Cantabile Past - 4

. . . / continued

Unusually there was a short crossover period as Steve left and Jeremy joined us, which gave us the opportunity to sing with another TWO fine tenors, each involved in a specific major Cantabile project. The first was our new programme of the music of Werner Richard Heymann, which we presented during the Salzburg Festival, 2000. For this we had the pleasure to be joined by Andrew Gant, also an ex-Cambridge man (and for a cappella aficionados: formerly part of the six-part Light Blues). Now Dr. Gant, he is best known these days as a composer - and indeed has recently joined an the illustrious line of composers to have held the post of Organist, Choirmaster and Composer at Her Majesty's Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace: Byrd, Tallis, Purcell, Handel, Gibbons, Sullivan et al. His a cappella opera May we borrow your husband?, based on a story by Graham Greene, co-incidentally played at Battersea Arts Centre in the same season as the most recent outing of 'our' (Stephen McNeff's) Passions.

And it was for the first showing of Passions that we were joined by the next name in the list: Ben Cooper (who also sings on the CD of Passions), now a regular at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Jeremy, like Steve, seemed to have been with us for ever, but when he left to complete his studies at the Royal Academy of Music we were astonished to realise it was less than eighteen months since we had started working together. In that time we had passed through no fewer than twenty countries - and sung in most of those, too! Furthermore, we had worked on an enormous amount of new repertoire together, giving us that feeling of being colleagues of very long standing. We were all very sad to see Jez go - including the man himself. None of us could gainsay the wisdom of his returning to finish his degree.

So in came Robin Green – a man with a wealth of experience in the musical world, and for many years an accomplished opera singer; also a Man of Kent, but well used to schlepping up to London to rehearse and perform. He even starred as the short, fat tenor in Lloyd-Webber’s Phantom, truly showing his acting pedigree there… (no barbs intended – this is his joke). There is always renewal when a member changes, but the amount of new material arranged during the Robin years was amazing….. the new programmes Hold That Tiger! and Classical Gas gave rise to lots more vocal group songs, and the opportunity to broaden our Classical range. We did an enormous amount of travelling with Robin on board – including our first (and extensive) forays into Canada. Thus although sad, it was no great surprise that after four years, he left to spend more time with his family – the travel was just too much. It is wonderful to have the Lullabyes and Goodbyes album as a record of his time with us. Although he is pursuing other avenues at the moment, we are sure music will always be the major part in his working life.

Steve has now beamed aboard from Belgium (though the UK has been his home for a while)… as can be seen in his own profile he is a prolifically-talented musician with many strings to his bow; all talents will be harvested by Cantabile (eventually)…. His technical expertise is already a thing of great joy, especially to the Luddites in the group (go on, have a guess!)

So here we are: Bob, Steve, Mark and Mike. If I have counted correctly, I am myself astonished to say this is the TWENTY-FIRST incarnation of Cantabile, involving a total of twenty-four singers. Then of course there was the time we were joined in Chichester Festival Theatre by former King's Singer Brian Kay for a five-part arrangement... but that's getting really complicated. Most of them have lasted for only one or two performances. Steve started in July 2005; the other three of us can count between us a total of SIXTY-THREE years singing with Cantabile. 2006 is both the twenty-fourth anniversary of Cantabile's going full-time, and the twenty-ninth since its formation for Charlotte's Hotel….. it also will hold two special birthdays, but 2007 will be the big party year....

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