Aeolian Singers Christmas Concert 8th November 2022

What a pleasure to have the Aeolian Singers at Potters Bar URC to perform their Christmas Concert. It was a ‘first’ for us, and they came with an extensive programme of carols, two readings and other choral pieces. It being the 150^th anniversary of Vaughan Williams the second piece was his Fantasia on Christmas Carols with James Rowland the lead Baritone.

We settled in for an enjoyable evening, but there was work for us to do!

There was “Joy to the world”, with Simon playing clips from 5 different composers in the accompaniment. Tricky, but we (the audience) got most of them. We had an interval break for a glass of wine and a few mince pies (as is usual), vastly overrunning the planned 10 minutes.

Back into Part-2, after a couple of choral pieces, Stephen trained the audience up for their part of Three Wise Men, a round. With the choir split in two (one member had to sing in both halves) we set off on a 3-part round, manfully trying to keep our bit going. So much fun that we had to repeat it a fourth time.

Then, after the second reading, Simon Worley played Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride for us as organ solo.

Lots more to enjoy and “We wish you a merry Christmas” to close. And indeed we do – especially to the Aeolians who entertained us so comprehensively. We went home well satisfied after a most enjoyable evening – and many commented to that effect.