seen the stuff they're doing this year and next? I'm jealous!)

Oh, there was one of them I wasn't too impressed with, though. While I was standing talking to Judith during the interval, one of their guys (who was standing right next to us) suddenly shouted out EXTREMELY loudly. It was so loud that I was literally deafened, but Judith managed to catch what he said when we glared at him - "I'm practising being one of your tenors!" Cheeky thing! Our tenors sounded FANTASTIC. I reckon he was just jealous :p

So, we're off to London tomorrow, and home very late Sunday night. We've not had a proper choir trip for ages, so this should be fun!