London "Almost Christmas" Concert 2014

UPDATED December 20 & 21, 2014

Happy last Saturday before Christmas! I'm very happy to be home! And I know there are a lot of people in London who are very happy, too, because they are at the "Libera by Candlelight" concert at St. John's Church in Norbury. It looks like a perfect night for it.

Cloudy but not too cold in London ~ photo by Patrick

St. John's Interior before the concert ~ photo by Patrick

Stage before concert ~ photo by Libera

Libera on stage at St. John's ~ photo by Luke Avery

There are 24 boys singing tonight. There are also 13 junior boys, or little newbies as I like to call them, who are singing in their very first Libera concert. They sing on some but not all of the songs. I wonder if Samuel Collins is Luke, Jude, and Gabe's little brother. There ARE 4 boys in the family, so... :) And maybe Finn Wood is Lucas' brother. There are so many newbies!!!!! Just imagine them all on the stage at the same time!

1.   Marc Alvares
2.   Shay Balsekar
3.   Ciaran Bradbury-Hickey
4.   Merlin Brouwer*
5.   Gabriel Collins
6.   Thomas Delgado-Little
7.   Alex Gula
8.   Matthew Jansen
9.   Timothy Lee
10. Isaac London
11. Alessandro MacKinnon-Botti
12. Matthew Madine
13. James Menezes
14. Michael Menezes
15. Alex Montoro
16. Jakub Niedermaier-Reed
17. Cassius O'Connell-White
18. Matthew Rangel-Alvares
19. Bertie Smart
20. Camden Stewart
21. Rocco Tesei
22. Mark Ustynovych-Repa
23. Sam Wiggin
24. Lucas Wood

*newbie

Juniors - all newbies

1.   Leo Barron
2.   Ben Bywater
3.   Samuel Collins
4.   Tom Cooper
5.   Tadhg Fitzgerald
6.   Adam Izghouti
7.   Neo Parson
8.   Taichi Shinokubo
9.   Cameron Taylor
10. Sejus Toussaint-O'Neill
11. Oliviero Veneri-Thomas
12. Joseph Walshe
13. Finn Wood 

I love that they added an oboe, and the staff listing always looks like a Libera reunion. :D Everyone is pretty much doing the same jobs as at Arundel in May, but Tiarnan is now working on stage management. Congratulations to him!

Musical Director - Robert Prizeman
Assistant Musical Directors - Sam Coates & Steven Geraghty
Keyboards - Joshua Madine
Percussion - Jonathan Ormston
Strings - The Silken Strings
Flute - Candice Hamel
Clarinet - Jessie Grimes
Horn - Raoul Neumann
Oboe - Jesse Bescoby

Stage Management - Jonathan Barrington, Kavana Crossley & Tiarnan Branson
Lighting - Luke Avery
Libera Management - Steven Philipp
Libera Tour Co-ordination & Chaperoning - Barbara Geraghty & Eleanor Lewis
Production Co-ordinator - Andrew Winter


The song list is amazing! Alex Gula had his first solo, and he has a great voice!

1.   Joyful Joyful - sung by all 37 boys
Speech - Cassius told that Cameron Taylor is the youngest at 7 years old, and Jakub (Kuba) is the oldest at 15.
2.   Joy to the World
3.  What Child Is This
4.  The Prayer - solo by Isaac with Ciaran
5.   Sanctus - middle harmony and last "Sanctus Sanctus" by Bertie, high notes by Lucas
Speech - Alessandro & Ciaran
6.   Voca Me - the crazy high note at the end sung by Lucas!
7.   Wexford Carol - solo and verse in Gaelic by Isaac
8.   Carol of the Bells - high notes by Isaac & Lucas, last "Ding dong" by Isaac
Speech - Alex & Gabe
9.   Ave Maria - listed but the did not sing it
10. How Great Thou Art - solo by Sam

-Interval_

11. Conditor Alme Siderum - sung a capella as plain song while walking back on stage
12. Angels We Have Heard On High
Speech - Alessandro & Ciaran with Moose
13. Away In A Manger - solo by Alex Gula
14. Wayfaring Stranger - solo by Sam
15. Amazing Grace - solo by Isaac
16. Gaudete - solo by Lucas?
Speech - Ciaran with boys speaking in their families' native language
      Alex G (Poland), Lucas (Mexico), Sam (France), Isaac (Ireland), Alex M (Italy), Taichi (Japan)
17. Song of Life - solo by Isaac
18. How Shall I Sing That Majesty - solo by Alessandro & Lucas
19. Silent Night - solo by Isaac
Speech - Taichi (he is so small and quite young!)
20. In Dulci Jubilo

Encore - What a Wonderful World - solo Isaac


Tom Delgado-Little did not sing any solos in the first half, and they skipped "Ave Maria," so he may be feeling ill.

Concert program ~ photo by Yuki

Choir members, instrumentalists, & staff ~ photo by Yuki

Song list ~ photo by Yuki

What a wonderful "Almost Christmas" concert! :D