With the exciting new Surtierra project starting soon, now is a fantastic time to join Cloud 9 Chorus and add more music, fun and friendship into your life! Click here for more details.
Virtually Viva!
Singing together even when we’re apart…
When choir rehearsals were understandably cancelled due to social distancing measures, we were imagining weeks of solo singing into hairbrushes, warbling in the shower, and chirruping into the ears of our locked-down family members.
But! Thank you Zoom app! And thank you Kathie for being determined to keep us together. Because now we have a way to meet up every week and sing our hearts out simultaneously, even though we’re scattered across Dorchester and beyond!
Although on Zoom we can’t all hear each other at the same time (we would go crazy!) we can learn our parts bit by bit with Kathie’s instruction, and then practise the songs in overlapping harmonies as we become more familiar with the music. In addition, Kathie has chosen recordings of some of our old favourites (Somewhere Only We Know, Hard Times and Amazing Grace, to name a few so far) that allow us to individually sing layered above the entire choir harmony, giving a real feeling of togetherness.
If you haven’t joined us yet on Zoom, come and give it a try! Keeping that feeling of singing together as a choir is such a mood-booster and when we ‘un-mute’(!) at the start or end of the session the usual Viva chit-chat and laughter ensues! If you’re not sure how to work Zoom, drop Kathie, Wendy or Caroline an email and they’ll be happy to guide you.
Look forward to seeing you all again this Thursday, at 7pm (our new regular time whilst ‘virtual’!).
Summer picnic cancelled
Hi all,
Due to our Apollo commitments, the summer picnic and sing at Kingston Maurward that was planned for Sunday 14th July has been cancelled. Our next event will be the Stinsford Michaelmas Fayre on Saturday 28th September.
Divas Who Dine in Dorch (or nearby!)
There were 12 diners for our meal at the end of last term when Sophie arranged our return to Masala for a grand banquet on Tuesday, 2nd April. An interesting evening was had getting to know different people in the choir and the food was scrumptious!
Summer Picnic and Sing 2019
Summer Picnic and Sing – updated
Kathie is hoping for fine weather on Sunday 14th July for an informal picnic and sing with Viva!, Heart & Soul, and their friends and families (dogs welcome too!) at Kingston Maurward Gardens.
Commencing at 2:30pm, the choirs will sing outside near the lake (alternative arrangements will be made for wet weather!). Bring a rug and a picnic! We look forward to seeing you there.
This event has now been rescheduled for early Autumn term, due to our Apollo commitments! New date TBC
The Heavens & The Outliers next gig…
Kathie and The Heavens will be performing with The Outliers at Owermoigne Village Hall on July 6th 2019. This evening of lively original music kicks off at 8pm with Glastonbury band, Setting Sun, followed by The Outliers at 9.15pm. Doors open 7pm. We hope to see you there!
VIVA 2006-2016 : 10 Years of Singing Our Hearts Out!
I can’t quite believe that our wonderful choir came into being 10 years ago! It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I opened the doors to Dorchester Arts back in 2006 wondering if I’d be greeted by a throng of enthusiastic singers or just a view of the car park! Luckily folk did arrive to sing and the seeds were sown for a wonderful community of singers which, over the years, has gone from strength to strength.
The really special thing about VIVA, apart from the great sound of course, is the commitment, enthusiasm and community spirit shown by our singers. Some have recently joined and others have been coming to choir for many years. We originally started out as a mixed choir and performed regularly at local events including the Dorchester Festival, Apple Day and Christmas celebrations at Kingston Maurward and of course the opening of the Olympic Games in Weymouth. VIVA also premiered the specially commissioned song for Dorchester, Dancing the Rings at Maumbury in Borough Gardens and featured on the soundtrack of Out in the Open a film about homelessness premiered at the Dorchester Plaza. More recently in 2014 we performed in Heartwood , an original site specific piece with original music by Karen Wimhurst. This was a collaboration between sound artist Adrian Newton who directed the piece Karen and myself. VIVA joined forces with Pallida, Karen’s Shaftesbury choir, Skylarks Children’s Choir and my Heart and Soul Community Choir from Poundbury.
Winning Best Large choir of the 2014 and 2015 Weymouth Festivals in collaboration with Heart and Soul, was a highlight for the choir. Our Christmas concerts at St Georges church in Fordington have also been a great success and hugely enjoyable and these concerts have enabled VIVA, in collaboration with my other choirs ,to raise hundreds of pounds for charities – the West Dorset Women’s Refuge, Autism Wessex, The Red Cross and the Dorset Blind Association to name but a few.
So…here we are 10 years on planning our new CD, a trip to the Southbank to sing at the Chorus Festival and a choir exchange to France! I can’t wait! Viva la VIVA!
Amazing Grace
Clean Heart