What better way to celebrate International Women’s Day than spend an evening enjoying each other’s company and making beautiful music! 

Last week Cloud9 gathered for our AGM and end-of-year celebration. We love getting together to sing a few of our favourites, thank our committee, welcome new committee members and have a chat.

Thank you to our 2017 Cloud9 committee (minus Judy our amazing Treasurer)

We also welcome the opportunity to share the feedback we’ve received on our performance and thank our beloved Music Director Gloria and Accompanist Annabelle for their skill, patience and guidance throughout the year.

Annabelle and Gloria, our much-loved Accompanist and Music Director

A highlight always at our AGM is the presentation of our annual Wiggs Award, in recognition of choir members who have made a significant contribution to the life and wellbeing of the choir. Jen Martin is our so-deserving recipient whose expertise in media communication enhances our choir profile. From writing blogs to managing our website and Facebook page, she also creates and interprets our choir surveys to direct our future. Jen is the first contact new members have when they wish to join our choir and it’s her smiling face who welcomes them.

Jen received the Wigg’s Award from our Cloud9 Chair Janice

Time to celebrate another wonderful Cloud9 year

It was such a thrill for Cloud9 to sing with more than 200 choral voices in the finale to the 10th Voices of Women choral festival on Saturday 23^rd September. Together we premiered “Riversong” a piece commissioned for the festival and composed by Australian Keren Terpstra. 

We followed it up with “Wherever You Are” by Paul Mealor who was inspired by poems, letters and prayers written by military wives and first performed by The Military Wives Choir in 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall.

For our own Cloud9 performance, we showcased our Baroque to Broadway theme. We began with Vivaldi’s Gloria and Purcell’s Sound the Trumpet, followed by well-known Broadway hits, I’ve got you under my skin and 42nd Street.  Great fun! 

We also really appreciated hearing wonderful performances by Melbourne Women’s Choir, Women of Note, The Casey Choir, The Australian Girls’ Choir, Majellan Singers and Grace Notes Singers.

Many thanks to Gloria and Annabelle for preparing the Choir for the Festival.

Our thanks also to the indefatigable Faye Dumont for organising this 10th choral festival. 

What a great start to the term. It was nearly a full house with almost every member of the choir there buzzing with the excited anticipation of a new term, a change of routine and learning some new music.

In Gloria’s absence on leave, Ben Leske took our first rehearsal for the term. The choir responded to all that Ben (gently) threw at us. With a belief that learning without music is a powerful leveler within a choir, we started with “A Million Nightingales”, a round in two parts. Glorious music that swoops and weaves around itself, a bit like birds fluttering in flight.

Ben also started us on two new works we will perform at the Voices of Women Choral Festival to be held at MLC on 23 September. Whilst Cloud 9 will have the opportunity to sing its own chosen repertoire, these two works will be sung en masse by the 7 participating choirs.   One work has been specially commissioned for the event from Melbourne based composer, Karen Terpstra. Both are very beautiful works written specifically for women’s voices. It should be a great experience for the choirs singing them and for the listening audience!

Ben is not new to Cloud9. He had previously taken a Cloud 9 rehearsal for us 4 years ago and introduced Cloud 9 to the beautiful “Let it Go”, which has become one of our signature pieces. He also wrote a “Cloud 9 Song” which talks about singing in beautiful harmony, something which makes being a member of Cloud 9 such a special experience. We finished singing in the round with the traditional Georgian healing song “Batonebo”, another new work for the evening and, of course, “Let it Go”.

Many thanks to Ben and welcome back Gloria for the rest of the term!

JS (Choir Member)

http://www.benleskemusic.com

Cloud9 is most looking forward to being part of the Voices of Women Choral Festival!