Dudley Concert Hall - 26th September 2009

[grant]

Hello everyone

There is now an advertisement for this concert on the main site thanks to Dave following a request from the concert organisers to help boost ticket sales.

For everyone's benefit - especially Hayley's we would like to see this concert sell out so, if you're thinking about it, now's the time to bite the bullet and book.

You know you want to!

Best wishes
Grant

[grant]

Hello everyone

More information about this concert and the Gentleman Songsters can be found by following the attached link Concert

You will see that for this concert, Hayley will be supported by Timothy Evans on piano and Kerenza Peacock on violin.

Best wishes
Grant

[Richard]

Thanks for the link, Grant!

I'm pleased to see they've included a link to HWI.

There's some interesting information in the write-up, so I'll post a transcript for posterity:

Hayley Westenra began performing when she was just 6 years old and made her first recording in a professional studio at 12. She was still only 16 when she released her debut international CD, Pure. It rapidly became the fastest-selling debut album from a classical artist, and reached the Top 10 of the pop charts in 11 countries. Her albums have sold more than four million copies worldwide to date. “Pure” was certified by the official UK chart compilers as the best selling classical album of the 21st Century.

Her popularity and approachability have brought many opportunities, including offers to perform for royalty and Heads of State. She’s also UNICEF’s youngest-ever ambassador, an energetic supporter, both in awareness and financially, and after huge success with her ‘Bikes For Ghana Appeal’ Hayley revisited Ghana in 2008 where she started work on her second project – building water pumps. Hayley is proud to be the first official ambassador of Classic FM Music Makers.

But it’s the mesmerising appeal of her music which has provided the platform for her other endeavours. Filing her under "classical" only tells a fraction of the story.

Hayley requires a quite different quality in her voice when she performs at any of the numerous sporting events around the World, which have included football (the FA Cup Final, in The European Champions League) baseball (the NBA in the US), Tennis (The Mercedes Cup in Los Angeles) and what is her proudest duty, singing the New Zealand anthem for her beloved All Blacks rugby team.

Hayley is in great demand as a duet partner and has sung with, among others, Jose Carreras, Bryn Terfel and Andrea Bocelli and toured with Il Divo. PBS recorded an hour long “Great Performances” TV Special in New Zealand and again in October 2006 PBS recorded another special with her during her trip to Canada for Celtic Colors. It was whilst recording another TV Special in Canada with Andrea Bocelli that Hayley saw the first Celtic Woman Special and although in the middle of recording her third album, she accepted the chance when invited to join the Celtic Woman project.

Hayley will be accompanied at this concert by Tim Evans on piano and Kerenza Peacock on violin.

Timothy Evans was born in New Zealand and completed a piano performance degree with First Class Honours in 1996 at the University of Auckland where he studied with Bryan Sayer.

During his time at university Timothy won many awards including the National Performing Arts Competition Society Award in Wellington in 1994 and an inaugural Faculty of Music Masters/Honours Scholarship and the Anne Bellam Scholarship in 1996.

Timothy was also the winner of the 1996 Royal Over-Seas League/New Zealand Scholarship. This scholarship gave him the opportunity to spend a month studying in London as well as attending the Dartington International Summer School. During his visit he gave solo recitals at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St James's Piccadilly. This visit led to a further period of study in London with eminent English pianist Philip Fowke in the year 2000.

Timothy has performed as a soloist in the presence of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, has played concertos with New Zealand’s two major orchestras (the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) and accompanied most of New Zealand’s top opera singers, instrumentalists and musical theatre performers.

He has appeared in concerts throughout New Zealand and Australia (including at the Sydney Opera House) and at venues in New York (‘Don’t Tell Mama’), London and throughout Japan and has made many appearances on television and radio in New Zealand and Australia.

Timothy has extensive experience in musical theatre - he played keyboards for the Australian trilogy of Gilbert and Sullivan shows which toured New Zealand, toured Japan as Assistant Musical Director of Ken Hill's 'Phantom of the Opera' and played keyboards on the New Zealand professional tours of 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat', 'Chicago' and ‘Mamma Mia’. Timothy has also been musical director on productions of ‘Nunsense’, ‘Sweet Charity’, ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Follies’ in New Zealand.

Timothy is very interested in training the next generation of musical theatre performers and was the co-founder of New Zealand’s first annual Musical Theatre Summer School in 2003.

Timothy moved to London in September 2004 after being appointed the Deputy Head of Music at Arts Educational. Since arriving in London Timothy has played for masterclasses with Sally-Anne Triplett, Donald Pippin and Jason Robert Brown, been the official accompanist for the ‘BBC Radio 2 Voice of Musical Theatre 2005’ in Cardiff and played for rehearsals of ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ and David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jr.’s new musical ‘Take Flight’.

Since leaving Arts Educational in July 2007 Timothy has been the rehearsal pianist as well as playing piano, keyboard, accordion and harmonium in the band for ‘Gone With The Wind’ (directed by Trevor Nunn) at the New London Theatre and he has also played piano for ‘Marguerite’ at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Timothy has recently been the Assistant Musical Director for the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company’s productions of ‘The Gondoliers’ and ‘Iolanthe’ in Buxton and he was an audition pianist for ‘A Little Night Music’ directed by Trevor Nunn at Chocolate Factory.

Timothy has also returned to Arts Educational to be musical director for third-year productions of ‘Once On This Island’ in 2007-2008 and ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ and ‘High School Musical’ in 2008-2009.

Kerenza Peacock began playing the violin at the age of 3. At 22, she graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with First Class Honours. She was then loaned a Stradivarius violin worth £4million by the Academy for a performance of the Mendelssohn Concerto, as first violinist of the Pavão String Quartet.

Kerenza has given recitals in every major UK classical venue, including the Wigmore Hall and also performed in China, New York and Israel. The Pavão have released 4 CDs, played on Classic FM, and BBC Radio 1, 2 and 3. Kerenza has played in the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Proms, recorded for films in the Abbey Road Studios, and led the band for many West End shows.

She has worked with singers as diverse as Paul McCartney, KanYe West, the Spice Girls, Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Russell Watson, Andrea Bocelli, Il Divo and Sir Willard White. She has played on TV shows including Top of the Pops, the X-Factor and even the Tweenies!

Richard

[Karsten]

Hi Grant and Richard,

Many thanks for the news - 7 weeks and one day to go.

Cheers, Karsten

[Jono]

Hey Richard,

Thanks for the post.

Timothy went to my University! Oh, the joy!

Wish I could attend this concert...very unlikely now..

[BenCMitchell]

Hi folks

I have very kindly been offered a front row seat at this event by Dean - this means that I now have a free ticket going to anyone who would like to go and would like a seat - it is stall seat E3 in the 5th row - not the best of seats, but it is still a seat!

Cheers!

Ben

[Richard]

Hello everybody!

This article from Dudley News is full of spelling mistakes and other errors, so I'll quote it as written:

Singing sensation Hayley to perform in Dudley

10:52am Wednesday 26th August 2009

NEW Zealand classical singing sensation Hayley Westenra is heading to Dudley for a concert with the Gentleman Songsters Male Voice Choir.

The singer, who is the best selling classical artist of the 21st Century, will be performing at the Dudley Concert Hall on Saturday September 26.

Hayley began performing when she was just six-years-old, made her first recording aged 12 and released her debut album Pure aged 16-years-old. It went on to became the fastest-selling debut album from a classical artist, reaching the Top 10 in 11 countries.

John Smith, from the Gentleman Songsters, said: “We are extremely fortunate to have secured Hayley Westenra as our main guest for our annual Autumn concert.

“She is a huge star in the area of classical singing internationally having appeared with such artists as Andrea Bochelli, Jose Carreras and Bryn Terfel so she is a big catch for us and for the Dudley.”

He added: “We are delighted that she is bringing with her pianist Timothy Evans and violinist Karenza Peacock who is best known as a member of All Angels of X-Factor finals fame.

The Gentleman Songsters are raising cash this year for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Motor Neurone Disease Association and Camp Quality UK, a charity that provides holidays for unfortunate children.

Tickets for the Dudley Concert Hall event on Saturday September 26 cost £20 and £18 and are available from the Gentlemen Songsters' ticketline 01384 838863 and Dudley Council on 01384 812812.

For more information about the Gentleman Songsters and the concert visit www.gsmvc.co.uk

Don't waste your time clicking on that link, try this one instead: www.gsmvc.org.uk

Richard

[stevemacdonald]

Not that long ago I voiced my opinion that calling Hayley a "singing sensation" was unnecessary now that she's all grown up. It is wrong to have her still referred to by that term, since it suggests that she's merely a novelty rather than an established artist.

Maybe somebody on her publicity team didn't get the memo, so here it is: We call singers sensations when they're new and exploding upon the scene, not when they already have several international albums under their belt. Remember, this is Hayley we're talking about, not Faryl.

[Dean McCarten]

Aug 26, 2009 17:26:17 GMT stevemacdonald said:

Remember, this is Hayley we're talking about, not Faryl.

I think is is a little harsh Steve, I personally don't think that that calling her a singing sensation is out line as I'm sure that most here feel that Hayley isn't as well known as we would like. However I think those words suit Hayley as she is a singing sensation, it's highly descriptive as does Hayley provoke ones audio senses.

Dean

[stevemacdonald]

Aug 26, 2009 19:02:37 GMT Dean McCarten said:

Aug 26, 2009 17:26:17 GMT stevemacdonald said:

Remember, this is Hayley we're talking about, not Faryl.

I think is is a little harsh Steve, I personally don't think that that calling her a singing sensation is out line as I'm sure that most here feel that Hayley isn't as well known as we would like. However I think those words suit Hayley as she is a singing sensation, it's highly descriptive as does Hayley provoke ones audio senses.

Sorry Dean, but I stand by my opinion. It's not that Hayley isn't sensational, because indeed she is; it's just that the term "singing sensation" has traditionally been applied to those in the infancy of their careers, like Faryl Smith and Susan Boyle. (If I had a nickel for every time I saw Ms. Boyle called a singing sensation I'd be wealthy). If Hayley's promoters wish to recapture some of the excitement her "Pure" years when the term was correctly applied, perhaps they could invoke some more appropriate term, such as "sensational singer" which isn't as patronising.

[Martin]

Hi Dean & Steve
Hayley has often been given contentious labels. I recently saw her described as an Opera Diva. Classical star is another one and in this instance classical singing sensation.

Until the media decide upon a consistent and accurate label (I like Hayley's own description of "Singer" as posted today on Twitter), we just have to bite our tongues!

Anyway, this discussion is just beginning to get a bit off topic so let's get back to the Dudley concert theme!

Best wishes
Martin

[Dean McCarten]

Ok Steve, I see your point.
I prefer "Kiwi Songbird" myself and I hope I'm not alone in thinking that

I am looking forward to Ben's report on his first Hayley concert experience.

Dean
p.s of course Martin, this'll be my last semi-OT post on the subject

[grant]

Hello everyone

I can see where Steve is coming from with his comment, although 'singing sensation' usually has "new" in front of it. There perhaps isn't much anyone can do about it for this concert as the publicity already quotes "International award winning singing sensation from New Zealand"

Personally, I like Dean's Kiwi Songbird so how about "Sensational Kiwi Songbird"? I'm in touch with the organisers of this concert so, if anyone has any other suggestions that the media may be willing to use, I'd be happy to pass them on.

Oh, and I'll also tell them about the gaffs in the current article!

Best wishes
Grant

[Richard]

Hello Grant!

I'd love to know where they got their information about Kerenza Peacock from. She is of course a member of the Pavão String Quartet, not singing quartet All Angels, and why is the X-Factor mentioned?

Perhaps Simon Cowell can offer an explanation.

Richard

[BenCMitchell]

1 week to go!!

Can't wait to meet all who are going, and to see Hayley in concert obviously! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif