A Day By Day Outline of Various Voices 2009

Friday 1st May: Opening Welcome Day

The Festival will open at 10am, with an exciting massed sing by several thousand delegates, a series of brief welcomes to each choir and a keynote speech that will celebrate the LGBT choral traditions of Europe and around the world and outline the key theme of the Festival: Growth though Interaction and Celebration
A varied day of shorter (approximately one hour) workshops and rehearsals by specialists within and outside the LGBT choral movement will begin at around 12 noon. Delegates will then come together for a concert spectacular by the London host choirs entitled: ‘A Choral Celebration of Diversity’ in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. The concert will be repeated at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Like many of the concerts in the Festival, this performance will also be open to the public.
Two parties will be organised to allow delegates to network and get to know each other, including an Welcome Cocktail Party at 5pm and ‘Friday night is Party night’ welcome late night party starting around 10:00pm.
Preparations and technical rehearsals will also be underway for performances at the major Southbank Centre venues by all the choirs participating, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday May 2nd, 3rd and 4th. There will be briefings for choir leaders, delegate choir technical teams and organisers in the morning to give a final update on how the festival will work.
There will also be smaller performances and taster workshops in the Royal Festival Hall Ballroom, Queen Elizabeth Hall Front Room Cabaret Stage and Purcell Room by delegates and other amateur and professional singing groups throughout the afternoon and late into the evening. This will include at least one full performance open to the public by a smaller professional choir, probably in the Purcell Room at 7.30pm.
It is likely that an exhibition in conjunction with the Museum of London concerning the history of the gay choral movement will be open to delegates and to the public in the Southbank Centre throughout the event.
Located on the south side of the River Thames beside the London Eye, the Southbank Centre is one of Europe's foremost international performing arts venues, and its unrivalled facilities, open spaces, cafes and restaurants will be available to delegates and the public throughout the four day Festival.

Saturday May 2nd and Sunday May 3rd

Delegate Choir Blocks - During the day on Saturday May 2nd and Sunday and 3rd, participating choirs will each perform their set in one of the 4 spaces at the Southbank Centre: Royal Festival Hall; Queen Elizabeth Hall; Purcell Room; Clore Ballroom. Many of these performances will be open both to delegates and to the public. Performances will start in the morning and go through until 6.30pm on both days.
Interaction between groups is a key theme, so choirs are grouped in threes and are asked to share a stage in a joint concert lasting an absolute maximum of an hour and a half. Each choir as usual is therefore expected to prepare a performance lasting a total maximum of 30 minutes, including get on, get off and applause time - assume 23-24 minutes singing. Choirs are strongly encouraged to collaborate creatively in putting together their blocks, and concerts are likely to include the joint singing of at least one song and the sharing of music directors. We will endeavour to facilitate this by putting choirs in touch with each other, and by letting choirs know who else is in their block approximately 3 months before the festival. The web will also be used as vehicle for sharing repertoire, sheet music and learning materials.
Longer workshops of 1.5 to 3 hours by experienced London choral directors, vocal coaches and repertoire experts will take place on both days, lasting between 1 and 3 hours. We aim to take advantage of the international skill base of London and those around Europe to provide something for everyone, and those within the Festival with skills will also be able to share them. Some workshops may repeat on other days, depending on demand. Workshop timetable will run in blocks from 10-1pm and 2-5pm, and delegates can buy from £5 as many or few as they want, across four main workshop strands Developing Your Voice, Diversity of Repertoire, The Whole Performer and Leading Your Group
Evening Larger Performances - Each evening, larger performances by delegate groups and by outside inspirational professional artists in voice will take place in the major Southbank spaces. These performances will be open to the public too. Performances are likely to be as follows (subject to change at this point):

Saturday 2nd May

‘The Big Gay Sing’ - A fun sing-along evening, hosted by a top gay celebrity, with song sheets so that audience members to join in. Bring friends and be prepared to sing in a karaoke evening with 2000 soloists(!). Led by a fabulous stage band, the show will feature a huge variety of popular songs and anthems you and your group love to sing, and few surprises and guest stars from the stage. From 'Dancing Queen' to Nkosi Sikeleli, from Nessun Dorma to 'Glad to be Gay', from Judy Garland to Edith Piaf, expect to sing some favourites from your country, and learn some new ones too!

‘Sing for the Cure’ - An uplifting and positive piece with narrator (originally Maya Angelou), 'Sing for the Cure' tells the stories of Breast Cancer Survivors through songs, commissioned in different styles from a range of composers. This emotionally charged and brilliantly constructed project was originally devised by US guru choral director Dr Tim Seelig of Turtle Creek Chorale and features several large choirs and orchestra. Directed by Tim, we are delighted to announce that this evening will also a feature a massed choir drawn largely from GALA choruses, the several hundred choirs that make up the US LGBT choir movement. We hope to involve some European singers too, including Various Voices delegates, in an extra-ordinary performance that will feature both SSA, TTBB and SATB singing. (Rehearsals for this will take place on the Friday and Saturday during the day and are likely to begin on the Thursday before the Festival starts).

Sunday 3rd May

Various Voices Festival Chorus Showcase - During the Festival, we will put together a Festival chorus that will perform two large-scale works. Orff's Carmina Burana needs no introduction. One of the most popular pieces of classical music of all time, it has also appeared in numerous ad campaigns and horror movies. A red-blooded celebration of life in all its aspects, this spectacular piece is perhaps most famous for its drinking songs and for 'O Fortuna'. It features a children's chorus, soloists and sections for TTBB, SSA and SATB choirs. We will also be performing a New Commission for chorus, two pianos and percussion, a composition written specially for the Festival. In this performance, we will be collaborating with the ensembles of Voicelab, a resident ensemble of the Southbank Centre, under the direction of Mary King, famous for its committed and culturally varied performances and for giving opportunities to singers of all abilities.

The Amazing Incredible Various Voices 2009 Idol Eurovision Singing No-talent Extravaganza - A light-hearted cabaret-style event, this event will feature individual ensembles, small groups and soloists from the Various Voices family, each performing one humorous or entertaining song representing an aspect of the country they are from. Costume, staging, choreography, showbiz and creativity will be strongly encouraged and there will be light-hearted feedback from a panel of 'judges' selected from delegates and others, and at least one drag queen. A competition where everyone wins, there will be silly prizes for all and way too many balloons and tinsel. Come along and support your choir, or support your country!

Monday 4th May

Delegate Choir Blocks - may continue during the daytime.
Masterclasses - The final day of the Festival will feature an innovation to the Festival and one we hope many choirs will want to take advantage of. Half-hour masterclasses will be organised for choirs, where they prepare one song lasting 3-5 minutes and are then coached by guru choir directors from around Europe. Each choir and its director will receive a handwritten report in note form at the end of their session, listing their strengths and suggesting paths for future development.
Workshops - will continue, as on previous days.
Various Voices Meetings - There will be a number of meetings concerning the future of Various Voices and its parent organisation, Legato, to vision the next 3-5 years as the opportunity to discuss groups like Sing-Out and Gala.
Major Evening Performances and Farewell - In the evening there will be major performances by delegate choirs, large and small in the concert halls. This will be an opportunity to showcase talent across Europe in a public forum. These concerts will be open to the public. These performances will close the festival by 10.30pm on the Monday evening, a farewell party and clubbing nights are planned.