Cantatrice celebrate ten years of singing

On Sunday July 20 they performed their first ever show ‘Putting on the Glitz’ and that’s exactly what they did.

Gone were the statement bright turquoise drape cardigans and on were the glamour ball gowns and dresses making a stunning first impact on a capacity audience at The Drama Hall, Steyning Grammar School.

A six-piece band blasted forth with Good Morning Baltimore (to come later in the show) and all 150+ performers came on seamlessly from all directions, waving and greeting the audience –a great way to get the atmosphere going and greet their public.

This show was all about entertainment and showing off, but showing off the talent within this excellent chorus so there was choir numbers ‘It don’t mean a thing’, ‘Ain’t misbehavin’ ‘I will survive’ (hugely popular) Good Morning Baltimore with moves, the stirring Sunset Boulevard song ‘As if we never said good bye’ but also tap dancing, Clarinet & piano duet, Gospel Group, singing duet, Radio Sketch and another small ensemble doing ‘Its raining men’ complete with men.

So where did we get these men! Well to share the afternoon performance we invited The Sussex Harmonisers Barbershop Chorus, local choir Kaleidoscope Singers and the icing on the cake soloist Stella Luczkowski who brought her professionalism, charisma and fantastic voice to light the stage!

Even more variety followed with ‘Hello Mary Lou’, ‘Rhythm Medley’, ‘The Girl from Ipanema’, ‘They can’t take that away from me’ and two great numbers from Stella – ‘Crazy’ & ‘My baby just cares for me.’ Stella also joined the ladies for an energized, exhilarating & fantastic medley from ‘Hairspray’ Good Morning Baltimore.

Out of their glitz and into skirts, white blouses and coloured co-ordinated hairbands – a spot of genius from the costume team, they brought the first half to a rousing end. With no let up the second the afternoon ended with songs from Grease (audience participation mandatory!) and again the coloured scarves for all the Show’s performers and men stripping off their bow-ties it was a stunning end to fantastic show.

Their birthday celebrations came to a climax with a party at the beautiful Wiston House in Steyning, a perfect location for the ladies and their husbands who attended. The weather was perfect so our champagne cocktails could be taken out into the grounds, group photos were a must and Art Hutchings (resident photographer for the choir) took hundreds of pictures. A slideshow of DVDs and photos from their last 10yrs was shown, a gorgeous buffet, Live music from the fabulous Jazz Canons, entertainment, a presentation to their conductor

Zoe Peate and no end of dancing brought the celebrations to an unforgettable climax. Words alone cannot express the wonderful atmosphere, joy and fun we had.

Here’s to the next ten years.

Report and pictures contributed by Zoe Peate.