I snapped this image on my way into Chipping Campden parish church this afternoon, for the final, orchestral rehearsal before this evening’s Campden Festival Chorus concert. I was feeling unusually nervous and emotional about the concert, and as I looked up at the frontage of this imposing building I was suddenly rather overwhelmed. This was only the second time I’d been in the church since March last year, when the Chorus was ‘furloughed’ because of Covid-19, and it felt very strange to be sitting in close proximity with other singers, looking out across the nave and imagining how it would be to perform to an audience again after so long.
In the event the concert went very well, and the sell-out audience were warmly appreciative. It’s a privilege to be able to work alongside professional musicians, and I didn’t realise quite how much I’d missed doing it until this evening. The main work in the concert was Mozart’s Requiem, which seems a fitting piece to have performed under the current circumstances, and I feel genuinely honoured to have taken part in the making of this music.
