It's easy to feel helpless in the face of a humanitarian crisis, such as the horrors currently taking place in Syria. St Luke's community choir, Vox Holloway, has decided to take positive action by donating all profits from its next concert to help Syrian refugees.
The choir is currently rehearsing hard for its performance at St Luke's on Sunday 1 December – an event entitled Songs Of Exile, which will include music from around the world, and performances by two world-class soloists. The audience will get to hear a brand new composition, Cry Palestine, written and performed by Palestinian musician Reem Kelani. Catalan musician Clara Sanabras (whose work regularly appears on film and TV soundtracks, including the second The Hobbit film) will be performing a new choral setting of songs from her latest album, Scattered Flight: Songs of Spanish Exile. Arrangements and musical direction will once again be provided by British composer Harvey Brough, and Justin Butcher, Vox Holloway’s founder and artistic director. It's a unique event, and not to be missed – so put the date in your diary, and invite friends and family to join you.
All the profits raised by the event will go to the charity Hand In Hand For Syria, which was featured in Panorama on BBC1 last week. You can see the programme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03c7m8s/Panorama_Saving_Syrias_Children/ and learn more about the charity at http://www.handinhandforsyria.org.uk/
If you feel inspired to join the choir yourself, there's still time (but only just) to sign up and perform in the big event. The choir is especially keen to hear from tenors and basses (in other words, men – or women with very deep voices!). There are no auditions and you don't need to be able to read music. Most songs are in English, with a few easy-to-learn sections in Arabic, Spanish or Catalan (transcriptions and recordings are provided). However, you do need to commit to weekly rehearsals at St Luke's every Tuesday, 7.30pm-9.30pm, between now and the concert. Singers are also asked to make a voluntary donation (if they can) of £30 to pay rehearsal costs, and £15 for sheet music. If you're interested, please get in touch as soon as possible by emailing voxhollowayn7@gmail.com
Since it was founded in 2009, Vox Holloway has raised over £50,000 for charities around the world. We're very proud of the choir's amazing achievements, and look forward to enjoying its latest musical extravaganza on 1 December.