Right guys apologies for the delay but we been real busy with post summer nights, trying to edit footage, make final payments and so on. Today you can find the response on the Chronicle to the issue with the Gibraltar National Choir but just in case here it is: Dear Sir, Reference the letter published 19/08/14 by Gill Chesney-Green named “Choir Cancelled”... Firstly, we would like to take this opportunity to offer our sincerest apologies for any inconveniences caused by the cancellation of the Gibraltar National Choir during the Summer Nights 2014 events. J2 Productions and Fresh Entertainment have been providing first class entertainment in Gibraltar for nearly a decade ranging from EDM festivals to National Day Rock concerts, GibFloyd events and Summer Nights to mention a few, and understand how a cancellation can affect those involved. This years Summer Nights has not only provided over 33 hours of entertainment but has also received praise from the public for the variety of events and acts included, twice a week for six weeks. These sets of events have been produced by a group of professionals that have worked tirelessly months before the event liaising with international acts, local acts, Government & other professional bodies, relatives, police, ambulance and fire services, etc. Time lines (created with the help of all the acts) were prepared in advanced and as with any event of this magnitude delays are expected; everyone involved has put their lives on hold (for over six weeks) so as to provide the audience with as much variety and entertainment as possible. Throughout the Summer Nights there have been minor delays due to electricity supply issues, frontier issues and other factors which are out of anyones control but all of these were rectified and the evenings continued until close to midnight (in some cases) as the crowds in attendance were enjoying themselves and did not want to leave; as a result the organisers and their teams stayed until after the 11:30 termination time in order to satisfy the crowds who wanted more (all of this unpaid). However, unbeknown to J2 Productions, this had also caused a number of complaints to be made by members of the public, to Gibraltar Cultural Services, who had subcontracted J2 to produce the Summer Nights this year. In the case of the “Gibraltar National Choir” and their performance a few factors need to be addressed. Firstly, The Gibraltar National Choir was tasked with a small and final set of the evening, not a set of over one hour as they actually prepared. Secondly, the fact that the Choir was paid over and above the original amount due, because of the inconvenience caused to them, not by the organisers but by whoever it was that had been complaining about the noise and therefore forced the organisers to stop the event by 23:30. Thirdly, some of the children performing went over their allotted time which caused delays further down the line (in this case, kids performing various tracks were cut to one performance and other performances set for X amount of time had their sets halved in order to rectify the problem for the choir). Not all performers agree to their set being cut short, as the National Choir well know, but in this case they all did. The organisers did everything in their power in order to accommodate the Choir that evening, including and not limited to: Starting before the 20:30 kick off time Cutting songs from the Festival of Young Musicians (who by the way had also spent all of their summer rehearsing and preparing for this event). Instructing the entire team of workers, sound engineers and stage managers that the event would continue until midnight due to the unforeseen delays caused by the electricity and some of the long performances throughout the early hours of the evening. It was not until the organisers were contacted by Gibraltar Cultural Services at 23:28 that the order was given to not continue past the 23:30 deadline, due to the complaints they had been receiving. This, as you can understand is beyond the organisers power to rectify as they had originally offered to continue with the evening until midnight but this was denied. The organisers (who also understood the anger of the choir) continued to discuss the situation with the Choir Master who understood that the order to terminate for the evening was not made by the organisers themselves but by Gibraltar Cultural Services, who had contracted them. The choir was then offered to perform one song on stage that evening or a full set the next Saturday as part of the Summer Nights Final evening. They declined both offers. Once again, everyone involved would like to apologise for the delays that occurred that evening and as frustrating as it was for everyone involved it all boils down to complaints made by the public. J2 Productions has worked closely with the Gibraltar National Choir on various occasions including the Gibraltar National Day Rock Concert 2012 where J2 gave the Choir the unique opportunity to perform “Bohemian Rhapsody” with over 15 musicians (as the concert finale) as well as placing the choir in the middle of Casemates surrounded by over 200 candles in what was one of the most moving Summer Nights 2012 evenings. J2 Productions prides itself in the unique and professional shows they choose to create for the public; at the end of the day it is about pushing ones creativity and personal limitations in order to entertain others and as a result will continue to provide that level of entertainment with professionals from around the world as has been experienced by the audiences during the past 6 weeks with nights such as “A Taste of Morocco”, “Circus Night” and the “Cuban/Brazilian Tropical Fiesta Night”. Yours faithfully Jay Callejon
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 11:43:25 +0000
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