Saturday July 16 was a busy and rather hot day. The Rye Ukulele Orchestra (previously the Rye Ukulele Experiment) performed in the afternoon at Little Orchard House in West Street. Niki and Andy Stuart, owners of the house, generously provided their beautiful garden to raise funds for Music Well, selling cakes, coffee and tea. The Music Well is a project that helps young people and adults to deal with any psychological or cognitive problems using music therapy. Liz Butt heads the project and sees people privately or, with other therapists, goes into local schools. This has been very successful for the relevant children.
We had an hour to relax, after which it was time to practice for the evening performance. Ryesingers’ summer concert in St Mary’s church was near perfect. We had worked really hard for the past months to master Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, not an easy piece but it went well and the soloists, Dido, (Queen of Carthage) – Lesley Moore, Belinda, Dido’s sister – Lucy Ashton and Aeneas , Trojan Prince – Jonathan Breeds were brilliant, the sound of their voices was clear and vibrant  throughout the beautiful space of St Mary’s.
Several Ryesingers supported the soloists by wonderfully interpreting the spirit, the witches and the sorceress. The altos and sopranos performed two pieces without tenors and basses which sounded lovely. Apart from Dido, in the second half we entertained the audience with Brahms – How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings; Holst – Festival Te Deum and Ireland – Greater Love.
At the end of the concert we invited the audience to join us in a hymn – Ceremonial Psalm – with a solo trumpet introduction by young Julian Moore.
Thank you to Lesley Brownbill who tries very hard to make us the best choir possible and I hope we made her proud.
Photo: Kenneth Bird