CAI THOMAS - UPDATE: Kickstarter target achieved!!

[Mark928]

Cai is a truly superb chorister - listen to his magnificent performance of Fauré's Pie Jesu here:


If you are able, please support Cai with his Kickstarter campaign to professionally record his first solo album:


[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.facebook.com/cailewisthomas/[/BBvideo]

Not much time remaining, so don't delay!

[Surpinto]

I agree he is very good. I supported him and was sent 2 other videos (unlisted and for backers only). One of them is the famous "Suo Gan" (sung here by a different chorister for those unfamiliar with the tune) which floored me. I think that video and not so much the Faure would shows off his talent.

He only has a few days to meet his kickstarter goal and it would be a shame if a chorister as good as he is didn't have his recording happen for lack of funds.

Here is another video of him taken on a phone and not of great quality. If he sounds that good recorded a few years back on a phone, he will sound amazing singing it now when recorded with high quality equipment.

[maartendas]

I was just going to create a topic for Cai
He's nearly there to reach his goal so please support him so he can reach the funding for his recording!

From his Kickstarter page:
Cai is 12. He began singing at the age of 7 with the choir of St Thomas-on-The-Bourne in Farnham, Surrey, where he was spotted by a major label and in April 2019 he had the chance to record some demo tracks.
He holds the Bishop’s award for choral singing and has won competitions at local festivals and at school (Cai is a music scholar). He's an accomplished soloist and regularly performs both locally and during choir tours in European cathedrals including St Mark’s Venice, Brussels and Cologne.

Also, Cai has been chosen alongside only 3 other boys for the UK's BBC chorister of the year finals in October!

[bachmahlerfan]

Well, I wish the best of luck to him. I'll admit that I'm generally unimpressed with chorister solo albums (with a couple exceptions), but he certainly seems to have a voice worthy of being featured. I noticed on his twitter account that he thanked various entities for their support including "@officiallibera". Now, I know that a number of Libera fans have given him support, but I wasn't aware of Libera the organization doing so.

[Yorkie]

I don't think that Libera have supported him to be honest, I think it is more tagging them and trying to enlist them to help spread the message about his Kickstarter - a retweet from them would reach a lot of people.

[maartendas]

It turns out that Cai's singing teacher, Rob Lewis, was also the singing teacher of Ben P. (source: https://ameblo.jp/lewisjapan/entry-12526243420.html )

So perhaps Libera was already familiar to Cai and his team.

[filiarheni]

Thanks, Maarten, for posting some background information from the Kickstarter page.

After the amount requested has been achieved now - wow! - so that the album is going to be realised, I thought it would be a good idea to provide the entire text here, as it delivers some interesting specific and also general information about the track list of the album and the way how such a project works:

_________________________________

About Cai Thomas

Cai is 12. He began singing at the age of 7 with the choir of St Thomas-on-The-Bourne in Farnham, Surrey, where he was spotted by a major label and in April 2019 he had the chance to record some demo tracks.

It's clear from the results that Cai has a great album in him, so we've taken the first steps on that journey by recording the first three tracks of an album:

G.F. Handel's Laschia ch'io pianga
Pie Jesu from Gabriel Fauré's Requiem
The Welsh folk song Suo Gân

We're immensely proud of these tracks. We've proven it can be done, and we're now ready to record the rest of the album. Cai has the full support of our whole family and a great team of experienced professionals.

Cai is an experienced singer, despite his young age. He sings in his local church under the direction of the Director of Music, Rob Lewis. He lives in Farnham and is a music scholar at Edgeborough School in Frensham. He holds the Bishop’s award for choral singing and has won competitions at local festivals and at school. He's an accomplished soloist and regularly performs both locally and during choir tours in European cathedrals including St Mark’s Venice, Brussels and Cologne.

You can follow Cai on Facebook and listen to his recording of Pie Jesu from Gabriel Fauré's Requiem here.

Making an album is a new adventure for Cai and the Thomas family and we're confident it will be a positive experience that will create new and exciting opportunities for Cai's development as a performer. And allow us to share his talent!

What your support will provide
We have chosen the repertoire for Cai's album carefully to create a blend of some of the best-loved tracks for treble and orchestra/small ensemble as well as some exciting lesser known tracks which are well-suited to Cai's voice:

Ombra mai fu (Handel)
Silent Noon (Vaughan Williams)
The Ash Grove (trad.)
Only in Sleep (Eriks Esenvalds)
Laudate Dominum (Mozart)
Oh for the wings of a dove (Mendelssohn)
The Ground (Ola Gjeilo)
The Bluebird (Stanford)

We plan to release this album on CD and digitally in April 2020. If we could afford to do this on our own to the standard Cai deserves, then we would, but we can't, and that's why we're asking for your help.

Your much appreciated support will help with the costs of producing the master CD, including studio hire, production, engineering, and editing costs; orchestral and choral backing (we are working with some great musicians); and expert advice on bringing a new artist to market. In return, we are offering a range of rewards to involve you, and share Cai's music with you as soon as possible.

The team behind Cai
We have a great team lined up for this project with the experience to ensure very little is left to chance. His parents (siblings and grandparents!) are fully involved with supporting Cai and promoting the project and are working closely with the rest of the team:

Executive Producer and Music Director: Rob Lewis

Rob Lewis is Cai's singing teacher, conductor and choirmaster at St Thomas-on-The Bourne. Himself a chorister at Westminster Cathedral, he later won a Choral Scholarship to New College, Oxford, where he read Music. He specialises in developing choirs and voices of all ages and has built a reputation for performance excellence in both the choral and orchestral fields. His award-winning choirs have performed for Pope Benedict XV, for television and radio, as well as embarking on international tours. Recent recordings include ‘The Healer’ by Sir Karl Jenkins for EMI Classics and a CD of new music by Clive Osgood for Convivium Records, with the London Mozart Players.

Producer: Simon Kiln

Simon is an award-winning producer, engineer and editor with 25 years experience at London's Abbey Road Studios. Recent credits include a DVD Production for the Royal Opera House of Andrea Chenier with Jonas Kaufmann, The Flying Dutchman with Bryn Terfel, and a CD Production of Vaughan Williams and Bernstein with the Choir of King's College Cambridge.

Business Adviser: Andy Doe

A former head of classical music at iTunes and COO at Naxos, Andy has devised recorded media strategies for the Berlin Philharmonic, the LA Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, Kronos Quartet and the Colin Currie Group. As Director of Recordings and Media for King's College, Cambridge, he launched the best-selling new classical label of the last ten years.

Distributor: Rubicon Classics

Rubicon is a relatively new label run by Matthew Cosgrove, former VP of A&R at Deutsche Grammophon and General Manager of Onyx. Rubicon has agreed to distribute this album under exclusive license, so Cai will join the soprano Jennifer Johnston, the violinist Chlöe Hanslip and the early music ensemble Fretwork in the Rubicon catalogue.

Risks and challenges

The biggest risk in recording a solo treble is the voice itself, and this helps explain why there are not more recordings of boy trebles. A lot can be done to mitigate the risk, and our production has considerable experience making high quality commercial recordings with boys' voices. We'll be making sure the sessions are well-prepared and carefully paced so Cai remains relaxed and in good voice throughout. Cai's voice will break at some point, and that's why it's important we make the album as soon as possible.

We have budgeted meticulously, and our production team have all worked together before, so there's very little risk we could embark upon this project and not have a record to show for it. We've also already recorded about a quarter of the album. The production methods and the quality of the finished product are not in doubt.

Most other risks to this project fall under the category of unavoidable acts of God, which we can to a large extent mitigate through the use of force majeure clauses in contracts. For example, if the recording venue burns down the night before the recording, we have the option to reschedule.

There are, though, a lot of moving parts in completing an album. We're targeting a March/April release date, and we're keen to get the album to the public as quickly as possible, but there' s a chance that the recording will be better served by release at a slightly later date. If that's the case, we'll still make sure our supporters get their copies as soon as they're finished.

_________________________________

It breaks my heart to read that Cai and his choir were in Cologne in summer 2016 and I had no idea. It was right after my return from holidays, so it would have been possible. However, I was still fully busy with my months long magnificent, wonderful, unique Libera "shock" and didn't yet look left and right at that time.
But some fun: One of their concerts was in a cathedral nearby and "when we arrived, there was a wedding taking place, so rehearsal commenced outside in the sunshine with Rob." Just imagining Libera doing so ...

Congratulations to Cai and looking forward to the CD!

[bachmahlerfan]

After checking out the BBC link provided by JimmyRiddle regarding Libera's upcoming appearance, I scrolled down further to the Chorister of the Year section, and noticed a couple interesting details:

Charlie Trueman - Wakefield Cathedral
Cai Thomas - Edgeborough School)
William James - Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace
William Miles-Kingston - York Minster
Amelia Horan - Sedburgh School
Catherine James - Lady Eleanor Holles School
Lydia South - Lincoln Cathedral
Anna Haestrup - St Paul’s Girls School

The eight finalists will each sing a Christmas carol and a Christmas anthem:

Joy To World (Lowell Mason); The Little Road To Bethlehem (Michael Head); Suo Gan (Robert Prizeman); O Holy Night (Adolphe Adam); Past Three O’Clock (Charles Wood); Dormi, Jesu (John Rutter); In The Bleak Midwinter (Holst); The Sussex Carol (David Willcocks); Once In Royal David’s City (Gauntlett); That Yongë Child (Benjamin Britten); The Coventry Carol (Francis Melville); The Corpus Christi Carol (Benjamin Britten); The Shepherd’s Farewell Carol (Berlioz); How Beautiful Are The Feet (Handel); The First Nowell (David Willcocks); and The Virgin’s Slumber Song (Reger)

Suo Gan, which is being sung by Cai Thomas, seems to be arranged by Robert Prizeman in this case. I suppose that his choir director is well aware of Prizeman's abilities as an arranger, considering his past connection to Libera. I'm wondering if the version released for Cai's upcoming CD is arranged by Prizeman. I also noticed that one of the choristers is William Miles-Kingston, who I found out is the son of Paul Miles-Kingston, who achieved some fame with Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu".

[Surpinto]

Suo Gan, which is being sung by Cai Thomas, seems to be arranged by Robert Prizeman in this case. I suppose that his choir director is well aware of Prizeman's abilities as an arranger, considering his past connection to Libera. I'm wondering if the version released for Cai's upcoming CD is arranged by Prizeman.

We know that Mr. Prizeman worked for the BBC in some capacity for a long time, composing the theme for the Songs of Praise show in particular, and I imagine he still continues his work there.

This is actually quite a fascinating and intriguing piece of news. Thank you for catching what many of us in the daily hustle and bustle missed and overlooked!

[theriverflowson]

Cai's new single 'Wherever you are' by Welsh composer Paul Mealor is out by today. The idea is to support children's brain cancer charity Robbie's Rehab. I'm happy to got the chance to support this crowdfunding project and the result is just amazing from my opinion. A great add-on to this project will be to recrute new local talents.



Maybe you want to listen to it and even support Robbie's Rehab?

[Surpinto]

Definitely well done and for a good cause too! Thank you, theriverflowson, for your link.

[theriverflowson]

Definitely well done and for a good cause too! Thank you, theriverflowson, for your link.

You are most welcome, Surpinto!

Forgot to mention that Cai released another single along with 'Wherever you are', and here we have the bridge to Libera: it's 'Walking in the Air' . Honestly I prefer Luca Brugnoli's version from the Christmas Carols album, but still a very nice arrangement:

[Surpinto]

Definitely well done and for a good cause too! Thank you, theriverflowson, for your link.

You are most welcome, Surpinto!

Forgot to mention that Cai released another single along with 'Wherever you are', and here we have the bridge to Libera: it's 'Walking in the Air' . Honestly I prefer Luca Brugnoli's version from the Christmas Carols album, but still a very nice arrangement:

I prefer Libera's as well. It's a more gentle version I would say and has its own unique arrangement. Not that I'm complaining loudly , but that song has been sort of overdone by lots of trebles; and it can get a tad tiresome. Nothing negative to say about Cai's singing of it of course, but it's the song itself and that mostly same arrangement of it that nearly every treble seems to do that we have heard for decades now. Libera's version at least manages to distinguish itself somehow.

[filiarheni]

Libera's version at least manages to distinguish itself somehow.

... as usual.

[bachmahlerfan]

You are most welcome, Surpinto!

Forgot to mention that Cai released another single along with 'Wherever you are', and here we have the bridge to Libera: it's 'Walking in the Air' . Honestly I prefer Luca Brugnoli's version from the Christmas Carols album, but still a very nice arrangement:

I agree. I thought he did a great job on "Wherever you are", but I was less impressed with "Walking in the Air". I thought the tone of his voice was too dark, and the phrasing felt off at times. Luca's voice was more free flowing, and a little brighter without being too bright.