Fame at last:
In May 2003, Westbury Singers were asked to accompany The Central Band of The White Russian Army formally known as The Red Army Band for their concert in Bristol. The concert was performed at The Colston Hall. At this point in the development of the choir, it was a privilege to be asked to be the choir from Bristol to accompany them. The process of the "band call", the management of arranging the concert programme, merging the band with choirs and guest artists was very exhausting. The concert was very illuminating for many who had not performed on the big stage before. Picture the scene….a laid-back collection of Westbury Singers were eventually joined on stage by an equally nondescript collection of young Russian men and numerous 13-14 year old children from local secondary schools. We sat for over 2 hours, watching a small fox-like conductor and also regarding a plump young woman in jeans idly kicking some dust around on the stage - appearing to share our boredom. At the same time, the conductor and management put together the pieces for the concert later that evening. Then we rehearsed, briefly with the band but found that we were unable to follow the conductor, Colonel Redeov as either he wanted or we would have liked.
Sometime before 6.00 p.m. we left the stalls and descended to the bowels of the prison-like Colston Hall to contemplate our next few hours. We ate our aging sandwiches but somehow they did little to revive our spirits. We had an hour to kill, get dressed and then appear on stage.
Finally we dressed in concert gear and at 7.25 p.m. ascended the several flights of stone steps that brought us out on stage in the choir stalls. We were looking smart and colourful, lips stretched into a smile hopefully convincingly. Many were looking at the largest audience they had ever sung to. The feelings were apprehension, excitement and nervousness.
Then, onto the stage came about 30 something smartly uniformed young men, identical even down to their mid brown hair. The children, dressed in maroon and white were equally transformed, as was the dust kicker who, Cinderella-like, became the soloist with a glorious mezzo soprano voice and a fabulous cloak. Almost best of all was Colonel Federov who arrived resplendent in a green tail jacket with gold epaulettes and a shiny crimson lining.
We all looked so smart; we sang and played so well, particularly the young schoolboy drummer who seemed to have such a rapport with his Russian counterpart. The soloists were amazing; the folk dancers were excellent and made us feel dizzy with their balletic jumps and flowery skirts. The Balalaika player was world class and the audience loved it all. We did over use our voices as we sang the patriotic finale. "I've never heard you sing better," remarked one of the relations in the audience. The highlight of our performance was probably ‘Rhythm of Life’ which we performed with great gusto.