With guests sitting on the lawn with their picnic in a beautiful garden and with soft breeze and an orange colored sky, our magic madrigal evening starts. It might sound familar to you especially if you are a fan of movies and mini series based on Jane Austin’s novel. True, this cannot be more british. I am very lucky to attend such an activity last weekend at June 5th, not as an audience but as a madrigal singer. Madrigal concert is one the the IFC concerts every year, which is usually held in british ambassador’s residence.

I am always a fan of accapella, chorus without accompaniment, but I didn’t sing it before until this year’s madrigal concert. The repertoire is sort of miscellaneous,  british traditional songs mixed with a bit jazz. I have many favorites this year, including the Prince of sleep, Faries, I got rhythem, Miss otis regrets, Every time we say goodbye.

This year’s madrigal concert proves to be the best of this kind so far. Afterwards at the party, we basically did it again  just for our own sake of fun. Oh, i forget to mention that we had another madrigal concert the day before in Tianjing Concert Hall, and we sang together on the train on our way back. It was so much fun, though it seemed we annoyed some passengers on the same carriage. One of other things i need to mention is that the british ambassador was standing right besides me when he gave the opening speech of the evening.

My favorite part is the end of the act 1 when choir and the orchestra built a cresendo and the soprano came out. I think we did rock the audience at that moment.

I was very exciting at the end of the show when audience applaused and screamed for us and i really had a sense of achievement. Afterwards, one of our member told me we might be the best choir in Beijing. I am very proud of it, especially when friends came to told me that i am an excellent singer. : ) 

I just wish all my friends and people who love me were here and share the joy with me. My mom was there and she had fun

Joining IFC is definitely the most unique experience that I have so far. I consider it a good way to expand the social circle. Especially the diversity of the backgroud of our members coming from all over the world attracts me most. I did make some friends here and i did have a lot of fun. For a people who cherishes the unique life experience like me, it is absolutely a fortune in my life.

The pirates of Penzance is a comic opera, which is the first concert that i am going to take part in next Saturday after i joined IFC Beijing(International Festival Chorus).

The storyline of this opera isabout a stubborn young man, Federic, who is just realeased from apprenticeship to a host of pirates at his age of 21.  He meets Mable, the daughter of Major General Stanley, with whom he fell in love instantly. However, he finds out he was born on February29th, which means he only has his birthday every leap year. As stated in his indenture, he will only be realeased from his apprenticeship from pirates when he has his 21st birthday. His strong sense of duty makes him decide to serve the appenticeship for 63 years more. And Mable agrees to wait for him.

Im singing the tenor this time. According to our conductor, the difficult part is singing the words as clearly as speaking. For a non-native English speaker, i found it’s very difficult. But i do work on my part to improve it. Anyway, wish all the best to our performance.