This energetic and expressive choir, with new conductor Marie-Claire Breen, gave their summer concert of gospel and world music in Todmorden. In between two halves of the show there were some solo and small group songs, including favourites like “Penny Lane” and “Dirty old town”. Rita Frayne gave us “Let us never forget”. New choir member Syed Faiz sang a beautiful and heartfelt durbari rag, a traditional Indian song form, and Maggie Kirwan read her own entertaining, child-themed poetry.
The choir gave us some new work and some old favourites, like “May you see diamonds”. There was a South African song about Nelson Mandela and “Say a little prayer for you”. “People get ready” showed the choir’s strengths, an effective mixture of technical skill and emotional warmth.