Fabienne delights again at Brasted

2 February: The choir staged a spirited return to St Martin's Church Brasted on Saturday, welcomed by church warden Roger Rogowski who said he had been looking forward to our visit ever since our previous concert in 2023.    Guest soprano Fabienne Borget performed a storming solo act that reminded veteran choir members of her provocative performance during CMVC’s massed choir concert at Fairfield Halls in 2006.

Fabienne serenades choir front row

The choir’s opening salvo was the explosive Vivaldi's Gloria, accompanied for the first time on organ by Sam Prouse, followed by the reflective Guardian Angel and The Road Home. The set finished with the jaunty Irish folk song Star of the County Down.

Soprano Fabienne now took the stage and demonstrated her operatic background by acting out her romantic arias with more than one willing choristers sitting in the front row.  The choir's second set ended with the Coldplay's dramatic Fix You, organist Sam building his accompaniment from introductory quiet flute pipes to full organ in the climactic middle section.

The first set after the interval comprised four male voice classic hymns, each of which involved more fortissimo endings from both choir and organ, drawing gasps from the audience as the "amens" resounded in the superb acoustics.

The choir (and Fabienne) raise the roof with Nessun Dorma (photo Paul Binge)  

During Fabienne's second set, her affections were drawn to the two extremes of the choir's age spectrum. First up was 90-year-old Vic Wallace, who had been embraced during Fabienne's last performance of Habanera during our massed choir concert at Fairfield Halls in 2006, and was now copiously enveloped again.    

Fabienne then spotted our youthful MD Andrew Moore sitting across the chancel and he got the treatment too. Her set finished with the tenor aria O Sole Mio, followed by an encore of Funiculi, Funicula with full audience participation.

Andrew gets the treatment from Fabienne (photo Julie Berry)

The choir's final set included the Song of the Jolly Roger, for which the choir donned eye patches and produced a plethora of hats, parrots, flags and cutlasses, together with many a  vocalised "arrr".

Fabienne joined the choir for the final Nessun Dorma. The roof of the church was in serious danger of being raised as both soprano and choir gave it full welly.  For an encore, the audience were able to compare Fabienne and the choir's French pronunciation in Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien. They seemed to approve and gave a standing ovation.

Choir and audience retired to the next-door Stanhope Arms for more singing. The solitary barman had had virtually no customers all evening, but at 9.45 was deluged with eighty, all of which were extremely thirsty. He did his best.