Have yourself a Classicalx Christmas

At this time of year, nothing beats spending time with family and friends. Mix in some of your favourite Christmas songs and a dazzling selection of Classicalx artists and you’re onto a winner! Thomas Spencer-Wortley’s ‘Celebrate Christmas’ concerts certainly had all of the above.

The 2-day concert tour began in Birmingham’s magnificent Town Hall. The concert opening featured the TSW Ensemble, Midnight Strings, backing singers Metro Voices and the West End Academy Chorus. As with any good overture, the concert opening built up a sense of anticipation and excitement, giving Oliver Spencer-Wortley (Thomas’ equally talented brother) a chance to demonstrate that he’s not only a brilliant songwriter, but also a fantastic score-writer.

Thomas’ first song was ‘You Raise Me Up’ which, as Thomas himself said, has been his ‘song of the year’ as he’d performed it at every appearance. As usual, the song was uplifting (no pun intended) and was well received. We were then treated to a brand new song, ‘Chi Vince Porta Via’ – an Italian translation of Abba’s ‘The Winner Takes It All’. The song (which is from Thomas’ next album) was definitely a winner and had the audience cheering in their seats. In keeping with the Italian theme, Thomas treated us to a rendition of David Foster’s ‘Gira Con Me’ (The World Wanders With Me), which Josh Groban fans will recognise. As he does with every song, Thomas performed it as though it was the most important song in the world, emphasizing the beauty of every line. After Thomas wandered away with the world, he introduced his first of many special guests, All Angels. As he mentions in his programme, ‘there should always be angels at Christmas’.

Since their last album back in 2007, the girls have matured considerably. No longer sporting the angelic and innocent white dresses, All Angels appeared wearing very stylish, Christmassy dresses (Daisy and Laura in red and black, Charlotte and Melanie in silver and black), establishing that they are no longer schoolgirls but young women. They have also matured musically, which was demonstrated during the evening. Their first song was ‘I’ll Fly Away’, the title track of their new album (out 11th January). If that was anything to go by then we are in for a treat! The harmonies were as beautiful as ever and their voices blended with ease. Their next song ‘Like A Prayer’, which had recently been performed on the Young Voices tour, is a far cry from the choirgirl image. This 4-part arrangement was almost a cappella for most of the song, with only a slight underscoring and included an extra section at the end where the girls built up the parts towards the climax of the song – there was even a spot of choreography! Unfortunately it’s not on their new album, but it definitely should be!

Thomas returned to the stage with a stirring version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ before introducing more guests; Irish soprano Mairead Carlin (who appeared with him during his summer tour) and West End star Natalie Hope. Singing ‘I Know Him So Well’ (from the musical Chess), Natalie’s musical theatre voice and Mairead’s pure classical voice worked well together, both portraying the characters really well. Mairead then sang a brand new song entitled ‘My Love’, another song written by Oliver Spencer-Wortley. This stunning song almost had me in tears with its gorgeous melodies and heartbreaking lyrics. We were then treated to two old favourites from Thomas – the fantastic ‘Credere’ and ‘Ave Maria’, with Julia Rogers playing the superb violin solo in the latter. To finish off the first half, all the guests joined Thomas on stage for a medley of songs from ‘Les Miserables’. Thomas started with Do You Hear The People Sing? before performing a wonderful version of Stars. Mairead and Natalie sang the ever-popular I Dreamed A Dream and On My Own, respectively. Thomas then performed the poignant Bring Him Home, before All Angels, Mairead and Natalie joined him in a rousing performance of One Day More.

The second half was opened by the string quartet Midnight Strings with ‘A Twist on Paganini’, which people may recognise as the theme from The South Bank Show. Following that was Thomas’ lovely rendition of Franck’s ‘Panis Angelicus’ and a unique interpretation of the Welsh lullaby, ‘Suo Gan’. Performed by Thomas and All Angels, the traditional melody was brilliantly merged with John Williams’ theme from Empire of The Sun. In keeping with the film theme, All Angels performed Ice Dance – a song arranged specially for them by Oliver, incorporating Danny Elfman’s haunting theme from Edward Scissorhands. This stunning song used only open vowel sounds rather than words, which created an enchanting atmosphere. Moving from no words to no music, All Angels then returned to their close harmony roots and sang a medley of Christmas classics: Ding Dong Merrily on High, Infant Holy Infant Lowly and Mr Sandman. This a cappella arrangement was a lot of fun and their performance of Mr Sandman was definitely a crowd-pleaser! This arrangement in particular showed just how much All Angels have matured vocally.

Thomas then brought on his final guest, Camilla Kerslake, for a duet of ‘When a Child is Born’. Camilla’s naturally soft soprano voice complemented Thomas’ really well and was a lovely surprise for the audience. Camilla was then accompanied by the Midnight Strings during her performance of ‘How Can I Keep From Singing’, a song from her debut album. This beautiful song, originally a hymn, was very well received by the audience and I think we will be hearing much more from her in 2010.

After a German rendition of ‘Silent Night’ from Thomas, he then sang ‘Do You Hear What I Hear’ with Natalie Hope. As with her duet with Mairead earlier in the programme, Natalie’s powerful musical theatre voice brought diversity to the song, contrasting Thomas’ rich, classical tones. This was followed by Mariah Carey’s famous hit ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’, which almost got the audience dancing in the aisles! After Natalie’s rousing performance, Mairead calmed us back down with a wonderful performance of ‘Christmas Lullaby’, a song from Jason Robert Brown’s musical Songs for a New World. Mairead’s stunning voice was reunited with Thomas for yet another treat from the Oliver Spencer-Wortley collection. ‘At This Time of Year’ is the type of song the pop charts have been missing for several years – it’s about Christmas, family, hope and faith, and is everything that a good Christmas song should be.

The final songs were traditional Christmas classics, and of course you can’t have a Christmas concert without some audience participation! With all his guests back on stage, Thomas got the audience up on their feet to sing ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’. This was followed by a stirring performance of ‘O Holy Night’ and the ever-popular (and for once, highly appropriate) ‘White Christmas’.

Of all the classical-crossover concerts I’ve attended, ‘Celebrate Christmas’ had the most varied and crossover programme by far – from the pop legend Madonna to the classic Panis Angelicus, this concert had it all. And it was delightful to see three classicalx artists sharing the same stage. In my opinion, this was the ultimate crossover concert.

Added: January 4th 2010
Reviewer: xaria
Score: