QM2, 18 Oct 2018, NSO+Anthony Inglis, transAtlantic Westbound

Hi, on this voyage will be National Symphony Orchestra performing twice at the Royal Court. Pax can also audition to sing as member of choir during these performances. Has anyone been on a prior cruise with the NSO and how spectacular was their performance, and has anyone auditioned to sing with the choir, and what was your experience with doing that? What did you have to do for the audition, accepted, and what songs did the choir perform? Very interested to join this itinerary and sing with the choir, though I am just a casual, social singer.

Thank you.

I didn't audition to sing, however, two of my travel companions did ( last year 2017) They too are just casual singers and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. If I remember correctly, the choir was made up of two groups , one group performing for the early sitting guests and the second group performed later, after the late sitting dinner.

Although the choir are standing just behind the orchestra, you are not really singing alone as the whole of the audience will be joining in too , the words to the music and songs are on drop down screens adjacent to the stage area. I've seen the NSO perform on QM2 two or three times on various crossing , it's a wonderful evening and something not to be missed with lots of flag waving, both American and British !

Do make sure after the show you go down to the Queens Room, Anthony Englis and all the NSO joined the guests and let their hair down ,where the party continued on the dance floor . Anthony Englis is great fun , just wait until you see the Captain of the ship and Anthony swap roles.:')

Never participated in the choir but were on board for an NSO crossing & really enjoyed it (although its not the type of thing we'd normally go to on dry land - maybe thats what made it seem special). There were some impromptu "extra" combos & performances too. Met the cello players in the Golden Lion after one of the performances and enjoyed finding out about how the NSO works. I'd definitely recommend doing it if you have the time & money

We were in the choir last year and can really recommend it. They had two choirs and each one sang for one NSO performance.

Hi Tangol, a budding singer as well as an excellent dancer eh? We did the crossing with the N.S.O. some years ago and it was truly memorable. Anthony Inglis is quite a character and changed jackets with the Captain who then conducted the orchestra ! Plenty of good old British patriotism and not unlike the Proms.

After watching this you will be all set to exhibit your dancing skills in the ballroom.

We were on board what I believe was the first crossing on which the NSO was featured. We had been upgraded to Queens Grill and had the good luck to be seated at the same table as Anthony Inglis. We wisely did not accept the invitation to join the choir, even though Maestro assured us the audition was easy and you didn't need to be very good. Three others at our table were singers in their respective church choirs and did join. There were 75 passengers in each of the two choirs.

The first concert featured orchestral Broadway music (the good tunes not the modern rock/hip-hop/rap stuff) and the second one was a "Last Night of the Proms" concert at which the choirs sang. They sang only one number without the audience joining in. By being on that crossing we missed one of the Proms concerts we always attend in Toronto, so the NSO was greatly appreciated.

Now this sounds like fun! We were on Azamara some years ago when they first tried out a passenger choir called "High C's". (Yes, O.K. I'll wait.....) I enjoyed that. Don't know if they still do it. The NSO choir sounds like a great way to spend time on a crossing and meet lots of people. I sing in a choir on a regular basis so if they are not too demanding, include me in. And yes, I do read music.

Thanks to all for your replies, very interesting and informative. Looks like a lot of fun, and almost anyone could be accepted into one of the two choirs. Am seriously considering joining the upcoming cruise with the NSO.

Slow Fox, if the NSO were to play in the Queens Room, then it's a no brainer for me, but since they only perform in the Royal Court, and the singing is not really a big deal, I might give this cruise a pass. Will be on the QM2 19 Feb 2019, 14 days, Hong Kong-China-Korea-Hong Kong itinerary though. Maybe see you and Mrs. on that one? Would love to see your Slow Foxtrot.

I started singing about 1.5 years ago, which has helped in ways unanticipated -- my voice has greatly improved with volume, clarity, pitch, and projection, my breathing is far more regular, controlled, and sustained, and for sure, my attention to the beats of the music is much improved, especially as to when to enter the tune for vocals. Plus whenever any friend or even strangers ask me to demonstrate my singing, I have no fear to break into song.

I sing things like Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale", Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", and "Your Song", "Oh Danny Boy", and of course, "My Way" but in 3 languages -- English, Japanese, and French. The French "Comme d'Habitude" (sung by Claude Francois) was the original song, from which Paul Anka took the melody and wrote the lyrics of My Way for Frank Sinatra.

My wife pointed me to this discussion thread on this site and as the conductor concerned, Anthony Inglis, I feel I should point out that there have never been any auditions to join the Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic choir. It is open to everyone of whatever standard, the numbers solely being limited by space and safety reasons, dependant on Britannia restaurant seating. The stage of the Royal Court Theatre can only hold so many people plus musicians and that number has been determined as 100 plus the musicians. The numbers are managed on a first come, first served basis at registration, and so far, we have never exceeded that number.....just! There's no booking, sorry! What sort of voice you have as to being soprano or alto, tenor or bass, is determined at the first rehearsal and everyone singing a scale together. When each guest singing together with all the other guests reckons they've reached the top of their range, they drop out and sit down. At a certain point (note!), those left standing will be sopranos and tenors, those sitting down will be altos and basses. Simple! I am hugely rewarded by people saying it is fun. I suppose what rewards me the most, is on one of the first cruises, a lady admitting to be in her 90s, came up to me and said she had been told at school to mime in the compulsory school choir as she had a terrible voice. As a result, though she loved singing, she had never felt able to join a choir, but as a result of that voyage she had now fulfilled a lifetime's ambition and sung with others in a choir. That was quite an emotional moment for me. See you either in 2018 on 18th October or 2019 on 15th September! Thank you Cunard for hosting.

Welcome to Cruise Critic maestro, how lovely to hear from you.

Thank you Maestro for the information.

Looking forward to our voyage on 18 October and will give thought to joining the choir.

Although I have no public singing experience my late father having been tutored by Lauritz Melchior sang for a while as a young man in the chorus of the Philadelphia Opera and traveling company of the Met in the late 40’s.

How kind of you, Sir. We appreciate you joining this board and issuing such a warm invitation. I will be boarding in Hamburg on 16th October. I can tell already - this will be a wonderful, memorable voyage!

We are looking forward to 2019 :-)

For those who may be “on the fence” about joining the choir, I am reminded of the sage advice of conductor Robert Shaw, one of the world’s most influential proponents and innovators of the choral art in the 20th century, who said, “Singing as a part of a choir is like sex...it’s too good to be left to the professionals.”

Thank you Maestro, for such an illuminating and thoughtful explanation. Wonderful technique to determine the voice ranges -- soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Perhaps I will try to join the September 2019 transAtlantic voyage.

Looking forward to the September 2019 voyage.

Also looking forward to it [don't forget to join the M292B roll call]

Captain Philpott as a guest Conductor on our 2017 crossing

What are maestro’s 2019 dates?

Roy

43 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

What are maestro’s 2019 dates?

 

Roy

The NSO crossing for 2019 will be September 15-22, 2019. Voyage M929A, an eastbound crossing.

For 2020, the NSO crossing will be September 4-11, 2020. Voyage M028, a westbound crossing.

On 8/5/2018 at 12:11 PM, maestro_one said:

My wife pointed me to this discussion thread on this site and as the conductor concerned, Anthony Inglis, I feel I should point out that there have never been any auditions to join the Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic choir. It is open to everyone of whatever standard, the numbers solely being limited by space and safety reasons, dependant on Britannia restaurant seating. The stage of the Royal Court Theatre can only hold so many people plus musicians and that number has been determined as 100 plus the musicians. The numbers are managed on a first come, first served basis at registration, and so far, we have never exceeded that number.....just! There's no booking, sorry! What sort of voice you have as to being soprano or alto, tenor or bass, is determined at the first rehearsal and everyone singing a scale together. When each guest singing together with all the other guests reckons they've reached the top of their range, they drop out and sit down. At a certain point (note!), those left standing will be sopranos and tenors, those sitting down will be altos and basses. Simple! I am hugely rewarded by people saying it is fun. I suppose what rewards me the most, is on one of the first cruises, a lady admitting to be in her 90s, came up to me and said she had been told at school to mime in the compulsory school choir as she had a terrible voice. As a result, though she loved singing, she had never felt able to join a choir, but as a result of that voyage she had now fulfilled a lifetime's ambition and sung with others in a choir. That was quite an emotional moment for me. See you either in 2018 on 18th October or 2019 on 15th September! Thank you Cunard for hosting.

I am so looking forward to the week on 15th September 2019!❤️🎼

I joined the choir on the October 16th crossing.  My, that was one of life's memorable experiences!  200 people joined up and we split into two since there were two performances of "Last Night of the Cunard Proms".  'elf and Safety demanded that we all sign some legal waiver for going backstage so that was a bit of a logistical nightmare.  Since we sailed out of Hamburg, there were 400 Germans on board and many of them love to sing including, with gusto, 'Rule Britannia' and 'Land of Hope and Glory'.  Good for them!  Anthony Inglis was great, such an enthusiast and patient with us amateurs.  For the performance the theatre was packed, much waving of flags and everybody on and off stage having a wonderful time.