Memories of the London A Cappella Festival 2012

Just a summary, in random order

* First evening at The Fellow having a very nice pre-festival dinner with Emily May, Clare, Jo, Kevin, Sara, Dylan, Florian, Willy, Aaron, Carl, and I'm not sure who else was there.

* Vocal Jog world record on Friday 13th and meeting Bill, Joan, Sona and Willy (with a surprise) on the summit of Primrose Hill

* High Tea at the very posh Montague on the gardens with Tor Martin Antonsen, Hans Cassa, Corey Slutsky, Alexis Weisbrod and Emily May 't Hoen

* Meeting The Single Singers in person, finally!

* The first rehearsal with The Single Singers and being able to sing each of the five songs from start to finish without as much as a glitch!

* Muscle pain in my face from smiling so much

* Trying very hard not to squee all the time and to prevent myself from coming across as a drooling a cappella fan girl

* Getting kicked out The Fellow on more than one occasion

* Sharing the Cadence concert with the Swingle Ladies (they are the BEST audience!)

* Seeing my first FORK show and loving it!

* Hanging out with the cool crowd

* Walking through Kings Place and greeting people left and right, because I know them

* Attending a Swingle Singers concert and being blown away yet again

* The intensely moving standing ovation for Mr Ward Swingle (something got in my eye there)

* The single concert of The Single Singers! And all the smiles afterwards

* Finally getting kicked out of another bar at 03:30 am

* All the hugs and kisses and the “hope to see you again”s

First rehearsal of The Single Singers - Friday Jan 13 - LACF2012

What's next??

Annemarie Homan

Out of the studio and onto the stage

Tor Martin Antonsen

So folks, here I am. Tor Martin from Norway. In a San Francisco hotel room trying to make time for some rehearsal.
The last week has been kind of awesome spending time with 6 other talented people, Bill Hare and Deke Sharon in Bills studio outside San Francisco. I had planned this studio course way before I suddenly realized - "Hey, There's an a cappella festival in London. I should be there" and with the Single Singers in the back of my mind (I may not have decided to go if SS didn't already exist!) I rescheduled my tickets home from SF. More experienced performing VP than singing, I'll do my best (and you have to pardon me if I shut up some times during the performance), most of the stuff seems ok, though :)

The course was also a real international a cappella gathering. Me (Norway. VP, Arranger, Singer and have also composed some stuff), Matt Chinery (UK, See him Sat 16:30 - 16:55 in the foyer with "The Refrains"), Amelia Alder (Australia. Professional musician and director of VocalAustralia. She is with us in her mid and soul, but time and wallet didn't agree), Chris Crawford (Calefornia. Director of A Cappella Records. Check them out if you want your recordings distributed digitally. Our songs hit iTunes only hours after mastering), Shannon Phypers (Massachusetts. Singer, Director, Teacher and studiotechie), Patrick Volker (Illinois. Teacher and Director) and Aaron Hawkings (Oklahoma. Experienced and talented choirboy).

After spending a couple of days in SF with Amelia I'm now on my own doing tourist stuff (Wine tour tomorrow) and relaxing. Looking forward to seeing you all!

Tor Martin Antonsen

Dedication

Picture taken by Hans Cassa, learning his parts on the train:

High expectations!

Claudia Appel-Dom

In less then a week The Single Singers will finally meet! The past couple of weeks I have struggled to find time to rehearse the songs and squeeze it in my busy schedule as IT consultant and mother, singing in my hotel room most of the time (and scaring the other guests I am afraid...). Just when I thought I had just enough time, it seems we are also doing a city run in London.... Pff, now I have to work on my condition as well. But I am sure we will all have a wonderful time next week. Expectations are high!


A little bit about myself (in case you wonder if the hair is really orange or what?!?). I sing in an all female vocal group called Fem@il with seventeen women and one very brave man, one of the best arrangers in Holland if it comes to a cappella (Shackles!). The picture was taken just before one our perfomances a few months ago. Our shows are a mix of a cappella and theatre. Hence the orange wig.. 


Looking forward to seeing all the Single Singers next week!


Claudia Appel-Dom
Mezzo-soprano with The Single Singers

Fantastic experience!!

Hello guys! For me it's very exciting and attractive to be part of this project and I can't wait to meet all my "adventure mates"! 

Lorenzo Subrizi

I live in Cuneo, a city in northern Italy and I'm 20 years old. I started to learn about the world of choral and a cappella musica at the age of 14, when I went to a music high school in my city! There I started to study ancient and sacred music, and I continued to sing in choirs or groups of classical music. After high school I decided to create my own vocal group: Domino. We sing modern music, but also classic sometimes! At the moment I study singing, composition and piano at the conservatory of my city. 


For me, a cappella music (but not only that) is my life and it's amazing what it can do, The Singles Singers are the proof of that! This group is a great and unique idea, and I am proud to be part of this! I'm happy to be considered despite my young age! (I am the youngest member of the group =)) 
Best thanks are made to Annemarie and Emily who have created and managed this fantastic group.


SO LET'S SING!


Lorenzo
Baritone / bass

Just try and sing together

Annemarie Homan

I got my first taste of a cappella / close harmony singing when I had just moved from the country to the city to study at the university and I saw that a choir was having auditions for new members. I just tried and was accepted (yay!).
But after just one minute into the first rehearsal my mouth just dropped. What's happening? What is this?? Why have I never heard this kind of singing before? Why didn't anyone tell me this existed?? This is AWESOME!! Polyphony with the most intricate melodies and it sounded so beautiful and those were just the warm-ups!
After that I was hooked. I think for life. The joy of singing a cappella is that you can just do it. You don't need to set up or tune your instruments, you don't need a stage or concert hall. All you need is your own voice and if you're lucky a couple of others to make the sweet harmonies.

Now that I live in Italy, I miss singing with the a cappella groups I sang with in The Netherlands. Last summer I decided to go the Solevoci Camp near Florence, where The *awesome* Swingle Singers hosted four incredibly inspiring days of workshops, discussions and of course singing. I went there on my own. There were a couple of groups there and I felt more than a little jealous. I also wanted to sing in a group again!
Lucky for me there were more like me who had come there on their own and we decided to try and sing together. It was mostly improvising, but we had so much fun! Enjoying the musical company and working up the courage to also sing in front of the other groups. It was kind of the predecessor of The Single Singers. Let's call it The Single Singers v0.1.

And now we are just 18 days away from The Single Singers 1.0!!

Annemarie Homan
Mezzo-Soprano

There's no turning back now

Why would an Italian journalist, 51 years old, doing in his life everything but sing, decide to join the Single Singers? I have no idea. It must have been a momentary lapse of sanity.


But in any case, I know I did the right thing. Ever since I was a little boy I've listened to every kind of music, from classic to rock. I love a cappella music: Swingles records have been in my house since I was young (thanks to my father Beppe, a jazz listener), and in recent times I have developed a great passion for a lot of groups. Vocal music has the characteristic to recreate a song, giving to it a new life. 

Michele Manzotti

So let's start a different thing, it's time to do it. I have a great fear, but at the same time I'm very much looking forward to Saturday 14^th january!

Don't miss The Single Singers debut!


Michele Manzotti, aspirant bass