Lana blown away by choir
March 23: A brilliant CMVC concert in Selsdon yesterday brought a reunion with its former pianist, Lana Bode, playing with the choir after an interval of ten years.
Lana, CMVC pianist from 2010 to 2014, now a star of the international circuit, dazzled the audience with her playing. She also delivered lavish praise for the choir’s singing – “I was blown away,” she said.
Lana: "blown away"
The Selsdon concert, at the church of St John the Divine, saw the choir sing a rich and varied collection from its current repertoire. Stand-out items included Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love and the African-American spiritual Steal Away. The choir also sang the Welsh hymn Gwahoddiad in its Welsh-language version, in preparation for its tour to South Wales in May, which was enthusiastically received by the two Welsh speakers in the audience.
MD Andrew conducts choir at Selsdon
The choir was conducted by music director Andrew Moore and was accompanied on piano and organ by Sam Prouse.
Lana took the two solo slots between each of the choir’s sets. Her stunning version of Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer – the theme music in the 1970s movie The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford – brought prolonged applause. She followed her second set with an encore of the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata which had the audience entranced.
In remarks to the audience, Lana praised the choir’s expression, diction and tuning for theiir impressively high standards.
Lana with CMVC pianist Sam and music director Andrew
For the concert finale, the choir was joined by Andy Woolhouse – Lana’s husband and a former choir baritone – in singing the rousing Battle Hymn of the Republic. Andy and Lana also sang during the choir’s spirited après at the Purley Downs Golf Club.
The choir, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, has a busy spell ahead. Following its South Wales tour on May 16-18, it is singing in a joint concert with the Croydon Philharmonic Choir at Croydon Minster on June 7, and ends the season with its anniversary celebration concert at St Mildred’s, Addiscombe, on July 12