IT was Happy Birthday and Congratulations to the splendid Hart Male Voice Choir last Saturday when once again they gave their April Concert in the Farnham Maltings.

Their special guest was soprano Rachel Luxon, the daughter of renowned baritone Benjamin Luxton who also sang with the choir.

It is 25 years since The Hart Male Voice choir was founded with just five members who met for rehearsal in the bar of the Chequers pub in Crookham Village in the district of Hart.

There is now a whole lot of Hart with 80 members from around the district. Their concerts are held locally, throughout the UK and they tour abroad as well as performing competitively with an enviable record of successes. The musical director of the last 20 years is Valerie Hoppe who alone is responsible for their excellent repertoire. Judith Morgan, a professional freelance pianist was appointed their accompanist to the choir in 1992.

On Saturday the long procession of singers dressed in their green blazers marched into the Great Hall of the Maltings to the Battle Hymn of the Republic - their melodious voices rising from sotto voce to full crescendo as they took their places on the stage and the audience joined in with a rousing Glory! Glory! Hallelujuh.

The compere for the birthday evening was Colin Harnett who took an intellectual, as well as humorous approach, to job. Not surprising, since Colin who lives in Wrecclesham once appeared on "Mastermind" has been private secretary to two Home Secretaries, Michael Howard and Jack Straw.

From the New World the choir winged its way back to more ancient civilisations with the Song of the Greek Fishermen and the rhythmic Israeli folk song Hava Nageela and then to a quaint old Cornish town for The Floral Dance.

A young and slender Rachel Luxon with her main of long dark hair and most amazing soprano voice trilled to the heights and thrilled the audience with works by Handel, Bellini and Strauss and then the very moving Choral Hymn from "Mary Stuart" by Donizetti which she sang with the choir brought the first half of the evening to a close.

No male voice choir worth its salt could not include a couple of spirituals in its repertoire - Hart did not disappoint with Little Innocent Lamb, Down by the Riverside (solo John Western) and Jacob's Ladder.

A contrast to the Rousing Bandit's Chorus from Verdi's "Ernani" was the moving and very beautiful song The Rose from the film of the same name - "Its the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance ..."

The Roger Bingham' fan club had turned up for his solo performance of Ol' Man River -much to his embarrassment. But it was a fine performance from a man with a wonderfully deep and resonant voice.

Rachel Luxon returned to stage in the second half to sing Summertime from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and Poor Wandering One from the Pirates of Penzance as well arias from Puccini's La Rondine and Mozart's Die Zauberflote.

She was then joined by the choir for Let There be Peace on Earth - Hart's own personal plea for world peace.

The concert concluded with the Holy City and the majestic Easter Hymn from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana with Rachel Luxon singing Santuzza's aria.

A splendid evening's entertainment from an outstanding choir and their musical director. Here's to another 25 years of their relaxed yet very professional performances.

Sue Cansfield.

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