Monday, December 29, 2014

La bohème at English National Opera

During November and December ten boys from the Vaughan (alongside nine girls also chosen and trained by the Vaughan Music Department) sang in Puccini's La bohème at English National Opera

This was a revival of Jonathan Miller's acclaimed production, staged jointly with Cincinnati Opera - boys from our friends in the Cincinnati Boy Choir had sung in it when it was staged there. It was the second time that the Vaughan had provided the children for the production, having done so in 2013 as well.


The opera received excellent reviews including:

'One of the best Bohèmes to be heard in London in recent years… immensely moving' ★★★★★ The Guardian

This video gives a sense of this beautiful production, inspired by photos of the 1930s Left Bank. 

 

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The Vaughan Carol Service

The Vaughan Carol Service is always one of the highlights of the School's year. This year the service returned to Our Lady of Victories on Kensington High Street after two years being held elsewhere.



The singing was led by the Schola, augmented by some fine playing from the Vaughan Brass Consort. The congregational singing was especially impressive, augmented no doubt by the many former members of the Schola who always attend this service!


Here are recordings taken from the service of five of the carols that the Schola sang that evening.













Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Schola sing at Westminster Abbey

The Schola had the great honour of singing at Westminster Abbey for the All Souls Day service on Monday 3 November.

The Schola sang the Requiem Mass by Gabriel Fauré on what was a very beautiful and memorable occasion.

The choir will return to Westminster Abbey to sing Evensong in April 2015. 




Monday, December 15, 2014

A little 'behind the scenes' information on the Centenary Celebration!


The Centenary Celebration offered a unique opportunity and a unique challenge. Unlike, for example,  a musical, there was no script, score or indeed any real precedent to copy. An evening's entertainment had to be constructed from scratch. And on such a huge stage as well – there are five and half thousand seats in the Royal Albert Hall!


From the very beginning it was intended that the evening would be structured around a series of short documentary-style films shown on a giant screen - perhaps inspired by an occasion a few years ago when the Schola sang at the world premiere of the 3D version of Titanic
Two Vaughan parents who work in the film and TV business, Adam Scoffield and Flavia Ritner, amazingly agreed to help make these films - remarkable given the amount of time they must have known it would take - and around 18 months ago we began to film, starting by interviewing on cameras many Old Vaughanians and former staff. Scripts were written and pupils were slowly but surely filmed speaking the narration. More than 100 pupils took part in the filming process.


Filming is an incredibly time-consuming activity; for example, one day was spent at Westminster Cathedral - from which there was perhaps 20 seconds of footage shown on the evening. Another entire day was spent with two Old Vaughanians, John Sankey and Terry Denett (who very bravely also appeared on the stage on the evening) filming in the former grounds of Beaumont College where the Vaughan had been evacuated to during the war, again just for a short passage of footage on the evening. 
Many more hours were spent researching the Vaughan’s history and collecting and creating graphics and photographs to add life and colour to the films. Slowly but surely the films took shape. A film about sport was made by another parent, with an Old Vaughanian presenting from his sports anchor desk in Doha! Using the history of the School written by Peter Brennan in 1995 we also created an illustrated brochure of the School's history and brought the story up to date. Hannah Staff worked very closely on this, alongside the Fetherstonhaugh Publishing company.



Meanwhile, numerous ideas were considered for the musical items and eventually the programme began to come together. To make it into the evening the music had to be short, reasonably accessible, and not too challenging to play - the difficulties of performing in the Royal Albert Hall were sufficient without playing hugely difficult music! That said, the fanfare composed especially for the occasion (and which brilliantly used the school and the Albert Hall's resources) was quite tricky! The composer of that piece was Dr Philip Wilby - Miss Wilby's father. (We have two famous composers related to our music staff as Mr Jackson's grandfather is Francis Jackson, a legendary figure in the church music world and another greatly respected composer).
 
There were numerous technical aspects involved in making the event run smoothly. The films were projected on to the 30 foot screen from one of the audience boxes whilst the men who controlled them were hidden in the basement of the Albert Hall. They started each film on a cue from the show caller, John, who sat next to the lighting and sound people on the desks at the back of the arena, giving instructions from the script. Adam Scoffield was at the hall during the day with the computer equipment needed to edit the films if it proved necessary. Flavia Ritner was also present for the rehearsals to time everything (it would have been disastrous to discover that we were over time) and also to add last minute tweaks to the script. The script for our brilliant host, Stephen Cole, was run to an autocue controlled by a chap called Danny who sat in the ‘bull run’ as they call it – just be the entrance to the stage.



There were 200 microphones on the stage, all running to the desk at the rear of the arena from where they were mixed by the Albert Hall’s in-house sound team – the difficult acoustic of the Albert Hall makes unique challenges, especially when you were mixing live music, live voices plus video sound. Lighting was also controlled by the in-house lighting team of the Albert Hall, following the script – they were left to light the show as they felt best, according to the suggestions given. The school crest was shone onto the famous ceiling mushrooms (installed to improve the hall’s trick acoustic and of course referred to by John Lennon in ‘A Day in the life’) using a device called a ‘Gobo’ – these had to be made specially. 

Also contained in the ceiling of course were the 1500 balloons, each with the school crest printed on them, that were released at the end of the final hymn! Although I spoke to the balloon man a great deal on the phone we did not meet on the day as he worked away in the dome of the hall, inflating the balloons only once in the ceiling. He would also have been last to leave as he faced the challenge of lowering a device down from the ceiling to blow down the several hundred balloons that would be caught in the acoustic mushrooms and never reach the boys gathered below! I wonder if he then ran around bursting them all?!


All these various technical aspects were controlled by the stage manager, a wonderful lady called Maz Bryden who came to work with me for the final couple of weeks of the preparations. She was simply invaluable in controlling the many complicated aspects of the show and allowing the music staff on the day to concentrate on the music. The Albert Hall provided a team of around 20 technicians who ensured that the stage was set as we wished and looked after the challenges of the day, all led by Mo Crowe who was our show manager at the Royal Albert Hall. 
All of this help meant that the day itself was actually easier than the average large concert we put on! It was made easier still by having the help and support of the entire teaching staff, all of whom at some point were involved in chaperoning the performers and then bringing the rest of the School into the Hall at the appropriate time. Seating and ticketing in the Albert Hall is very complicated as more than a thousand seats are owned by the ‘members’, individuals (such as Her Majesty the Queen!) and large companies who have bought boxes and stalls seats and have the right to attend whatever they wish. They were not all terribly quick at returning their seats to us and so it became difficult to know how many could sit where. It was a major relief to see the whole School safely sat in the Hall waiting for the show to start! Particular mention should be made of Mr Kehoe who looked after the arrangements on the evening for the School. And credit for the ticketing of the event belongs to Hannah Staff who worked closely with me to ensure that everyone ended up sat in the right place.

The involvement of so many individuals was the reason for the show’s smooth and error free success and it is good to have the chance to thank them on this blog even if time did not permit them all to be thanked on the evening. I would also like to thank all the performers of course. It was wonderful to have with us so many Old Vaughanians for the evening. Many played in the orchestra or sang in the choir. Perhaps most impressive were the greatly accomplished, confident performances given by the Old Vaughanians in the musicals medley. And comedian Dominic Holland delighted the audience with his very funny routine about a maths test from his school days! 

If you missed it then its available on DVD! And if you were there, then thanks for coming! And many thanks for the countless messages that were sent in the days following and that continue to arrive. It is lovely to know that the work of all the  people mentioned above was so well received and so greatly appreciated.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Centenary Foundation Day Mass

The Mass to mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of the School in 1914 was held on Friday 19 September at Westminster Cathedral.  The principal celebrant was Cardinal Vincent Nichols. He was joined by around 30 of his fellow priests, many of whom have links to the Vaughan.

Those present at the Mass will have heard the Schola and Senior Brass lead the School's worship in considerable style. The Schola was augmented by twenty former members of the choir who sang the baritone choir part in Widor's Messe à deux chœurs et deux orgues. It was wonderful to have these former members back with us - some left recently, others as long ago as 12 years. They made a marvelous sound - which you can hear on these videos:





The other very welcome guest with the Schola in the apse of the Cathedral that day was the world renowned composer James MacMillan, who had composed a piece for the occasion. It was a great honour, and quite nerve-wracking, to give the first performance of his motet, Emitte Lucem Tuam in his presence - and what a piece he has written for us too. The boys sang very well and many people commented afterwards on what a dramatic and fitting addition the work was to the liturgy that day. James MacMillan was very pleased with the performance and complimented the choir warmly, including talking about the Schola and the performance later that afternoon when he was interviewed on BBC Radio. Mr MacMillan has very kindly agreed to become a patron of the Vaughan Schola, alongside David Hill and James O'Donnell.

The text of the motet is taken from Psalm 42:


Emítte lucem tuam et veritátem tuam; ipsa me deduxérunt, et adduxérunt in montem sanctum tuum, et in tabernácula tua. Et introíbo ad altáre Dei, ad Deum qui lætíficat iuventútem meam. Confitébor tibi in cíthara, Deus, Deus meus. Glória Patri, et Filio, et Spirítui Sancto; sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen. 

Send out your light and your truth; these themselves led me forth, and they brought me to your holy mountain and to your holy place.And I will come to the altar of God, to God who gives delight to my youthfulness. And I will give thanks to you upon the harp, O God, my God. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. 

James MacMillan (b.1959) Psalm 42 (43): 3-5 & Doxology

Further videos of the music from the occasion, which included a pslam setting by Colin Mawby and hymns specially arranged by Philip Wilby, will be available very shortly on this blog.



Monday, September 1, 2014

Music Events This Term

This Michaelmas Term promises to be a very memorable one for the Vaughan's musicians. The School celebrates its centenary this coming year and there are two very special events in the coming weeks to mark this milestone in the history of the School.

On September 19 the School with gather at Westminster Cathedral for the Foundation Day Mass. Always a special occasion, this year the Mass will see former members of the Schola singing alongside the current choir in Widor's Messe à deux chœurs et deux orgues, Op 36. On the same day,  the Schola will be joined by one of the world's greatest living composers, James MacMillan (pictured), as it performs the world premiere performance of the motet that he has composed for the occasion, a setting of part of Psalm 42, Emitte lucem tuam.


A few weeks later, on Tuesday 14 October, the Vaughan will come together at the Royal Albert Hall for the Centenary Celebration. This unique event, will gather more than 5000 people connected to the School for an evening looking at the Vaughan's past, present and future. There will be performances from 180 of the School's musicians, with music from Walton, Parry, Handel, John Williams, a world premiere performance of an orchestral fanfare written by composer Philip Wilby, and much more besides. Our musicians will be joined by Old Vaughanians and several special guests.  This will surely be the biggest event in the history of the school and a very memorable evening for all involved in the school's music-making.


Later in the term there are other notable events. On Monday 3 November the Schola will sing at Westminster Abbey for the Eucharist Service on All Souls Day. The choir is greatly honoured to have been invited to sing at the Abbey on this very important day in the church calendar.


The annual celebration of St Cecilia will take place on Thursday 20 November at St Paul's Church, Hammersmith and will see performances from an array of choirs and ensembles from the School.

The Vaughan Carol Service will be held at Our Lady of Victories on Kensington High Street on Thursday 18 December, starting at 7.30 pm.

Other highlights include boys singing in La boheme at English National Opera during November and December and also several planned performances of Britten's Ceremony of Carols at Christmas time. Meanwhile, the Big Band returns to the Bull's Head, Barnes on Sunday 5 October at 1 pm.


Saturday, August 23, 2014

The Vaughan's singing past.

Some wonderful photos have been unearthed of the Vaughan's musicians from many years ago as, with the Vaughan's Centenary year about to begin, we have been working through the School's archives.


For its first twenty or so years the Vaughan appears to have had very little music-making going on other than congregational singing. The boys were certainly familiar with the sadly now largely forgotten Catholic chants. It is said, for example, that as the School left for Windsor on the day of the evacuation in September 1939 at the start of the Second World War they sang the Veni, Creator Spiritus, alternating with the popular songs of the day – ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ and ‘Marching through Georgia’.


In 1935 a Music Society was founded by the older pupils and in 1937 there was reference in the Vaughan magazine to “the new choir”. Around this time Ferdinand Laloux was appointed to lead the singing, the School’s first music teacher. When he worked at the Vaughan he was also recognised as a distinguished composer of church music and Director of Music at Farm Street Jesuit Church and later at the Sacred Heart in Wimbledon. The Schola is to sing some of Laloux's music this coming anniversary year.

Under the regrettably short headship of Monsignor Butcher (1948-1952) music, along with the other arts, seems to have begun to flourish. The singing at Mass and Benediction was said to be much improved and when distinguished violist Bernard Shore visited the School in 1950 to give a recital he commented on the “beautiful tone” of the School Choir and suggested that they should soon tackle music in four parts. The choir was directed by Mr Frank Handyside, who taught chemistry but who had a great love for the arts and encouraged the boys to develop their choral skills. 

This picture taken in 1953 shows the School Choir sat on the steps of Addison Hall, with their teacher, Mr Handyside. 

And this picture, taken a few years later in 1956, shows the choir performing at the School's Speech Day. 



Later, led by Fr David Konstant and then Vaughan Headmaster Anthony Pellegrini, the choir would begin to tackle the major choral repertoire, singing Bach’s The John Passion, Handel’s Messiah and Faure’s Requiem in concerts that were increasingly ambitious. During the late 1970s and 1980s these concert performances were recorded and released as LPs on sale to parents. 


In 1980 Anthony Pellegrini, by then Headmaster, founded the Schola Cantourm, a liturgical choir to provide music for the School’s liturgies. Mr Pellegrini was very ambitious for the Schola from the very beginning and the choir toured extensively and sang often around London. On a famous occasion in 1984 the Schola sang for His Holiness John Paul II in St Peter’s Square, the Pope congratulating the boys on their Latin. 

 

Sunday, July 27, 2014

"Playing music is the brain's equivalent of a full-body workout!!"

Listen to this illustrated talk to get more reasons why you should play your instruments!





A montage of Vaughan concert posters

This image is a montage of posters from the Vaughan's concerts over the past few years. It might bring back some memories!


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

From the Vaughan Magazine - Schola Review of the Year

The following text will appear in the Vaughan Magazine to be published in September. Here is a preview!



This has been a very busy year for the Schola and the choir continues to go from strength to strength, ever increasing the ambition of its activities, its repertoire and its reputation. As always, it has sung each week at the Lower School Mass, performing a vast array of music ranging from Palestrina and Victoria through to Dove and MacMillan. In addition the Schola has continued to sing once every half-term at the Saturday evening Vigil Mass at Westminster Cathedral. This has been a very important development, allowing the choir to sing regularly in one of the world’s greatest choral acoustics. I am most grateful to the clergy of the Cathedral, and Father Alexander Master in particular, for being so very supportive of the Choir’s visits. 

In the Michaelmas term the Schola’s concert activities were based around Duruflé’s Requiem which we sang twice, once in a splendid joint concert with Ealing Abbey Choir in Ealing Abbey itself, and then by ourselves in Douai Abbey. The concert in Douai, which was very warmly received by a large audience, was given in return for the fathers of the Abbey having been kind enough to allow us to record our latest CD In Honour of Our Lady there the previous June. There was some lovely singing in both concerts, especially in Douai where a varied first half of English music was contrasted with the glories of the Duruflé in this most wonderful of settings.

The Schola’s new CD is being sold for Aid to the Church in Need, one of several charities which the choir has helped this year. In November we sang at the Royal Festival Hall as part of a concert for The Passage, the homeless charity, and the concert at Douai was in aid of Hopes and Homes for Children. We sang for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham’s Carol Service once again and also played in a major role in the Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea’s Carol Service which raised funds for Cystic Fibrosis.

The Vaughan’s Carol Service was a memorable occasion, held for the second year in St James’s, Spanish Place. A packed congregation of around 800 people heard carols that included two first performances, a setting of Dormi Jesu by Matthew Martin that had been commissioned by the Schola, and also a carol entitled What Child is This, which had been commissioned by The Financial Times from Fifth Form pupil Thomas Fetherstonhaugh. Thomas’s carol was recorded by the Schola for newspaper’s website and the music was printed in full in their weekend supplement early in December. As a result, Thomas was invited to appear on Radio 3’s In Tune programme, where he talked about his composition and the Schola. Recordings of both his Carol and of the Schola were played to the nation. It was a very exciting day – made more exciting still by 30 foot high pictures of Thomas, Mr Evans, myself and the Schola, being all over the advertising billboards in Shepherd’s Bush!

In the New Year the Schola gave a concert based around the Psalms of David in the Chapel of King’s College, London as part of the Brandenburg Festival. The main work was Allegri’s Miserere, in which Leo Blair performed the famous top c’s required for the solo part. David Hill, conductor of the Bach Choir and the BBC Singers, visited the School to lead a workshop with the Schola on this and other pieces for the concert at King’s Chapel. The Allegri was also performed at a very beautiful Ash Wednesday Service, which marked the welcome return of the Vaughan after a number of years to Our Lady of Victories on Kensington High Street. Poulenc’s difficult Lenten motets were performed at St John’s Smith Square in April and that same week the Schola sang at a very beautiful service entitled Via Crucis at the School which, led by Father Dominic Allain, offered a reflection on our Lord’s Passion in words and music.

In the Summer Term the Schola gave a concert for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham at their new home, Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory, Warwick Street. The Choir also competed in the Choir of the Year competition and was very pleased to be awarded ‘Choir of the Day’ in our category. We returned to the Royal Festival Hall in June to sing alongside the Bach Choir in a performance of the Berlioz Te Deum and a world premiere performance of a work entitled Psalms for Leo by Jonathan Dove. This was one of several occasions when the boys worked in professional contexts this year – others included the performances of Turandot and Die Frau Ohne Schatten at the Royal Opera House in September and March respectively. There has also been a fair amount of commercial work including several film soundtracks – the most prominent of which was probably for the Johnny Depp film Transcendence.  There have been some outstanding individual achievements too – Leo Blair, Alessio D’Andrea and Joseph Outtrim performed wonderfully as rather aged boy spirits in English National Opera’s The Magic Flute in November and Alessio sang the role of Shepherd Boy in the Royal Opera’s Tosca this Summer, including performances with Placido Domingo. Leo Blair performed the solo part in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms in a performance with the Philharmonia at the Brighton Festival. Meanwhile, Dominic Lynch performed the major role of Miles in Opera Holland Park’s production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, receiving outstanding reviews in all the national newspapers.

It remains only for me to thank the boys and their parents for their commitment to the Schola this year – it is no small undertaking to be in the Schola, or indeed to have a son in it! Also, I thank Mr Evans who accompanies the choir so wonderfully, Mr Jackson who is a superb assistant director, and the singing teachers for all their work with the boys. Plans for next year are very exciting and I am sure that the choir will continue to go from strength to strength.

From the Vaughan Magazine - Concert Review of The Year


The following text will appear in the Vaughan Magazine in September. Here is an early preview!



There have been performance opportunities of great variety throughout this School year, involving very many of the School’s pupils. Novelties included a wonderful Strings Day in January, when five members of the English Chamber Orchestra worked with our string players of all levels, building to a delightful concert. Other visitors included David Hill, Director of the BBC Singers and Wayne Escoffery, a member of the Mingus Big Band.  Southbank Sinfonia added to their work with us this year with a wonderful composing workshop for the Lower Sixth music students. Boys also had the chance to work with violinist Nicola Benedetti in a series of workshops and master classes whilst Patrick Huynh in the Lower Sixth was a finalist in the Young Drummer of the Year competition. Alessio D’Andrea even got to sing a solo for Placido Domingo at the Royal Opera House!

Smaller scale events have included our Early Evening Recitals held in the Michaelmas Term and also the annual Music Competition, which was once again held in the Lent Term. 114 pupils took part in this year's competition. The winners of the various heats were as follows:
Piano             
Oliver Hewins, Owen Saldanha, Dominic Doutney& Thomas Lacy
Singing                     
Alessio D’Andrea, Filippo Turkheimer, Eoghan McNelis & Thomas Galea
Brass 
Francis de Souza, Hugo Greally, Liam Clarke & Alfie Smart
Woodwind    
Owen Saldanha, David Laleye-Thomas, Aeron Dela-Cruz, Thomas Galea
Strings                      
Timothy McGarry, Emil Sieciechowicz, Thomas Fetherstonhaugh & William Lim Kee Chang
The Final, held in March, was a very lovely evening of music-making. The winners were:
Lower School Musician of the Year                       Owen Saldanha
Upper School Musician of the Year                       Dominic Doutney
Dominic, who is to attend the Royal College of Music in September, was invited to keep the Senior trophy as he has won it so many times! The competition will be a little more open perhaps next year!

In June we held the Lower School Chamber Music Competition. The winners, chosen by Howard Ionascu of the Royal Academy of Music, were Second Big Band. The Outstanding Individual Prize of the evening went to Sean Hill of the Fourth Form.

Our larger concerts began with the St Cecilia Concert in November at St Paul’s Church, Hammersmith. Around two hundred pupils performed a wide-ranging programme including music by Haydn, Copland, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Chilcott in performances by Concert Band, Senior Strings, First and Second Orchestra, the School Choir, Schola and the Sixth Form Choir.

December saw the Vaughan's annual concert with the Belgravia Chamber Orchestra, which this year was of music by Haydn and Mozart. The concert was once again held in the wonderful surroundings of St James's, Spanish Place. Haydn's 'Nelson' Mass was the main work on the programme, in which the choir was joined by four Old Vaughanian soloists, Maud Millar, Daniel Laking, Peter Davoren and Jerome Knox, all of whom sang quite beautifully. The Mozart in the concert was the Violin Concerto in G major performed with great confidence and musicianship by Thomas Fetherstonhaugh of the Fifth Form.

Our work with our Orchestra in residence Southbank Sinfonia was particularly exciting this year, partly because of the wonderful repertoire we were exploring – Rimksy-Korsakov’s Scheherazade was the main orchestral work – and also because of the concert venue, the remarkable Jerwood Hall, at LSO St Luke’s in the Barbican. The Jerwood Hall is the home of the London Symphony Orchestra and it provided a spectacular backdrop for our concert which was surely the best of the six that we have now given sat side-by-side with Southbank Sinfonia.  The Schola sang Duruflé’s beautiful Requiem in the rarely performed full orchestral version in the first half before our two orchestras joined forces for the Russian showpiece that is Scheherazade. The pictures in this magazine give some idea of the wonderful Sunday afternoon that we spent at the Jerwood Hall, without question one of the highlights of this musical year. As always, very considerable thanks are owed to the management and players of Southbank Sinfonia who continue to support this project so very warmly.

There was another new and impressive venue for the Spring Instrumental Concert, which this year was held in the beautiful Wathen Hall at St Paul’s School.  The Vaughan has links with St Paul’s and we have been fortunate to perform in their hall in previous years with Southbank Sinfonia. This was our first proper ‘school’ concert there though, with lots of ensembles taking part. The large audience was grateful both for the excellent acoustic of the hall and also the raked seating that allowed everyone a clear view of the music-making. There was lots of strong playing, the highlight of which, for me at least, was the complete performance of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings. I have for many years urged Mr Manoras to tackle this work, one of my very favourites in the string repertoire, but he has always felt it to be too difficult. The strength of our string players at the moment though is such that he was willing to undertake the challenge – and he was rewarded with a truly remarkable performance. To perform this work in its entirety is a huge achievement, a testament to the dedicated work of Mr Manoras over many years. Other performers that evening included Thomas Galea who gave a strong performance of Mozart’s G Major Flute Concerto and Thomas Fetherstonhaugh who conducted the First Orchestra through a very creditable performance of Sibelius’s Finlandia. The younger boys played very well indeed in both Junior Strings and the Second Orchestra and there were sterling performances from Concert Band, Big Band and even a lovely guitar ensemble.

The Easter concert this year was held at St John’s, Smith Square. The second half of the concert saw the Schola perform Lenten motets by Poulenc, Casals and Lotti, and the School Choir perform Poulenc’s splendid setting of the Gloria. Old Vaughanian Maud Millar joined us as soloist for the Gloria. The concert will be most remembered though I am sure for the performance in the first half of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with Dominic Doutney in the Upper Sixth as soloist. Accompanied by the School’s Orchestra, this was a performance of real virtuosity and complete control. Dominic is, as they say, ‘the real deal’! His playing is quite simply remarkable – he is far and away the most advanced instrumentalist that the School has known in my 19 years of leading the music. I was very pleased that in his last term, before he heads off to the Royal College of Music and no doubt a very fine career as a concert pianist, that the Vaughan was able to offer him one final platform for his talents. In a year that has seen the Vaughan’s music-making more than ever catering for pupils of all abilities this was an example of us catering for the needs of the greatly gifted.  The standing ovation that greeted the close of Dominic’s performance left no doubt that the audience were greatly moved. It was an occasion that will certainly live long in my memory and I hope provided an inspiration to the many pupils who were present. We may not all be able to achieve the levels that Dominic has, but with commitment and hard work we can fulfil our own potential, whatever that might be. 

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Events over the next few weeks

The end of the School year is fast approaching but there is still plenty going on in the Vaughan's Music Department.

 

Over the next three weeks lots of boys in the Lower School will be busy rehearsing their small ensembles for the Chamber Music Competition on Wednesday 18 June. This is always one of the most enjoyable evenings of the Vaughan's musical year.

Before that, on June 10, the trebles of the Schola are singing at the Royal Festival Hall with the Bach Choir  in a concert of the Berlioz Te Deum and a new work by Jonathan Dove. More details in the last blog post.

On Saturday 28 June the Big Band will be appearing at Ronnie Scott's famous jazz club in Soho. Further details on how to obtain tickets for this performance (which last time sold out in a couple of days) will be available soon.

The Summer Concert will be in Addison Hall on Thursday 3 July and will offer the usual selection of musical offerings with refreshments afterwards in the New Hall.

The Schola will sing at the Vigil Mass at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday 5 July, the choir's final visit this academic year. 

The year will end with the annual musical production which this year is to be Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story.  There will be three performances, 17-19 July at 7.30 pm in the New Hall.

This video above will hopefully get everyone in the mood for West Side Story!


Schola to sing in Jonathan Dove World Premiere

On Tuesday June 10 the younger members of the Schola are to join forces with the Bach Choir, the Philharmonia and the Tri Borough Young Singers for a concert at the Royal Festival Hall. The programme includes Berlioz's spectacular setting of the Te Deum and also a new work, entitled Psalms for Leo by leading British composer Jonathan Dove.

Dove's music is known to the Schola - his anthem Seek that Maketh the Seven Stars is a piece that the choir has sung recently and we are currently working at the composer's Missa Brevis for a Mass at Westminster Cathedral later this term.

The concert at the Festival Hall will be conducted by David Hill. Below is a video of him in conversation with the composer, Jonathan Dove, about the new work.
 

Saturday, May 31, 2014

A Year in the Life of the Royal Albert Hall

Ahead of the Vaughan's Centenary Celebration at the Royal Albert Hall this October take a look at this amazing time-lapse video of a year in the life of this incredible place.


Monday, March 31, 2014

Die Frau Ohne Schatten at Covent Garden

The past few weeks boys from the Vaughan have been singing in Richard Strauss's opera Die Frau Ohne Schatten at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The opera tells the story of an Empress who is unable to have children. It lasts more than four hours and involves the largest number of instrumentalists of any opera in the repertoire. It has some truly staggering moments, both of great beauty and also of massive volume!

The boys appear at the start of the Second Act, stealing food from a table laid for a feast, singing about what a great day it is and how Barak, the owner of the food they are stealing, is their hero.

They then sing offstage  (immediately behind the orchestra pit - a door opens to let the sound out) at the very end of Act 3: the boys sing the last notes of the evening.

The opera, conducted by Semyon Bychkov, was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 on Saturday 29 March.

Here are some photos from the production showing the boys in Act 2.










Here are some videos produced by the Royal Opera House for the production.



Sunday, March 30, 2014

School Choir singing in Toledo Cathedral

This video, taken by Father Dominic Allain, shows the remarkable Toledo Cathedral whilst the School Choir sing 'Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen' from Ein Deutsches Requiem by Brahms during our trip to Madrid in February 2014.


The Spring Concert

Last Thursday we held our annual Spring Concert, the evening traditionally belonging to the Schol's instrumentalists.

Around 100 pupils took part in the concert which this year was held in the wonderful surroundings of the Wathen Hall at St Paul's School.

Highlights of the concert included Thomas Galea, Upper Sixth, performing Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major and a performance by Senior Strings of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. The concert closed with First Orchestra performing Finlandia by Sibelius, conducted by Thomas Fetherstonhaugh of the Fifth Form.

Other performers included Junior Strings, Second Orchestra, the Big Band and a newly formed Guitar Ensemble.









Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Southbank Sinfonia 2014

On Sunday 9 March the Vaughan held its annual concert with our Orchestra in residence, Southbank Sinfonia. 

Always a highlight of the musical year at the Vaughan, this year's event was our best collaboration to date.


Held in the spectacular setting of the Jerwood Hall, LSO St Lukes, the concert brought the Vaughan's Schola Cantorum and finest orchestral musicians together with the splendid Southbank Sinfonia for what was our sixth year of working together.



The programme consisted of Duruflé's Requiem, sung by the Schola and accompanied by Southbank Sinfonia.


This was followed by a performance of Rimsky Korsakov's orchestral showpiece Scheherezade.




These videos of the rehearsals give an idea of the occasion.




Here are some tweets from the evening!