A Night to Remember: Liz’s experience at The Choral premiere

When Making Music teamed up with Sony to offer a special competition prize - an all-expenses-paid trip to the London premiere of The Choral, a new film celebrating the power of community singing - we were thrilled by the response. Our winner, Liz, travelled from Glasgow to attend the event and represent her choir, Arietta. Here, she shares her unforgettable experience of the red carpet, musical magic, and a moving tribute to life during wartime.

I had a call from Barry at Making Music last Thursday letting me know that I had won a competition to attend the Premiere of the film "The Choral". I was delighted to have won although a bit surprised that the event was happening 3 days later! I quickly called my friend to see if she could come with me and then, having been sent details of the all expenses paid trip from the events company, started to arrange travel to London  - no mean feat from Glasgow at short notice! We also had to decide what to wear to the premier having been told we should be smart!

Excitedly we set off on Saturday morning for the 4 ½ hour train journey to Euston, then on to a lovely hotel with the most amazing views over London.  We spent the afternoon shopping (of course!), returning to the hotel for cocktails and dinner. 

Next morning, after a tasty breakfast, we enjoyed getting dressed up and headed down to Southbank where the film was being launched. We met the Sony reps who explained the format of the event and we had time to have a coffee and people-watch along the Thames Embankment before joining the queue for the red carpet.

It was quite an experience being part of all the showbiz buzz and being amongst the other attendees taking photos and straining over heads to see the stars being interviewed - we were all in great spirits! Once in the theatre the cast and directors/producers came on stage to introduce the film, then they all came to sit with friends and family just behind us - Alan Bennett was only a couple of rows away from us!

The film "The Choral" was outstanding, especially for anyone who has ever sung in a choir! Set in the middle of WW1, in a small Yorkshire town, it covered all the emotions with young lads going to, and returning from war, the girls left behind, and of course the town Choral with the usual committee and seeking a conductor while missing many men's voices. In comes Ralph Fiennes (excellent as ever!) to lead the choir, despite some dissent, and he drums up new voices from all sections of the town to put on an Elgar work. The resulting choir rehearsals ups and downs will be familiar to us all, leading to some spine tingling and very moving performances of the piece. There are many laughs throughout the film (Alan Bennett at his best) coupled with a real sadness for the loss felt during this period. Overall the music and the passionate performance wins the show. My friend and I loved it and I would recommend it to anyone with a love of music!

Many thanks to Making Music and Sony for the fabulous prize and I was so glad to have represented my choir Arietta at the premiere.