Wednesday evening saw the opening night of this year’s edition of Voices’ Dream a Little Dream. I must admit that, after having formed part of the choir since the year 2000, it felt strange watching the performance from the side of the audience! But it was an exhilarating experience nonetheless.
Voices never fails to surprise... From the beautifully designed set, where the choir members stand in the clouds, with a huge hot air balloon suspended above their heads, to the choice of songs, many of which contain lyrics describing the stuff that dreams are made of, the entire performance was a joy to watch from beginning to end.
To single out any of the soloists would not be doing justice to any of them because all of them, especially some of the newbies, gave a performance worthy of Broadway. However, some of the choir songs are worth a special mention: New Cuorey’s Id-Dgħajsa tal-Latini, which provided a bit of local flavour, and the a cappella introduction to The Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams Are Made of This were my favourites.
Yet another surprise, we experienced an X-Factor moment! During the slot reserved for the drawing of the lottery, a 15-year-old named Jake, whose seat number was selected amid much bantering from the two very able comperes – Josef and Ron – both decked out as airmen, was asked to sing. After a very pregnant silence ensued, prompting Josef to suggest that Jake could be singing The Sound of Silence, the young man broke out into a powerful rendition of the refrain of Adele’s Rolling In the Deep. He brought the house down! Goosebumps, indeed. Somehow, I can see Jake as a Voices soloist in a few years’ time.
All I can say is that if you haven’t bought a ticket to the performance yet, treat yourself, go ahead and do so. Not only will you have a great time but you will be contributing to a worthy cause because all funds generated from the concerts go towards philanthropic projects.
One final comment. Truth be told, much as I enjoyed every minute of the concert, nothing beats being part of the choir. So if you like to sing... dare to dream... auditions will be held again in two years’ time!