Summer Festival/Fair, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Corfu (including Gospel Blues)

Update (2012): The dates for the Summer Fair in 2012 are 15 and 16 June.

The Summer Festival , 2011, ended on a high night with the Classical Night on June 4^th, performed by some exceptionally talented Corfiot (Greek) musicians.

Costas Zervopoulos (flute) and Marilena Eloul (piano) delighted the audience with their performances of Bach’s Sonata in G minor, BMW 1020, the Ballet Scene from Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice and pieces from Bernstein’s West Side Story, demonstrating that Holy Trinity Church is the perfect setting for chamber music. I hope chamber music recitals will become a regular feature of the Anglican church’s activities. There are many students and professors at the Ionian University Music Department, the Conservatory and Music High School who might come to see this as the Wigmore Hall of Corfu. I am sure that they would love the opportunity to perform in this intimate space with its wonderful acoustic.

Spiros Soueref lifted the roof with his magnificent delivery of arias from Tosca, Turandot and I Pagliacci. What a voice!

Bravo Costa, Spiro, Marilena! Standing ovations all round!

The talented performers in the first half, Francesca Metalinou (cello), Kostas Keontaris (violin) and Rania Rosopoulou (flute) were also warmly received and made the most favourable impression before they had to rush to perform at another concert at St George’s Church (the former British barracks church).

Holy Trinity Church had been beautifully decorated for the Summer Festival, and there was a feast for the eyes as well as the ears (not forgetting the stomach).

Outstanding paintings by Mary Gulland, and beautiful quilts by members of the Corfu Quilters group will remain on display until Wednesday. The painting that I liked best by Mary Gulland was of two beer drinkers, apparently Poles, but it reminded me very vividly of people I knew in the Czech Republic! I could almost taste the beer. Mary’s Corfiot scenes were also much admired by all the visitors to the exhibition.

I wasn’t able to attend the opening concert by Duo Armande, but everyone says the Duo was a great success, with a fascinating repertoire played with a combination of clarinet and violin and clarinet and viola.

The second night featured very different genres of music, a mixture of blues, jazzed-up gospel blues and some bluegrass.

Apologies for image quality

The sound engineering by Rob Sherratt ensured a well-mixed sound for the amplified instruments, two guitars, bass and blues harmonica.

The multi-talented Raul Scacchi played the guitar solos with great virtuosity; he is a consummate musician. A big thank you to Raul! Several of his own lyrical compositions and arrangements were given a welcome airing, interpreted with soul and subtle shades of  feeling by Corina Hamilton (who also played electric bass with considerable skill).

21-year-old Corina was undoubtedly the great hit of the evening; she won many new admirers when she sang with passion, conviction and great maturity two of Blind Willie Johnson’s gospel blues (Soul of a Man, and Nobody’s Fault But Mine, as well as more contemporary songs.

With her stirring, beautiful (and gutsy) voice, she revealed a deep understanding of both the blues and gospel music, but also of bluegrass and Appalachian songs like “Rank Strangers” and “Down in the Valley to Pray”, a late addition to the programme, which proved a moving and uplifting way to end the evening.

Corfucius was clearly (and rightly) impressed by Corina Hamilton. He even made a few comments on his blog (carefully selected) which I take to be mild approval of some of the efforts of the elder bluesman in the group:

"Peace in the Valley - brave of Jim to come up against the King and if El had been there he'd've nodded approval, as would the Bobster have curled a gravely lip of grudging approval at 'Got to serve somebody' whose lyrics became suddenly clearer and poignanter last night…"

I'm sorry we didn't get to hear Corfucius sing and play on this occasion.

The Revd. John Gulland and Mary Gulland, and the Church Committee and volunteers are to be warmly and sincerely congratulated for organising this memorable Summer Festival, which has brought many more people into contact with a historical institution which has played such an important part in the religious and cultural life of Corfu, but which needs support if it is to continue to serve the community. The Festival has certainly succeeded in making the church feel more accessible to people who tend to come to Corfu for a short holiday, in order to relax or escape.

Apart from the art exhibition there were also painting and quilting demonstrations, a bazaar offering various products, organic food, plants, home produce, crafts and refreshments.

The food provided by a team of volunteers was consistently varied and delicious and the marquees in the church courtyard made for a magical environment, a real oasis of calm and relaxed conviviality in the heart of Corfu.


PS 


For the record, here are a few more selected and slightly edited extracts from the (revised) Corfucius review of the Gospel Blues night, and of Corina Hamilton's voice in particular:

04 June 2011

More than meets the Strum - Jim Potts is a performer who always catches me off guard by playing better than I remember. Not that he isn't good - and I have his albums constantly on the system to remind me - but 'live' [to use a fashionable word] he gets a better sound, wails a wailier harp, sings a throatier blues than I remembered.

He gets a true Sun studios whipcrack from his Epiphone and has one of the very few Brit accents that can pull off a twang without getting all pseudy like those Mancunian DJs or ghastly C&W jamborees in deepest Wolverhampton where 'dudes' walk round all hat 'n' no cattle and call each other pard'ner and sing in strangled tones that they think are très Hank...

There was an absolutely hypnotic song given a cajun layering whose name i forget because I was somewhat distracted ... a lot, actually.

Corina Hamilton understands the lyrics and even her timbre has timbre. What a find! I tell you, if that lady chooses, she has a career ...

Spine-tingling interlude when La Hamiltonella sang a capella that show-stopper from 'Oh Brother', Down to the River to Pray.

Raul writes beautiful melodies and none gives them the treatment like the divine Callihroe but I tell you, Corina turned me fickle from the first throaty bar of 'Lysistrata'...

No applause please we're British - I am NOT one of those boors that claps and sings along on these occasions, but I will say that, sitting in the church as the HamPottSca crew wondered "Will the Circle be Unbroken", I felt a distinct desire to clap happy and grunt along.

Peace in the Valley - a wonderful rendition with throb and vibrato that would've had The King himself nodding approval and fingering a momentarily unsteadied crown.

Gotta Serve somebody - brilliant choice for a church concert and Jim gave it the underlying cynical gravely tone that Dylan clearly intended. I really need to re-add that album to my store; so many good ones left behind in Seattle.

Jim had talked of the need to rehearse because this time folks were forking out real dosh. They got their drachmas' worth, in spades. Wait, I can't say that; yes, I can, it was that sort of night.

When I walked back to the car, it had an €80 parking ticket. Tipota, vaut le prix. Now there's a compliment.

Mission Hamilton - keep tabs on that remarkable voice and catch her every gig

Corina sings