ONE of Ken Hone’s most enthralling memories – one that still makes his spine tingle – is walking through the honeycomb of passages under the Albert Hall after taking part in a cancer charity concert last year.
“As we were making our way out, someone started singing the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s opera Nabucco,” the Luton Male Voice Choir music maestro recalled.
“Gradually everyone took it up and there was this huge subterranean swell of voices from hundreds of men.
“It was the sort of moment you never forget, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It still gives me goose bumps.”
Last year he sat in the audience for the first time. “It’s a bit like being at a football match,” he explained. “Every choir brings its own supporters.”
Now Ken has issued a tempting invitation to anyone who would like to appear at the world famous venue: join the LMVC and you will have an opportunity to sing at the Albert Hall’s Festival of Brass and Voices in aid of Cancer Research UK in November next year. You don’t have to audition and you don’t even have to stay with the group after the concert.
The energetic octogenarian whose musical career has spanned eight decades is on an unabashed recruitment drive.
He said: “We’re looking for new members. You don’t have to read music, it doesn’t matter if you’ve never sung before and no-one needs to be embarrassed by an audition.
“We’re a bunch of friends who have fun singing together. We usually go away for a weekend once a year. We’re doing a festival for the Salvation Army at Downham Market in September.
“And we’re so well organised we can even arrange to pick you up if you’ve got no transport.”
Luton Male Voice Choir was formed 19 years ago as an offshoot of Vauxhall Male Voice Choir.
Its performances are always in aid of a worthwhile cause and recent concerts have been in aid of dedicated children’s charity Auditory Verbal UK, which helped the profoundly deaf granddaughter of choir member and tenor David Holloway.
Ken, a married grandfather of six, has music in his blood. “It’s been a major part of my life since I was eight,” he said.
He hails from Morriston in Wales, home of male voice choirs and, in particular, the renowned Morriston Orpheus choir.
“The man who founded it was my music teacher,” Ken said.
Ken is a talented pianist and also plays clarinet. But he’s set his sights on a new instrument. “I’m now learning to play the computer,” he joked
> If you’d like to join LMVC, call Ken on 01582 658937.