- SUMMER
SATURDAY CONCERTS
THE 7th series of Summer Saturday Concerts at St. Faith's Great Crosby, will begin on the Saturday after Easter, April 17th 2004. The concerts were started in 1998, during the long interregnum at St. Faith's following the departure of the previous vicar. It was felt that opening the church for a season of recitals would be both a morale-boasting activity and a way of welcoming visitors on a regular basis.
In the first season a short season of organ recitals was presented, and the church was open before and after the noonday concerts for visitors and members of the congregation to meet, enjoy light refreshments, and have a look round the church. The concerts proved very successful, and each subsequent year has seen a growth in the numbers attending and in the range of musical events. As well as organ recitals, the church has increasingly played host to a wide range of talented instrumental and vocal soloists and groups, with a growing emphasis on giving a platform for young musicians to display their talents. In recent years students from the Guildhall and the Royal College of Music have been made welcome.
The performers for the 2004 season include the Liverpool Brass Ensemble, classical guitarist Neil Preston, cellist Gregor Cuff, St. Faith's own choir, the Liverpool Youth Brass and the Liverpool Senior String and Woodwind Ensembles and sopranos Patricia Barrow and Val Watts, together with a range of other soloists. The opening concert on April 17th features St. Faith's vicar Fr Neil Kelley. The week's soloists are posted outside the church each week, and handbills giving details of all the season's concerts, which continue until August 28th, are always available at the church.
St. Faith's is open on recital Saturdays from 11.00am to 1.00pm, with coffee, tea and light lunches among the items on sale each week. Admission to the church and the concerts, which begin at 12 noon and last for half an hour, is free of charge, and St. Faith's is looking forward once more to welcoming visitors for what promises to be another highly enjoyable season of music and fellowship.
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CARMEN AND TURANDOT
TWO OF the world's most popular operas are on their way to the Liverpool Empire Theatre on Tue 4th - Sat 8th May 2004. Bizet's masterpiece Carmen, the story of the bewitching gypsy girl whose tantalising beauty lures a soldier to desertion and leads to her own murder, is coupled with Puccini's masterpiece Turandot, the tale of the cold-hearted princess who is surrounded by suitors facing death if they fail to answer her riddle correctly and of the one man who can melt the ice in her heart.
Carmen includes some of the most evocative and best-loved melodies in opera; The Habanera, The Seguidillia, The Flower Song, The Chanson Boheme and perhaps the best-known baritone aria of all The Toreador's Song.
The set reflects the real Spain, recreating Seville's main square with fountains flowing with water, specially-commissioned orange trees and authentic dancing from the Romale Gypsy Dance Troupe. A special guest star is the white stallion Todo, who is 17 hands high, courtesy of Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Turandot has been a firm favourite with audiences ever since Pavarotti's rendition of Nessun Dorma was used by the BBC for the World Cup in 1990. this sumptuous traditional production includes wonderful sets and costumes designed by one of America's leading designers Alexander Okun, who is currently scoring a major success with Disney. We have also included a fabulous Kathakali dance sequence, based on the South Indian Kathakali 'Devil Dance' portraying Turandot's thirst for the blood shed of her failed suitors.
As always, the performances will be sung in the original language and accompanied by English surtitles to enable you to follow the story as it unfolds.
Biset's Carmen; Starring a magnificent Andalucian Stallion
and the famous Romale Gypsy Dance Troupe:- Tue 4, Fri 7 & Sat 8 May
Tickets:- £13.00 - £35.00. Puccini's Turandot; With the world famous aria Nessun Dorma and a fabulous
Kathakali dance sequence based on the South Indian Kathakali 'Devil Dance'
Wed 5 & Thur 6 May, Tickets:- £13.00 - £35.00
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