Friday night saw the start of the Crowborough’s first ever festival celebrating the wide variety of local talent the town has to offer. Organised by Gareth Owen-Williams, “Musical harmony” started events off with a beautiful evening of fine wine and homemade canapés in the new Crowborough Community Centre. A Tunbridge Wells girl myself, I’d never been there and will definitely keep it in mind for future concerts. The acoustics were great and the space could be dressed up or down for any use.
First on the bill was 4overForte, a barbershop group comprised of Peter Westley, Graham Soar, Stephen Lazell and Paul Jeffery. They offered a brilliant delivery of a number of well known songs and really set the mood for the rest of the evening. Lydia and Noel Bannister followed with some jazz classics. The father-daughter duo performs wonderfully together, Lydia’s voice flowing effortlessly in her unique style and Noel accompanying with sensitivity and a few great solos to boot.
I had the privilege of singing with 4overForte and Maria Porter at the end of the evening. This was our first performance of a number of choral works written by Noel Bannister (words by Stephen Bridges) that we have been recording, and a chance to deliver a hint of his upcoming choral album. We all loved singing the anthems and they seemed to go down really well! A lovely end to the evening and a beautiful start to the festival.
Here are a few of the songs we chose for the night:
Check out more about the festival at http://www.crowboroughfestival.org/
