Shout News
May 2010
Choral Invasion
The Shout will be doing a choral invasion of the National Portrait Gallery on Friday 7th May . More details to followMore details to follow.
July
Projects in preparation July 09
Crossing
A site-specific project involving at least 300 amateur performers, directed by Felix Barratt, in collaboration with the Royal Opera House
Originally intended for the Hamlyn Hall (Floral Hall as was). Tiresomely the Hamlyn Hall is never available for more than about two minutes at a time (corporate events, champagne bar etc). Now looking at making the piece in a venue outside the Opera House.
The Miracle of Saint Margaret
A site-specific project involving at least 200 amateur performers, about saints and fanaticism, directed by Roxana Silbert, designed by Geraldine Pilgrim, libretto by Simon Bent
We are working with the excellent producers homeliveart. The RSC intends to produce the project in Summer 2011 in Stratford as part of its plans for the re-opening of the RST.
Mouth Music
A project about cantairreachd (google it….), tabla-talk, scat and improvisation
A project with Kuljit Bhamra (tabla-player extraordinary). Will include collaborations with instrumentalists and amateur singers.
Children’s Opera
In collaboration with the Yo! Festival in Utrecht
The Yo! Festival is definitely the funkiest and possibly the only children’s opera festival around. Intended for Autumn 2011.
July 17, 2009
Latitude Festival, Southwold
The Shout will be appearing on the Waterfront Stage from 15:00 to 16:30. For more information visit: www.latitdudefestival.co.uk
January
January 21, 2009
The Shout at Kings Place, London N1
Neil Fisher
Ten years old this month, but still flush with the sheer cheek of what they do, Orlando Gough's ragbag choir have been blowing out the candles with gusto. They took on a whole week of programming at Kings Place, capping it with this winningly indulgent night of personal celebration. The greatest hits tour, you might have called it, were it not impossible for this group to perform anything with a sense of reverence: they're far too in the moment.
Perhaps ragbag choir isn't the best way of describing the Shout, but it does sum up two things they represent: choral singing without the stuffiness. In place of most choirs' obsession with tweezering the blend, their members come from multiple places in the musical map, ranging from pop to soul, music theatre to opera. What they all share is a brilliant sense of musicianship, combining staggering discipline (everything is a cappella, everything is memorised, everything is in tune) with an exhilarating willingness to dart off in unexpected directions.
This showcase gave us the best of their versatility. One moment the group were absorbed in the febrile heat of Mike Henry's percussive Song for a Dark Girl, the next they gathered in a Gaelic threnody, Grioghal Cridhe, with Rebecca Askew the pure-voiced soloist. Theatre infuses but never smothers their vocalism: in Galeas, a Greek-Ladino lament for the enslaved, the group spread out disconsolately, breathing out the strains of a slave's labour before two singers gave full cry to the melody. But, just when you think it's all gone a bit worthy, the Shout gamely bring on a duet sung with the text entirely back to front: loopy, but oddly compelling.
It's touches such as this that remind you that the Shout isn't just about sound: when they sing, they do it with an immediacy that almost lets you touch a song as well hear it. Here's to ten more years.
