Sarah is thrilled to be participating in Parkinson's UK Symfunny, an evening of music and laughter at the Royal Albert Hall.
Also joining the confirmed line up of leading singers, comedians, and musicians are: Jane Asher, Jane Horrocks, Watson & Oliver and Rob Deering.
Parkinson’s UK presents: Symfunny is organised by conductor, composer and producer James Morgan and his partner, Juliette Pochin, and is the result of James’ shock young onset Parkinson’s diagnosis at the beginning of last year. Turning bad news into a positive, James, along with his partner, fellow composer, producer and soprano Juliette Pochin, wanted to use their musical connections to help raise money for and awareness of this progressive condition and joined forces with Parkinson’s UK.
For one night only, international soprano, Sarah Brightman will be returning to the stage, not to sing, but to pick up the baton once again, following her conducting debut in the film ‘First Night’. The operatic romantic comedy, released in 2010, starred Sarah alongside Richard E Grant. James, who mentored Sarah to conduct for the film, also created the music, and Sarah jumped at the chance to refresh her conducting skills for Symfunny, she said:
"I'm thrilled to be involved in Symfunny. We had so much fun training for this and making the film, this will bring back some great memories -James gave me the gift of being able to conduct and it's an honour to be able to give something back to both him and Juliette for such a worthy cause"
President of Parkinson’s UK, Jane Asher’s career includes film, theatre, literature and music. In 2008, she appeared on BBC’s talent series, Maestro, where she developed a hidden talent for conducting. Putting this new skill to good use, Jane will take up the baton once again at Symfunny, leading Handel’s Zadok the Priest. Jane is especially pleased to be taking part in the evening, as her brother in law has lived with Parkinson’s for many years.
TV actress, musician and comedienne Jane Horrocks embodies comedy and music. Well known for her role as the lovable ‘Bubbles’ in ‘Absolutely Fabulous’, she is renowned for her distinctive voice and strong Lancashire accent. James and Juliette produced a duet with Jane and Gracie Fields for a Decca release, “The Best of Gracie Fields’, and Jane will be performing as Gracie Fields on the night.
Watson and Oliver, formed of Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver, have had two series of their sketch show ‘Watson and Oliver’ on BBC2. They danced the Bolero on ‘Let’s Dance for Sports Relief’ and baked cakes for the Comic Relief Great British Bake Off. They will be bringing their own quirky brand of sketch humour to the evening.
Stand-up comedian and multi-talented performer Rob Deering, is also a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe. Rob’s father has Parkinson’s, and Rob created the popular ‘Shake with laughter’ fundraising comedy nights two years ago to raise money for Parkinson’s UK. He joins the already phenomenal line up.
Tickets are priced from £17.80, for further information please click here.