Tag Archives: classic FM

Happy Alfie Boe Happiness Day!

Alright, alright, it’s actually International Happiness Day but I got the title idea from my 9yo who looked at the 2015 Happy International Day of Happiness Alfie Boe Fans and said “it’s not really Happy Alfie Boe Day is it”?  We don’t exactly see eye to eye on our musical tastes although he has been known to sing along to Alfie songs before and even uttered the immortal line (on hearing Elvis sing If I Can Dream) “this is Alfie’s song, why is Elvis singing it”.

To celebrate, these are some of my favourite Alfie tracks from each of his albums:

E Lucevan Le Stelle (Classic FM Presents) – video from first series of BBC Maestro

The song recently voted the favourite Alfie Boe recorded song, A Living Prayer (Onward) – from Songs of Praise

Funiculi Funicula (La Passione) – this was a hard choice as I could easily have chosen the whole album!

On The Street Where You Live (Bring Him Home) – from QVC, picked because my son’s choir used to sing this:

In My Daughter’s Eyes (Alfie) – for all parents and children everywhere:

Angie (Storyteller)- loved the original, this is better:

My all time favourite Alfie song (so far) is Keep Me In Your Heart (Trust) – something to do with those buttons…

Addio Sogni di Gloria (Serenata) was my favourite in the Serenata review and it hasn’t changed:

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that Love Was A Dream is missing – as far as I’m aware we don’t have video of Alfie singing my favourite song from that album.  Maybe one day…

What are your songs from all Alfie’s albums?  Let us know below:

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Friday Round Up with Alfie Boe – No. 2

A lovely interview with Charlotte Green on Classic FM – so good to see this station really getting behind Alfie again:

There have been a couple of other radio interviews broadcast this week (thanks to the ever reliable Marcia) click here to hear.

The week got off to a fabulous start for some lucky fans in Manchester and Blackpool.

Also, we are assured that rehearsals are underway and going well:

alfie rehearsals

Your reviews are fantastic thank you – click here for one on a different blog whose author happens to follow me too.

Last but not least, don’t forget to listen to BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night.

And then get up early to get in front of the TV by 9am to catch Alfie on Weekend Kitchen (Channel 4).

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Friday Round Up with Alfie Boe

Welcome to the first edition of Friday Round Up with Alfie Boe – all this week’s Alfie Boe news at a glance!

This week has seen Alfie once again pairing up with Classic FM – his new album, Serenata has been John Suchet’s Album of the Week and Alfie took part in the Wednesday Web Chat too.

John Suchet played:

Addio Sogni Di Gloria

Non Ti Scordar Ti Me

Arrivederci Roma

Volare – apparently this 1958 song came third in the Eurovision Song Contest for Italy!

Rondine al Nido

Thursday saw Alfie record the Royal Variety Performance for the first time since 2010 – we get to see the show sometime in December.

He even found time to attend a charity gig for the Teenage Cancer Trust and post a pose for the Alzheimers Society (challenged by Arlene Phillips):

Alfie alzheimers pose

 

Alfie was also been busy this week doing more interviews, this one is from BBC London – thanks for sharing Marcia!

And a rare chance to hear Alfie’s vocals as Opera Dude on Clint Boon’s music – Clint tweeted this on Thursday:

Volare with Alfie Boe and Classic FM

Continuing as John Suchet’s Album of the Week, Alfie Boe’s Serenata was today showcased with Volare:

According to John, Volare, released in 1958, was the Italian entry in that year’s Eurovision Song Contest and came third!  We of course mostly know it through the Rosemary Clooney version.

And just to completely change things up, Clint Boon tweeted this little gem:

Serenata can be ordered below:

serenata

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Why Alfie Boe Doesn’t Use Earpieces!

It’s because he’s old fashioned!  At least, that was part of his explanation in answer to Sue Black on the Classic FM Wednesday Web Chat this morning.  And thank you Alfie for answering my question about Morgan Pochin!

Today was certainly Alfie Boe day on Classic FM – John Suchet played Arrivederci Roma on his Album of the Week slot too – here is Alfie’s video:

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Alfie Boe on the Wednesday Web Chat with Classic FM

Alfie Boe’s new album, Serenata (released 17th November) is John Suchet’s album of the week and he will also be joining Classic FM listeners on the Wednesday Web Chat tomorrow.

This morning’s track on John Suchet’s show was Non Ti Scordar Ti Me .

Serenata can be ordered below:

serenata

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Alfie Boe’s Serenata – Classic FM Album of the Week

Fantastic news, with week to go before Alfie Boe’s new album, Serenata, is John Suchet’s Classic FM album of the week!  If you’re not a regular Classic FM listener, this means that one track from Serenata will be played each day this week; today John played Addio Sogni di Gloria, and glorious it was too.  Here is the official video:

And if this wasn’t exciting enough, Alfie will be taking part in the Classic FM Wednesday Webchat this week (12th November) from 10am.

Serenata can be ordered below:

serenata

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Make Some Noise with Alfie Boe

Today saw the news that Alfie will be part of the Make Some Noise charity single which will be recorded at the AIR studios on 9th October and released the following day.  Alfie sing a solo alongside Katherine Jenkins, Aled Jones, Alexander Armstrong who will be complemented by Sol3Mio, Myleene Klass on piano, classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic and Classic FM presenters Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen (percussion) and John Suchet (trombone).  Alfie’s fellow Decca artist, Laura Wright will also appear.  Howard Goodall, pictured below with Katherine Jenkins and John Suchet, will write the single.

Katherine Jenkins, John Suchet and Howard Goodall

Make Some Noise is a brand new charity designed to help disadvantaged young people in the UK.  Grants awarded include funds to charities helping children and young people with illness, bereavement, disablility and lack of opportunities.  The charity was set up in 2014 by Global, whose media business includes Classic FM, Heart, and Capital radio stations, Heart TV and a highly successful music publishing wing.

Stay tuned for more news about the recording and purchasing of the Make Some Noise single!

 

Alfie Boe Wows Classic FM Live

Yesterday evening saw Alfie Boe headline Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall and it’s fair to say that he wowed the whole audience.  Performing at the end of the evening, Alfie’s magnificent voice shone through Addio Sogni and Chitarra Romana.  Of the two songs, both from Alfie’s forthcoming album, Serenata, we as an audience are much more familiar with Chitarra Romana as Alfie has sung it on a number of occasions in recent years. It is also of course, featured on his previous album of Neopolitan songs, La Passione.   Addio Sogni, however, is much fresher and it was the stand out song for me.  Easily filling the Royal Albert Hall, Alfie’s wonderful tones soared effortlessly over the orchestra; it was a hairs on the back of your neck moment. I should say that he was supported brilliantly by Matt White on guitar.

Although Alfie’s performance was the highlight, the whole evening was a triumph.  The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Timothy Henty, was a delight, particularly the triumphant end, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture.   The performances of Milos Karadglic, Julian Bliss and Ji Liu (classical guitar, clarinet and piano respectively) were masterpieces to watch and listen to, while Sol3Mio showed huge talent.  They are supporting Alfie on his arena tour at the end of the year and their amusing stage presence promises a fun show, especially if Alfie sings with them too.

To round off the evening perfectly, another cold wait at the stage door (it is never warm!) was rewarded by an appearance by the man himself, spending approximately ten minutes signing, posing for photos and chatting.  A couple of early birthday cards were handed in before the show and he confirmed he got them so thank you staff at the Royal Albert Hall!

No video that I’m aware of but click here for the link to Classic FM – the concert will be broadcast on Saturday 12-3pm.  In the meantime, here is Alfie talking to Classic FM presenter Jane Jones (click here)

alfie classic fm live

Nice to hear Alfie elaborate on his differing fan bases and showing them different genres of music.

Serenata can be pre-ordered from Amazon and La Passione is still available – just click on the images to order:

serenata

la passione

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Meet Katherine Jenkins

On the face of it, it’s a wonder that Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins haven’t collaborated more.  Both are from distinctly non traditional classical backgrounds, he from Fleetwood, Lancashire and she from Neath, South Wales.  They even both won scholarships to distinguished music colleges (Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music, respectively) although their route to these life changing opportunities were markedly different.  However, it is their choices taken after graduating that may indicate the reason as to why their forthcoming duet on Katherine’s new album is only their second collaboration (they previously performed together at a John Barry tribute in 2011).

After graduating, Alfie began performing in opera houses around the world, taking the more traditional route of trained opera singers, whilst Katherine signed the biggest recording deal in classical music (at the time) at the age of 23.  Hit album after hit album for her label, Decca, followed and although she was often asked about venturing onto the stage in an operatic role, that has never really been part of the plan.

Katherine Jenkins was born in 1980 and began singing as a child, appearing in the Choirgirl of the Year competition and the BBC radio 2 Welsh Choirgirl of the Year (winning twice).  She was also a member of the Royal School of Church Music Cathedral Singers and the National Youth Choir of Wakes.  A performance at a mass honouring the Pope’s silver jubilee at Westminster Cathedral followed her graduation from the Royal Academy of Music and she also supported Aled Jones on tour, before performing at the Sydney Opera House as a special guest of Max Boyce.  Since then, in between releasing her albums, and appearing on Dancing with the Stars on US TV (she came second) she has also been the Forces Sweetheart, only last month appearing at the D Day 70th anniversary commemorations at the Royal Albert Hall.  As I write this, I’m struck by the thought that maybe this early career trajectory is also in the minds of those masterminding soprano Laura Wright’s career.  Laura is also signed to Decca, has a couple of hit albums to her name and also appeared at those D Day commemorations, albeit in France in the morning and not at the Royal Albert Hall in the evening.

Katherine is now back with the label that started it all, Decca, after an ill-fated detour with Warner Bros.  I’m guessing the title of her new album, 10 years after her first signing, Home Sweet Home, is about more than just returning to a more traditional classical repertoire.

Perhaps we will see more of Katherine and Alfie together in the future, given that they have duetted on Barcelona.  Certainly, their PR machines seem to be working in accordance; tracks from both albums were played by John Suchet on his ClassicFM radio show recently, both have CD and calendar bundles available from Decca and both albums are due for release on the same day, 17th November.  Click here to pre-order Alfie Boe’s Serenata and Katherine Jenkins’ Home Sweet Home.

Let’s take another look at Barcelona, from the Edinburgh Castle concert last weekend:

for more info about Katherine, click here for her website:

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