09/10/2020
š¾A Little Light Music - Cobbs Farm Shop Hungerford š„
We had a fabulous time performing at Cobbs Farm Shop on what turned out to be a gorgeously sunny day. We hope to be able to return next summer for more music making!
We were lucky to receive a very kind review in the Newbury Weekly News which we've posted below for anyone who would like to read.
"With the entertainment industry hit very hard by Covid- 19 Beechwood Opera must have jumped at the chance of an open air gig in Hungerford. After all open air gigs are just about the only kind there are at present. Set neatly in the large gardens behind Cobbās Farm shop, a trio of instrumentalists and three singers performed in front of an audience seated in painted out rings on the grass. Jack Dolan walked across the lawn singing Some Enchanted Evening in a rich, tenor voice and was joined at the front of the stage by Sopranos Elise Fairley and Bethany Woolgrove. Next up was an aria from Pucciniās La Boheme, where the tenor sings, in Italian, Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen. Many in the audience could sympathise with that statement as a biting wind was occasionally blowing across the field negating the autumn sunshine. Soprano Bethany Woolgrove demonstrated a strong voice in a variety of settings, not least when she joined her colleagues for A Heartful of Love from Les Miserables. I Dreamed a Dream was played by the instrumental trio of Harry Haden-Brown, piano, Tina Jacobs-Lin on violin and the cello of Johnathan Kitchen. Their playing was very well structured and melodic although Tina did look a trifle cold in a short sleeve top. The three swapped musical phrases effortlessly on their feature selection.
The host Alex Creamer announced that the trio were on a UK tour of Phantom Of The Opera just before the virus struck so it was appropriate that selections were played and sung from that work. The range and richness of voice of Elise Fairley and Bethany Woolgrove was demonstrated over and over, not least on selections of music from Mozartās Marriage of Figaro and, later, Leonard Bernsteinās West Side Story. Jack Dolanās tenor was powerful, yet sonorous on all selections and the three singers projected out to the back of the field effortlessly. I know because I walked over and checked. Film music was represented by Shall We Dance, which was sung in a movie by Deborah Kerr and later dubbed in by another singer. This happened to Audrey Hepburn too but on this afternoon the singing could not be faulted. This bright, lively concert in the open ended with a selection of music by Rogers and Hammerstein."
Derek Ansell
