Waverley Singers

Messiah performance helps hospices’ funds

The following review by Max Hadfield was published in The Herald newspaper, probably in March 2005:

Hospice supporters from far and wide enjoyed an evening of music at The Anvil, when an 800-plus audience raised more than £12,000 for Saint Michael's and Phyllis Tuckwell hospices.

The Waverley Singers, celebrating their golden anniversary, treated the audience to a rare performance of Messiah, combining the best aspects of the "big choir" approach to this work with all the vigour and drama of the “baroque" approach.

Tempos were brisk, even break-neck in Let Us Break Their Bonds, yet the choir never lost its focus, with sharp diction and well-marked accents and rhythms throughout, which was remarkable for such a large choir.

The London Handel Society’s Tilford Bach Orchestra, the regular partner of the Waverley Singers and very experienced in this genre, gave a polished accompaniment.

Under the experienced baton of Malcolm Hicks, the choir was augmented to 150-strong for its jubilee celebration by past members, friends and relatives from choirs such as the Royal Choral Society, the BBC Symphony Chorus, The Wayneflete Singers, the Fleet Choral Society and Cantique.

The choir danced its way easily through the lighter choruses such as His Yoke is Easy, yet at full volume in the big choruses such as Worthy is the Lamb - Amen, shook the foundations with a power that Handel himself would have welcomed had he had the resources.

The solarists were equally impressive. Mark Wildman, professor of singing at the Royal Academy, sang the bass solos and brought with him a team of young stars of the future – Kishani Jayasinghe (soprano), Tim Mead (counter-tenor) and Michael McBride (tenor).

Even allowing room for further improvement, they gave performances which marked them as stars of today. Kishani's I Know that My Redeemer Liveth, Tim’s He Was Despised and Michael's Behold and See were all memorable, and the audience was privileged to hear them at the beginning of their careers.

Vivienne Woolston, marketing and fundraising director of Saint Michael's Hospice, said "The Waverley Singers put the extra into ordinary! The performance was truly magnificent. I was highly impressed with the complete professionalism of the entire ensemble."