Choir still in full voice despite roadmap delay forcing gig to be cancelled
A choir's hopes of a first concert in more than a year and a half were dashed by the government's roadmap delay, but no-one will stop them singing.
Shrewsbury Cantata Choir were due to perform Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit and Handel’s Dixit Dominus at St Alkmund's Church, Shrewsbury, on Saturday, July 17.
It would have been their first live performance since a carol concert in December 2019. A spring performance was also scheduled for March last year, but had to be cancelled due to the first week of lockdown.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's latest announcement of a four-week delay to restrictions being fully relaxed has meant the choir can't proceed with their gig, but they hope to arrange an outdoor concert.
Member Fiona Welch said: "We've been rehearsing for it since Autumn last year. I know the Prime Minister said they may bring it forward depending on how things go over the next couple of weeks, which would mean we would be allowed to do the concert. But you can't proceed on that basis.
"It's very disappointing, but we will do a concert."
Talking about the performance they had planned, the choir's bass Bob Fowke had said that Messe de Minuit would have been a "lovely, optimisitic way to celebrate our freedom from the dreaded Covid-19," and that Handel’s Dixit Dominus "is a work of genius."
