A stunning performance in a beautiful venue, which would be enhanced by further considering its accessibility to a wider audience and encouraging a diverse and representative membership.
The Royal Albert Hall is a beautiful venue that is awe inspiring even from the outside. This only increases as the audience ventures inside, greeted by gorgeous festive decorations and a sense of Christmas joy. The venue use sparkling lights and Christmas trees to create a warm atmosphere within the main hall, and the decorations perfectly frame the organist, choir and orchestra, drawing the audience’s attention and ensuring it remains throughout.
The large choir are poised and elegant. Dressed in all black with a red accent, their harmonies are stunning throughout, particularly the angelic descant performed by the soprano section. The repertoire includes a mixture of well known, traditional carols and less famous but equally beautiful numbers. Singing in multiple languages, including Swedish and Ukrainian, the choir demonstrate an impressive vocal ability and beautiful dynamics. One of the most beautiful performances of the night is the choir’s rendition of ‘Stille Nichte’, Silent Night in its original German, which they did with the lights off and each holding a candle. A truly mesmerising and emotional moment.
The Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied each number beautifully, displaying their musical prowess particularly during Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty which was a real standout moment after the interval. The orchestra’s rainbow of floor length gowns contrasted wonderfully with the choir’s black and white attire. The Christmas red worn by the Fanfare Trumpeters of the British Imperial Military Band allowed them to stand out as they performed their impressive fanfare alongside each descant and the national anthem.
Whilst the national anthem as the opening number was musically impressive, it definitely highlighted the demographic of the audience. Not a song often associated with the younger generation, the audience stand for the national anthem and whilst it isn’t required audience participation it could be an offputting start to the concert for those that don’t share monarchist views, although the talent of the performers is undeniable and impressive.
Interspersed throughout are fun carols which the audience join in singing; it’s a joyous opportunity to partake in some festive caroling, however, again is reliant on knowledge of the songs and willingness to interact and engage which isn’t for everyone at an orchestral choral concert. Personally, I loved this aspect and the opportunity to sing a traditional carol in the Royal Albert Hall with hundreds of other people alongside the Philharmonic orchestra and Royal Choral Society was incredibly special. The Conductor of the choir, Richard Cooke, keeps the audience engaged and interested throughout with witty and humorous anecdotes in between each number.
Juliet Stevenson’s heartfelt, poignant, and at times hilarious readings also allow the audience to enjoy two poems between performances. Again, whilst poetry might not be for everyone at a carol concert, it provides a lovely break for the musicians and is a nice contrasting performance. Louise Alder’s gorgeous soprano solos also provide a beautiful contrast to the choir’s pieces, and are an incredible display of classical musical solo performance.
It would be lovely to encourage and to see a more diverse audience at the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Choral Society events, something which could perhaps be supported by implementing young person tickets at a more accessible pricepoint as demonstrated so successfully by other venues such as the Almeida Theatre and the Donmar Warehouse. Similarly, the Royal Choral Society’s performances will be even more spectacular and engaging in the future if it is able to continue to evolve and represent a wider demographic. By further encouraging younger participants and performers of colour to get involved, The Royal Choral Society can continue to demonstrate their musical and choral prowess and celebrate their 150 year legacy, whilst also ensuring they represent, engage and inspire current and future choristers and music lovers of all backgrounds.
Christmas with The Royal Choral Society at the Royal Albert Hall is a truly magical evening, one that all fans of classical or choral music, Christmas carols, or the Royal Philharmonic will definitely enjoy! It would be great to see this spectacular event be enjoyed by a broader audience so that all can marvel at the wonder that is Christmas with the Royal Choral Society.
Cast and Creatives
Royal Choral Society
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Fanfare Trumpeters of the British Imperial Military Band
Conductor Richard Cooke
Organist Richard Pearce
Soprano Louise Alder
Reader Juliet Stevenson
A lovely review!
Just a few points:
1.As far as I’m aware there is no barrier to people of any ethnic background coming to the Albert Hall concerts, or to joining the Royal Choral Soc. The only barrier is surely not actually wanting to join in this sort of music-making?
Presumably not helped by something missing from school education or home culture?
2. Whilst we still have a Royal Family, and as this is the ROYAL Albert Hall, there is nothing inappropriate in having the National Anthem as part of the program – after all, It’s part our history. As you mention, singing this is optional (as is standing whilst the music is playing). I sense that even non-UK members of the audience stood (and possibly sang too) during the anthem, so it seems reasonable to assume that all but the die-hard anti-monachists would all stand and sing this anthem.
Final point – this was a Christmas Concert for everyone to enjoy (the audience would be self-selecting anyway), so you wouldn’t expect there to be anyone in the audience who didn’t like carols.
Little would entice someone who hates rock music to go to a rock concert!
You could argue that efforts should be made to encourage people who wouldn’t dream of going to such a concert to go. The cost of going to one of these is no doubt far higher than going to a classical concert at the RAH, RFH or ENO (where tickets cost as little as £10). I’m not aware of any tickets for a pop concert at the 02, or a football match costing so little, but that doesn’t stop thousands of young people turning up in droves!
It was lovely to hear the sound the audience made when singing the carols and to sense their genuine appreciation of the efforts made by the choir and orchestra to make this a special occasion.
This was indeed a wonderfully musical way to get into the spirit of Christmas.
And for those who didn’t attend this concert, there are a number of other carol concerts starting on Saturday Dec 17th – 24th December.
Thank you so much for reading this review! It’s really interesting to hear other perspectives about theatre and music!
You’re absolutely right there is no stated barrier to people coming to the Royal Albert Hall or joining the Royal Choral Society but I think there may be perceived societal barriers rather than simply not wanting to. If you don’t see people that look like you, whether that be age, race, disability, performing at an event like this it could be quite difficult to imagine yourself doing so. You’re absolutely right that this is something that education can help with and ensuring classical music is accessible to people from all backgrounds could help foster a love for it, and that’s something that I’d love to see the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Choral Society do even more of!
Again, absolutely correct – it’s the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Choral Society, and participation is entirely optional. I think as a publication catering to young people it was useful as part of this review to consider younger people’s opinions towards the national anthem and contemplate whether this may be something that would discourage younger audience members.
Finally, this is of course a Christmas concert for everyone to enjoy and the audience participation carols were popular ones however I think it is also useful to consider that people may want to come and listen to a beautiful choir and orchestra perform Christmas songs in a gorgeous venue but they may not know the carols themselves. Whilst probably a small amount of people, I thought it was something worth thinking about as quite a large proportion of the evening involved singing along. The fact that lyrics were provided was excellent and for many people a singalong carol concert is the perfect way to celebrate Christmas, and it was lovely to hear the audience take part, but I wanted to highlight that this might not be for everyone.
I think it’s great to encourage people who wouldn’t usually consider a genre of music to experience it, particularly with something like classical or orchestral choral music! I also think venues have done incredible jobs of encouraging young audiences to attend through young person ticket schemes and this also allows people who may love the music but not have the ability to go to enjoy the event.
It was absolutely a wonderfully musical way to get in the Christmas spirit. I loved the evening and think all involved did a fantastic job, and I think it would be brilliant if as many people as possible could enjoy the talent and dedication on display!
Thanks again for reading the review, Lucy