Yesterday afternoon, we took a trip over to Manchester for a bit of Wassailing in style. It was for a carol singalong at the Bridgewater Hall which replaced the Free Trade Hall as the home of the Halle’ orchestra in 1996. Holding nearly 2400 people in vineyard style, it has been designed with great emphasis on the accoustic performance. The auditorium is isolated from the outer structure by springs and all plant is located in a separate tower building beyond the main hall. (An enlightening Building history can be found on their website).
The auditorium feels surprisingly intimate and sitting in the middle of row A is very in your face, a much better view than the side choir stalls last year.
Lots of snaps, the best composed ones too blurry, unfortunately. We were given songsheets for the singalong with thirteen carols listed, an unusual inclusion being Lord of the Dance. The most unusual carol was While Shepherds watched sung to the tune of On Ilkley Moor Ba’ Tat
I enjoyed that. We don’t get into Christmas much, but I think that kind of event may be life changing. Hope your holidays are good.
Comment by Colin Campbell — December 25, 2007 @ 11:04 am