Venue visiting and staggered singing

We were delighted that Rosie could join us so soon for an orientation visit at the end of September.

In a full programme we visited three possible premiere venues – from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s Dora Stouzker Hall, to a local National Trust property (Dyffryn House and gardens) and Penarth Pier Pavilion. We even started off with a concert, which included the premiere of Viral by Mark Boden, another of this year’s ‘adopted’ composers!

Rosie joined our Spectrum Singers rehearsal and helped us get into the spirit of experimenting with different effects of staggered singing and movement around the room.

Nearly everyone joined a meal beforehand when we could introduce ourselves and our musical ‘characters’ to each other and many continued the conversation on this and possible themes for the composition in the pub afterwards. To complete her introduction to Cardiff Rosie did a whistle-stop tour of Cardiff Bay and some of its key buildings the following morning.

It was a busy twenty four hours – but hopefully really helped kick start the project and gave Rosie food for thought as she considers composition ideas. Renewal was one idea floated for a piece – as our choir has been through a stage of renewal as have many of our performance venues and South Wales more widely in its post-coal transformation.

Next stop is a workshop on 9 November!