As the city centre Christmas attractions draw to a close, Festive Derby has a box of seasonal delights for you to take home.
Enjoy The Lost Boys’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic tale, A Christmas Carol, Sinfonia Viva’s Christmas Brass Quintet performing alongside the boys and girls of Derby Cathedral Choir, and Babbling Vagabonds’ filmed version of their successful family show, Elf Encounter – all to download and watch at home on demand, as many times as you like, until Saturday 2 January.
Live shows by The Lost Boys and Sinfonia Viva could not go ahead this year because of COVID restrictions in Derby, so both companies have teamed up with the same Derby LIVE technical team who brought Derby Folk Festival at Home to audiences earlier this year. The digital shows are both around one hour long and are available to watch with captioning.
Sinfonia Viva’s Christmas Brass Quintet have recorded some festive favourites in the atmospheric setting of the Old Central Library. Their programme includes popular tunes such as It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas alongside the more thoughtful Coventry Carol and a rousing Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.
As the Orchestra of the East Midlands, the Grammy-nominated and RPS award-winning Sinfonia Viva has some of the region’s leading musicians. The quintet is made up of Anthony Thompson on Trumpet, Gordon Truman on Trumpet, David Tollington on Horn, Martha Anne Brookes on Trombone and Ian Foster on Tuba.
Their digital show includes the boys and girls of Derby Cathedral Choir performing some much-loved carols, filmed inside the cathedral with its Tree of Lights. They sing Ding Dong Merrily on High, Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, While Shepherds Watched, Away in a Manger and Oh Come All Ye Faithful.
Sinfonia Viva's Principal Trumpet Anthony Thompson, who helped to programme the concert, said:
It is always such a treat being able to bring together the brass quintet. The programme we have put together includes some our favourite tunes ranging from the traditional to the more contemporary and covers a range of emotions from the merry to the reflective and melancholy. In short, the best Christmas Box possible.
Peter Helps, Sinfonia Viva's chief executive, added:
We were so disappointed that the four live performances at River Gardens had to be cancelled. However, we were all thrilled to be able to record the programme to share with a wider audience. Having performed before at the Old Central Library to a sell-out audience, we know that it would be a fantastic place to capture the rich and heart-warming sound of the brass quintet.
Tickets for Sinfonia Viva Christmas Brass Quintet at Home cost £17.50 and are available from Derby Live. Once you have bought your ticket you will be able to watch the concert on demand at the Derby Live website as many times as you like, from 11am on Wednesday 23 December until Saturday 2 January.
Following six years of sell-out live shows, The Lost Boys return to Derby LIVE to make A Christmas Carol their own with their filmed version. Charles Dickens’ classic tale of hope and redemption is the perfect story for the festive season, with the duo aiming to play all the parts in 60 minutes. Expect wigs, gags, laughs, gaffs, deference and irreverence.
Paul Broesmith from The Lost Boys said:
There have been many adaptations of Dickens’ great work, we ourselves have created several different adaptations over the years for different audiences and venues. This is possible largely due to the richness and depth of the source material. Each time we approach the text afresh, we discover new material and context to mine. This adaptation has been no different and allowed us to morph from our original live and socially-distanced event to a digital production.
With that change comes its own challenges, we have enjoyed the experience of facing those challenges alongside Derby LIVE and we have learned a great deal from our endeavours. Ultimately we hope that the audience at home still get a sense of the live and organic nature of the performance, while also gaining a little something extra from the digital elements. Merry Christmas.
Tickets for A Christmas Carol at Home cost £17.50 and are available from the Derby Live website. Your ticket will enable you to watch the performance on demand on the Derby Live website as many times as you like from 11am on Wednesday 23 December to Saturday 2 January.
Elf Encounter, Babbling Vagabonds’ fun live show for a single household, finishes on Wednesday 23 December and has sold out. But you can’t just take an elf home with you – you can take four!
In the digital version of the show, Elf Encounter at Home, you will receive access to four different videos, featuring four different elf personalities, who need some help getting back onto Santa’s ‘nice’ list after some well-meaning antics go wrong! At just 15 minutes long, it is ideal for younger children. Boom Magazine said: “The Elf talks to you as if he can see and hear you, it really is fab and very entertaining! …Highly recommend.”
Tickets for Elf Encounter at Home cost £12 and are available from the Derby Live website. Your ticket will enable you to watch the show on demand at the Derby Live website as many times as you like until Saturday 2 January.
If you’d like to buy a ticket to any of our digital shows as a gift, the best way is to buy and send a Gift Voucher. They are available from the Derby Live website.
Derby Theatre, one of Derby City Council’s partners in Festive Derby, have also filmed their beautifully designed Christmas show, The Little Mermaid, which is available to watch online until Saturday 2 January. Tickets are £20 per household for a set performance. For more details and performance times, visit the Derby Theatre website.