Clacton Arts & Literary Society

The second presentation at the Arts and Literary Society was an illustrated lecture by Hallam Murray entitled “Which Home is it Tonight”. Hallam has appeared at Society meetings in the past and was warmly welcomed back.   The subject of his lecture was the adventures with his wife and son, Quin, aged 3, when they cycled around the island of Mauritius.   He gave a potted history of the island which had been colonised by the Dutch, the French and eventually, the British, who ruled it for 150 years giving it independence in 1968.   Members were given an amazing soundtrack of life in Port Lewis at 4 am when the mullahs from the five nearby mosques began their calls, together with the clashing of pots and pans.  This resulted in Quin asking when were they going home?  Instead, the family climbed onto their bicycles and began their journey around the island after getting permission to take Quin on the bicycle with them.

The resultant show of slides and anecdotes made for a very interesting evening indeed.   Some slides were accompanied by a soundtrack of the noises of the birds and animals and at Christmas of the carol singing by village children, still interspersed with the mullahs calling!

The evening was sponsored by Fred Olsen Travel, Worldwide Holiday/Cruise Specialists of Colchester
                                                            Audrey Owens
                                                             Press Officer

The Squadron Leader Hartley Evening opened the new season for the Arts and Literary Society. On this occasion it was the London Festival Opera who presented a highlight performance of The Magic Flute, one of Mozart’s most famous operas. This was a full costume performance of the famous arias with linking dialogue accompanied by the London Festival Opera Ensemble. The characters of Pamina and Tamino were performed by Catriona Clarke and Cameron Rolls, the Queen of the Night by Laure Meloy and Sarastro by Timothy Dawkins. The wonderfully comic Papagano was performed by the fantastic Philip Blake-Jones, who is also the founder of the company, and his delightful Papagana was Miranda Westcott.

This performance was followed by a programme of ‘Encores’ which consisted of some of the best loved arias, duets, quartets in opera and included several pieces from Gilbert and Sullivan. Audience participation was encouraged when Philip Blake-Jones sang ‘I am the very model of a modern Major-General’ at breakneck speed. We finally caught up in the last chorus. It was a highly successful and enjoyable evening and a splendid start to the new season.
Audrey Owens
Press Officer

Take a day visit to the once top secret code breaking centre during WW2. There is so much more that I didn’t include. I can only recommend you go for a visit yourself as the atmosphere is amazing. I simply took my video camera and filmed everything possible. Remember during the wartime all this was top secret. Loose tongues costs lives.

Clacton Arts & Literary Society  visit on Wed 20 May 2009

There is a petition to keep this museum, check it out:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Blet…

Clacton & North East Essex Arts & Literary Society

Just released Programme for 2009/10 Season

CLACTON & NORTH EAST ESSEX ARTS & LITERARY SOCIETY

The final presentation in the Society’s 2008/2009 Season was a return visit from the superb vocal group – Cantabile – The London Quartet. This a cappella singing group have achieved proficiency in producing different styles of music. The result was an eclectic programme which transported the audience from Sixteenth Century Part-Songs to a medley from that classic Disney cartoon ‘Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs’.

Cantabile comprise Richard Bryan (Counter-Tenor), Steven Brooks (Tenor), Mark Fleming (Tenor) and Michael Steffan (Baritone), who first sang as an a cappella singing group during their student days at Cambridge. They began with Perpetuum Mobile Opus 25 by Johann Strauss (The Younger).This musical joke served as a showcase for the vocal dexterity that the group possess. The mood changed for their rendition of Weep O Mine Eyes, a plaintive 16th Century Part Song and which produced a rich choral sound belying their quartet composition. My personal highlight of the first half was the performance of Summertime from Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess This moving aria written by Gershwin, in his own style of Afro-American spiritual, was faultless. Richard Bryan’s singing evoked the feeling of the southern American cotton plantations.

The second half opened with a ‘Homage to Harmony Groups’. The group’s arrangement of Dry Bones was a brilliant amalgam of music and comedy which exemplified their versatility and was immensely appreciated by the audience. The piece de resistance of this half was without doubt ‘The History of Western Music’- a whistle stop tour of one thousand years of Western Music. Their inclusion of Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 was innovative and they achieved a chilling rendition of this tone poem which has been so engrained in recent popular culture by Stanley Kubrick’s use of it as the main theme in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Once again Cantabile brought to the Society an evening of innovative musical entertainment underlining their virtuosity and creativity. An enormously enjoyable performance from this talented and personable quartet.

The evening was sponsored by Boydons Estate Agents of Colchester & Frinton-On-Sea.

Robert Pearce

Locum Press Officer