Hi James and all,
Wow, what I fantastic time I have just had in Jersey – glorious sunshine, sea, a beautiful island, a boat cruise, dolphins, and the highlight of it all, two absolutely wonderful evenings of music from Hayley!
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifI arrived just after 11:30 on Friday morning at Jersey after a one and a half hour flight from Edinburgh, and got on a bus to the centre of St.Helier. After initially walking the wrong way,
(usually good with directions!) eventually I was able to find my hotel and check in there. As I had a few hours to spend until the start of the concert at 7:45pm I spent some time walking round the town centre and looking in the shops.
Later at around 7:15 or so I sat down in the bar and was joined there by James, we were both looking forward to the evening ahead! The time then came to take our seats in the auditorium. For the first night I was in the front row of the dress circle, up on the first floor, so had a good view of the stage even though I was some distance from it.
The concert started on time with two songs by a choir called The Musical Originals Singers, a group of some 20 young girls to which entry is by invitation only. They did two excellent performances of “Let there be Peace on Earth” and “Living in a Holy City”, before Hayley herself came on stage, in her stunning black dress that she previously wore in Belfast, along with Fiona Pears on violin and Ian Tilley on the piano. Her first song of the evening was a beautiful performance of Hansel and Gretel’s “Prayer”. She then followed with the Caccini version of “Ave Maria”, then “Scarborough Fair”, before leaving the stage to make way for two local musicians, Christopher George on piano and Emmanuelle Dumas on cello, who performed Elgar’s “Chanson de Matin” (not Chanson de Martin as printed on the set list!)
After they had finished performing, and with Christopher George remaining on stage, Nicky Spence came on to perform the Italian love aria “L’Ultima Canzone”, this was the first time I have actually seen or heard him and I’m convinced on the strength of these performances he has a great future ahead of him – not only is he a great singer but a hugely funny comedian when performing on stage. (As well as being from Scotland!
) He also performed the beautiful melody “Maria” from West Side Story.
Hayley then came back onto the stage and opened with “Both Sides Now”, then 3 verses of “Shenandoah” (there are over 100, and the doors were locked!) and was then joined once again by the Musical Originals Singers for two wonderful performances of the hymn “Abide With Me”, and the traditional “Amazing Grace” which brought the first half of the concert to a finish. It must have been quite an experience for the young girls in the choir to be on stage performing with Hayley, one I’m sure they won’t forget.
After a moving speech from the chief executive of the British Red Cross, Sir Nicholas Young, the second half opened with more from Nicky Spence, first with an exuberant performance of “Funiculi Funicula” then a couple of traditional Scottish songs, which I must admit to never having heard before, “The Deils awa wi the Exciseman” and “The Wee Cooper o Fife” both performances of which went down well with the audience! (Though I hope they don’t get the impression that all Scots are like that!
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif)After Nicky came a young musician from Paris called Celine Saout, who played beautifully on the harp “Etude de Concert” by Godefroid. Following this Hayley made her entry on the stage, dressed once again in her amazing red dress! With Celine playing the harp, Hayley did an absolutely wonderful performance of “Over the Rainbow”, the first time I have heard her sing this, followed by a joyful performance of “The Mummers Dance”, which has become a personal favourite of mine and one which I love to hear Hayley sing. Following this Hayley sang “May It Be” from Lord of the Rings, Handel’s moving “Lascia Ch’io Pianga”, then a playful rendition of “Santa Lucia” – never quite sure whether or not to trust the pianist for this one!
Nicky Spence then re-entered the stage, and Hayley and Nicky proceeded to perform a couple of duets, firstly “One Hand One Heart” from West Side Story, then “All I Ask of You” from The Phantom of the Opera. Both Hayley and Nicky were quite simply magnificent together, with their performances being amongst the finest and most moving of these songs I have ever heard.
Hayley was then left to perform “In Trutina” and finally “Hine E Hine”, marking the official end of the concert. And then came the encores, first Hayley on the piano singing “Sonny”, which once again she did confidently and with passion, and then finally singing “Pokarekare Ana”, much to the appreciation of the audience who began applauding as soon as she had started singing.
And that brought to an end a magnificent evening of wonderful music from Hayley and many other talented performers. There were of course two concerts, the one on Friday, which is described above, and one on Saturday. Saturday’s concert saw largely the same program of music as the previous evening, with a few changes. Celine Saout did not perform on the harp, which consequently meant Hayley did not sing “Over the Rainbow”, Christopher and Emmanuelle played another piece by Elgar, “Salut d’Amour”, and Hayley instead of “Lascia Ch’io Pianga” sang the moving and always passionately performed “Danny Boy”, and did the two encores in reverse order if I recall correctly. Also on the second night I was seated in the third row of the stalls so was much closer to the action on stage!
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifFor both concerts Hayley was once again in top voice, and gave powerful and passionate performances throughout from beginning to end, putting her heart and soul into the music and showing how much she has matured and developed as a performer.
On both evenings James and I were lucky enough to once again be able to spend some time with Hayley, as always she was the same warm unaffected person we have all come to admire and cherish. We were also able to meet Nicky who appeared as we were talking with Hayley, he quickly noticed my tartan tie and presumably my Scottish accent as well!
As for the rest of my time there, on Saturday morning I took a boat cruise along the south coast of the island, which lasted in the region of 2 hours 40 minutes or so and which ended with some dolphins spending some 15 minutes or so swimming round the boat and coming out of the water! This was amazing to watch and the first time I have seen dolphins up close as I did then. In the afternoon I spent some time visiting the Jersey Museum before walking round the town centre again, eventually heading back to my hotel to get ready for the concert that evening.
As I said, I had a fantastic time in Jersey, and to be honest I wish I was there right now! James, I had a great time seeing you so thank you for being there, hope you had a good time as well! And as always a huge thank you to Hayley and to all the other musicians who performed for two such fantastic and hugely enjoyable concerts.
I will hopefully get round to posting a few pictures from my time in Jersey tomorrow evening, time permitting.
Good night everyone,
David
(usually good with directions!) eventually I was able to find my hotel and check in there. As I had a few hours to spend until the start of the concert at 7:45pm I spent some time walking round the town centre and looking in the shops.
) He also performed the beautiful melody “Maria” from West Side Story.
Lovely, and very carefully selected, list of songs there. I'm sure Hayley did great with them yet again, as always.
You certainly had a magnificent time in Jersey! Thanks for sharing your detailed Report with us - I would have particularly enjoyed hearing Hayley's rendition of 'Over The Rainbow' and also her 'All I Ask of You' duet with Nicky... I haven't heard Nicky perform live yet. I only wish that it had been possible for me to be there too! 
