Hello, Joya here! Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As many of you know, the Guards' Chapel has for many years been an important part of my life.  Peter and I were married there, my father’s memorial service was held there and I have sung in the choir for nearly 30 years. Over the last year, like many other churches, music and arts venues, the Chapel's income has been dramatically reduced and is in danger of running short of money to support the choral music.

If you have attended a service at the chapel - weddings, memorials, Remembrance, carol services or the weekly Sunday services, you will know the importance of music in the Chapel. Can you imagine the last verse of hymns without that amazing crescendo from the drum roll?  Or the rich harmony in the hymns, the descants, the anthems, the sung amens?  It is unimaginable to think of the chapel without all of this and we feel passionately about bolstering the survival of Chapel Music.

We are therefore performing a fundraising recital in the chapel.  

Singing a recital is the marathon of solo concert performance – there is simply nowhere to hide! It is far more challenging than singing at a wedding, a concert or a recording, all of which have been the mainstay of my professional career. A recital will involve many more hours of practice than I have done in recent years! I am also very excited that Peter has written a beautiful song cycle specially for me, of which we will be giving the world premiere - “Songs for the Seasons’ (words by Shakespeare).  Peter will be playing the piano for me, so do spare him a thought too, since he will be playing considerably more notes than I will sing! 

So please come to the recital and share some wonderful live music as well as the world premiere and consider giving a donation here. We would like to raise at least £5000 which would underwrite chapel music for at least a month and help to see the chapel through this unbelievably difficult time, a time that is threatening the very existence of music in the Chapel.

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