September 09 edition

It has certainly been the busy first half of the year that we predicted for Serendipity: the choir.

Our performances of two brackets of Celtic songs as part of the inaugural Highlands Tattoo were enthusiastically received by the three sell-out audiences at the Mittagong Playhouse in early May.

These songs then became part of our complete program, 'Journeys', presented later in May in both Bowral and Bundanoon. This was an exciting step forward for the choir as we added some simple ‘choralography' - even this proved challenging for some singers, especially those who were perched on their own individual risers (small boxes for the vertically challenged in the back row)! We were invited to repeat this program at the Waratah Retirement Village in Bargo, and the capacity audience was thrilled by our musical offerings. Apparently some had expected the choir to be in jeans and T-shirts, so our beautiful performance costume really took them by surprise. Both the Waratah Village and Carrington Village in Camden have asked us to return as soon as possible - it's very nice to be appreciated over an increasingly wide geographical area.

A ‘slice' of Serendipity opened the Arts Bundanoon concert organised to celebrate America's 4th July. We presented some nine numbers, most of which were in keeping with the theme of ‘The Great American Songbook'. Our sparkling hats, ladies' decorations and men's patriotic bowties added colour to the occasion, and as always we were superbly accompanied by Ann Clipsham, who then accompanied the two solo singers in the second segment of the concert. We are all very grateful to Ann for her wonderful playing and overall musicianship.

An exciting recent development for the choir has been the launch of our own website, under the direction of our very own Webmaestro Beverley Bennett. The website will be constantly monitored and developed, with a page dedicated to our special group of supporters, the Serenes, news of coming events, a ‘meet the choristers' page, repertoire and past programs, a praise page (we couldn't resist that - do feel free to add your comments), and more. We are immensely grateful to Geoff Stewart for his magnificent assistance in this project. You can find us either by using Google search, or by going directly to our web address: http://serendipity.bundanoon.nsw.au - it is best viewed using either Firefox or Google Chrome; the photos (many of them with thanks to John Everett) are excellent.

The dates for our end-of-year concerts are now confirmed: 5 December - Bowral Uniting Church and 12 December - Bundanoon Memorial Hall. Both concerts will be at 4.00pm (the later time is to compensate for hotter weather), and will present the program 'HEAVENLY BODIES', which celebrates 2009 as The International Year of Astronomy (and celebrates a few more unexpected things as well!).

We also anticipate supporting the Bundanoon community in Carols on the Oval (or In the Hall) in December, and a possible performance in Goulburn. Our website will keep you up-to-date.

Kerith Fowles - Music Director