The Sun Court, at the Spa, Scarborough

In their 59 year history the Orpheus Male Voice Choir Grimsby/Cleethorpes have never performed in Scarborough but thanks to our innovative Concert Secretary, Richard Wilson, with his inside knowledge, strings were pulled for the Choir to sing in a concert there, with most of the Choir wives travelling by coach.  They couldn’t have chosen a better day to be the Sunday afternoon guests in the Spa Sun Court, the famous venue where Max Jaffa and his orchestra performed on many an occasion.
Sunday June 8 was a beautiful sunny day and the Spa Sun Court filled up as the audience chose a deckchair or other comfortable seat to relax in the sunshine and listen to almost two hours of non-stop entertainment under the direction of Richard Bradley.
The Orpheus, resplendent in their paprika jackets, opened with a Cole Porter Medley of six songs including ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.  The first group of songs included ‘Cavatina’ and ‘Perhaps Love’ by John Denver and finished with the ever popular classic ‘Speed Your Journey’ from Verdi’s ‘Nabucco’
It is the policy of the Orpheus to encourage young people who are at the beginning of their musical careers to participate in some of their concerts and on this occasion 3 young ladies from Franklin College in Grimsby were invited to sing.
Sarah Stringer, Isobel Biggs and Sarah Gilbey captivated the audience with a wide selection of songs including music from Mozart, Gerschwin and songs from a number of shows.
Sarah Stringer, who was awarded ‘Most Promising Singer’ on two occasions at Cleethorpes Musical Festival and has ambitions for a career in Musical Theatre, took the stage first followed by the mezzo-soprano, Isobel Biggs, a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.
We were treated to Mozart and Gerschwin  by Sarah Gilbey, another fine soprano, who hopes to study Performing Arts or Drama.
The other star was the accompanist Audrey Ellis who played throughout for the Choir and the Artistes. The Choir sang in two more sessions of five songs including ‘The Rose’ contrasting with ‘The Saints’ and ‘Rhythm of Life’ and concluding with ‘American  Trilogy’.
A collection was made by six of the Orpheus helpers for the RNLI, a fitting charity for this superb concert venue.

Thanks to Bill Sedgwick for this report.

Photographs of this event will appear in our album in the near future.