St John's Smith SQ Christmas Concert 2020 (Dec 6)

[TullyBascombe]

I bought the souvenir program but I'm a little confused - is the program digital or will a real program be shipped to me?

[Sjh]

Hi You have to download the program the link is on your confermation email just click on it and follow the directions to download.

Rergards Steve

[theriverflowson]

I bought the souvenir program but I'm a little confused - is the program digital or will a real program be shipped to me?

I would not expect to receive a print. Printed programmes cost more in their shop. Furthermore, on their website it says: "It is only available in digital format for you to download and view or print.". But it might be an idea to sell printed programmes of this event on future concerts when the sale of souvenirs is possible again.

[filiarheni]

A new update for the streaming.

https://libera.org.uk/news/st-johns-smi ... rt-stream/

Thank you! Here's what it says (to have it directly):

"As previously announced, our concert on Sunday 6th December at St John’s Smith Square will be recorded and the video will be made available to be viewed online after the concert. We expect the video to be available online at 8pm (UTC) on Wednesday 9th December via the St John’s streaming platform. It will be available for pre-order some time ahead of the stream going live, and we will provide an update when pre-orders goes live."

[Netnutter]

I bought the souvenir program but I'm a little confused - is the program digital or will a real program be shipped to me?

I would not expect to receive a print. Printed programmes cost more in their shop. Furthermore, on their website it says: "It is only available in digital format for you to download and view or print.". But it might be an idea to sell printed programmes of this event on future concerts when the sale of souvenirs is possible again.

Although the program is only available in digital format, at the moment, I'm hoping they will make printed versions available in their store, just as soon as it is safe for them to do so. For now, I am just grateful for the amazing effort they have put in to make this concert possible and am happy with having a program, whatever format it comes in.

[theriverflowson]

Some soundcheck pictures have been posted

Looks like there is enough room on stage to keep individual distance

[Mr W]

Sooooo pleased I made it down to London for the concert.

It was certainly “different”. I would guess an audience of 200 or so, all separated out very efficiently by the SJSS staff. Quite a few empty seats which I imagine were bought by people who then could not travel. It didn’t spoil the concert.

The choir started the concert all seated on the stage, great self discipline to just sit there, backs turned, from around 4:45pm until the concert started. Programme ran for approx 70min.

No Robert, and a brief message that his absence was related to the whole pandemic situation, my guess is he is probably isolating as he has been in contact with someone who is infected. Stephen G did an excellent job of conducting the choir.

Programme was as published, I liked the new songs, although “If” will need to grow on me. Three ships as encore.

Sing for our World was introduced as just translated from Indonesian. I loved this song. The lads looked like they enjoyed singing it too. Could be a “Marmite” song though- love it or hate it.

Solos from (if I remember correctly, apologies if any omissions, I am awful with names) Taigh (sp?), Dominik, Daniel, Victor, Luca.

Quick bite to eat and back for the second concert!

S.

[TullyBascombe]

Robert could be categorized as high risk on the basis of age alone. That may be why he isn't present.

[bachmahlerfan]

Did they record both concerts or just one of the concerts? I'm hoping they did both because then they can choose the better performance of each song for the online video.

[filiarheni]

I heard they were both filmed and, regarding the time-delayed streaming, only this makes sense.

There has been plenty of reporting on Twitter, thanks to all who were there and provided us with details about an obviously excellent concert! What's special this time and feels entirely wonderful is the fact that we who were not able to go will see the concert as well, through a screen, yes, however we're going to attend the very same concert in a way, too. That is amazing and feels indeed as a Libera community.

I'm SO excited for Wednesday now!

[TullyBascombe]

I bought the souvenir program but I'm a little confused - is the program digital or will a real program be shipped to me?

I would not expect to receive a print. Printed programmes cost more in their shop. Furthermore, on their website it says: "It is only available in digital format for you to download and view or print."

OTOH when ordering the program there was a place to select "Flat Rate" vs. "Free Shipping". That's what I found confusing. Why would there be different shipping rates for a downloaded product?

[Mr W]

I bought the souvenir program but I'm a little confused - is the program digital or will a real program be shipped to me?

I would not expect to receive a print. Printed programmes cost more in their shop. Furthermore, on their website it says: "It is only available in digital format for you to download and view or print."

OTOH when ordering the program there was a place to select "Flat Rate" vs. "Free Shipping". That's what I found confusing. Why would there be different shipping rates for a downloaded product?

Its just a generic online shopping cart I guess and not possible to turn off the shipping option.

S.

[theriverflowson]

Sooooo pleased I made it down to London for the concert.

Glad you made it to the concert. Thank you very much for your report between the events!

While in the programme 12 or 13 songs were announced I learned that they only played 10. Did they play different songs on the two events so that we can hope for more than 10 songs for the stream?

[Mr W]

Sooooo pleased I made it down to London for the concert.

Glad you made it to the concert. Thank you very much for your report between the events!

While in the programme 12 or 13 songs were announced I learned that they only played 10. Did they play different songs on the two events so that we can hope for more than 10 songs for the stream?

They played all the songs on the programme (all 13) at both concerts, plus Three Ships as an encore. Only large difference was the soloist on Deep Peace. I think we may have heard Tadgh’s last solo as a treble.

S.

[dani]

So I suck at doing long detailed concert reviews. So I will just give my views on the first concert.

Due to the pandemic I was amazed I was even able to see them this year and I was super excited for what lay ahead.

We had been spoiled as we could download the program 3 days in advance & I was looking forward to the new 3 songs the most.


It was a strange start as the boys came in 15 mins before the start and all went to the stage and sat down with their backs to the audience. With so many boys and staff it was I assume the only place to be due to all the restrictions and places being closed on a cold Sunday night in London.

Let me make songs for the people I will have to hear again on the stream as I simply don’t remember it.

In the Bleak Midwinter -
Dominic did the solo and considering he is 13 his voice is still fantastic and I don’t think he struggled all night.

If - was Daniel on solo and the boys backing him and I absolutely loved it. Daniel had a lot to do and I think he nailed it.


Deep Peace - So Tadgh got the solo on this and unfortunately he struggled which isn’t his fault it’s his age and it happens to all boys in a choir. He was replaced for the second concert and I think we heard his last solo unfortunately as he had been a outstanding treble for the choir.


Sing - the last song so I need to hear it again as I felt like it wasn’t a very Libera song but I ended up enjoying it because the boys were so clearly happy and into the song. Their enthusiasm made me love it by the last notes.


Three ships was the encore which I was happy about as I think Sam Coats has remixed a great song to suit the Libera style.


It was a really enjoyable concert and considering how little traditional practice they would of had to get concert ready you wouldn’t of known.

Luca , Freddie , Daniel, Dominic and Victor all had great nights.