Concert Day
Concert Day
A Tring Choral Society concert lasts about two to two-and-a half hours. But putting on the concert is very-much an all-day event, starting at about 9am with setting up the stage and goes on to about 11pm to get the stage taken down and the church tidied up. This work is all undertaken by teams of volunteers throughout the day in order to put on a smooth running concert.
Use the tabs on this page to see what goes on during rehearsal and the performance.
Use the tabs on this page to see what goes on during rehearsal and the performance.
Rehearsal
Concert Day - Rehearsal
The choir, orchestra and soloists gather in the Church in the early afternoon for the final rehearsal. This is the first time that the choir sing the concert music with the orchestra and soloists, and is also the first time that the orchestra see their music parts. Up to two hours of hard rehearsal now takes place to pull everything together for the performance in the evening.
The choir rehearsal finishes around 4pm when the choir depart to dress and ready themselves for the performance. The rehearsal continues with just the orchestra and soloists. When the rehearsals finish the orchestra adjourn to the church hall for tea.
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Performance
Concert Day - Performance
The most important part of the day is, of course, the concert itself. The choir gather in the adjacent church hall and prepare to enter the church by being arranged into rows that match the seating rows on the staging. The basses, being on the top row, lead the way and the choir enters and fills the staging from the top down. The concert gets underway promptly at 7:30pm after the obligatory fire exit demonstration.
During the interval refreshments are served in the church, which becomes extremely busy with most of the audience and choir moving around to get drinks and meet friends.
The concert resumes after the interval as the choir once again take their places on the staging and the members of the orchestra adjust the tuning of their instruments.
The church organ is used with the orchestra in some concerts. The organ console is actually underneath the staging! The organist has to use a CCTV link in order to be able to see the conductor who is out in front of the choir.
The concert finishes at approximately 9:45pm and the choir, soloists and orchestra leave the stage and the audience depart. The work of dismantling the staging and putting back everything that was moved follows until later in the evening.
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