On Saturday 20th November, in St. Alban’s Church, Hull, we met to sing and play a programme of music in concert format (two halves!) for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic forced musical activity to cease for many months. The only musical activity Invitatione had organised since our wonderful last formal concert in October 2019 was the Come and Sing, Come and Play event in Driffield in July.
We rehearsed just a few times in advance, intending that this event should not necessarily be the polished performance we would normally aim for, but simply a focus for us to get together and sing and play, and get back into the swing of things. Many of us had not done much singing or playing during the past 18 months. Many of our members were not ready to come back to the group because of worries about mixing with others, which particularly affected the number of players in the orchestra.
Though this was an informal event, without advance publicity and with just family and friends there, we had a warm, receptive audience on the night, who seemed to be as pleased to be listening to an evening of music as we were to be giving it.
Chris Bates recorded parts of the concert with his trusty camcorder, and some of the items are available to watch below.