We are back from Normandy!  37 choristers travelled to Normandy and had a great time over a week of concerts and playtime.  The choir gave three concerts in churches in the region, Port en Bessin, St Aubin, and Trevieres.  The churches all had superb, but very different acoustics and the choristers responded with total commitment and beauty of sound. It was a delight to see their faces when they  were given standing ovations from their French audiences plus the special handclap for “encore please”.  So many comments and superlatives could be heard from our French audience  – “C’etais superb, manifique” etc.

The Choir also gave a very moving concert from the platform in front of the 22ft high bronze statue known as Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves in the online casino American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.  Quite a few American tourists came up to say that the performance had made their experience of the Cemetery even more intense and that it had brought tears to their eyes.

We also had an evening of fun and laughter on the terrace at Portland Camping when the Youth Choir performed a selection of songs from “Grease”. It turned into a shimmy competition when Joyce Ellis invited members of the audience to join in the moves with the choir. web page alert . There were holiday makers there from France, Ireland, Denmark and Belgium to name a few, and was such a fun and friendly experience to be able to communicate through the medium of performance.

Press article: http://www.ouest-france.fr/retour-en-normandie-pour-les-kinder-childrens-choir-3546657