READING’S Male Voice Choir is holding a performance to celebrate 50 years of singing.
Fresh from its performance at the beacon lighting ceremony during the jubilee, the RMVC will mark its own golden anniversary on Saturday, July 2.
The grand Gala Concert will take place at the Reading Concert Hall, featuring guests Mayor & James, Lori Tingay Weber, and the Abbey Junior School choir.
The event will be led by musical director Clive Waterman, who joined the choir as an accompanist shortly after its founding in 1972.
As well as the beacon lighting ceremony, the RMVC was also featured in a video which was released to accompany a Jubilee song, Song for the Commonwealth.
It was one of just 20 performance groups included in the video, which was sent around the world to celebrate 70 years of the Queen’s reign.
Now it is will celebrate its own achievements, which include winning the BBC Radio 3 competition Let the Peoples Sing.
The concert was postponed twice due to the pandemic, but will now mark the end of its 50th season with the event.
Martin Butler, the RMVC’s secretary, said this year’s season “has definitely been the busiest the choir has had in its whole 50 years.
“Because of covid and the best part of two years away from performing, the choir has pertformed two concerts for local charities,
“Two free concerts in aid of Ukraine, raising over £5,000 between them, and four performances at the International Male Choir Music Festival in Cornwall.”
Mayor & James is the collaboration of mandolin virtuoso Simon Mayor and vocalist Hilary James, performing blues, folk, classical, swing, and even comic music.
Also joining is Lori Tingay Weber, whose impressive vocals include a repertoire of operatic arias, jazz standards, and pieces from musicals.
Members of the Abbey Junior School choir, seven-time finalists of the Barnardo’s National Choral Competition, will also be performing.
Tickets are £10 per person, £5 for children under 12, available from: www.whatsonreading.com
