This annual World AIDS Day concert is just a small part of a massive global movement, the aim of which is to remember those lost to the AIDS pandemic and remind us that there is a huge community still, men and women living with HIV, men and women working to find cures and better treatments, and men and women in the voluntary sector providing services and support. It’s a moving event as well as a joyous one, an act of remembrance and an act of celebration.
As ever the city’s LGBTQ+ choirs and music groups and our allies gather at St Mary’s Church in Kemptown for an evening of great music. This year the show, compèred by John Borthwick, who also gave us a couple of numbers of his own, was opened by Resound.
Resound never fail to impress with their pitch perfect performances, but more importantly their precise use of dynamics. They can deliver with punch of course but they are equally impressive when singing sotto, so delicate, so delightful. And they are ambitious in their programming, this is a choir working at the very highest level.
Next came Rebelles, often heard performing with Resound but here singing alone, and what an impression they make. A few hesitant starts could easily be dismissed when they hit their stride and what a blistering solo voice that soared above an impressive arrangement of Stand By Me, Ben E King must have been smiling down on them.
The first half was rounded off by Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus and as ever this group certainly know who to deliver an impressive programme, starting with a powerful rendition of Just Can’t Get Enough. Theirs is a full sound, solid and strong and last night they were in fine voice.
After a short break with mulled wines and fruit punch, all delivered by local HIV charity Lunch Positive, the charity organisation who will receive support from the event, things opened up with the Rainbow Chorus.
Rainbow Chorus is an extraordinary group, totally inclusive and very ambitious too. They started with a very fine performance of May It Be from Lord Of The Rings and they set the bar high not only for their own set but for the second half. Seal Lullaby was charmingly delivered, Rhythm Of Life was a crowd-pleasing musical romp and they topped it all off with the challenging and complex Con Te Partiro (Time to Say Goodbye), which they nailed, no small feat!
Qukulele had the tough challenge of following, from a full on choral explosion to four musicians armed with tiny instruments. They looked terrified and that fear showed in their set, numbers that added humour to the evening but would have been bettered had they looked less terrified. But they were there, and they usually are, adding their own support to such a worthwhile event.
Next was the Actually Gay Men’s Chorus, always impressive, always smartly turned out and always a pleasure to listen to. Their set featured two solos, the only ones of the evening save for Mr Borthwick, and they both received huge applause.
To round off the evening the entire stage filled with all of the evening’s performers and they joined forces to give us a massive arrangement of Bernstein and Sondheim’s Tonight and Somewhere that sent us out into the night with a seasonal glow.
It would be wrong of me not to pay tribute to another member of the assembled team, the remarkable Marco Nardi. Marco is a BSL signer who brings something very special to the world of signing, it is often hard not to draw you eyes away from him and his dancing style.
This is always a five star event; five stars for the performers – for their dedication and their support; five stars for Lunch Positive; and the biggest five stars for what this all means.
