Monday, February 24, 2014

School Choir in Madrid - a taster!

There will follow more details on the School Choir's Tour to Madrid this February but in the meantime here is a video of a performance of Victoria's Ave Maria in Toledo Cathedral last Tuesday....



.....whilst this video gives an idea of the fun we had eating lunch with the choir of El Escorial in their remarkable dining room on the Saturday of our trip!






Visit of John Catlow, former Director of Music

Just before half-term it was a great pleasure to welcome back to the School the former Director of Music, John Catlow, who came to be filmed in preparation for the Centenary event at the Royal Albert Hall this October.

Mr Catlow was the School's first Director of Music, teaching at the Vaughan from 1981-1986. He was at the School a relatively short time but his impact was huge and he set in motion much of the momentum that we still build on to this very day.

Whilst the Vaughan already possessed a strong singing tradition at the time Mr Catlow arrived (and the formation of the Schola in 1980 by then Headmaster Anthony Pellegrini, was to develop this aspect further) the instrumental music was less well developed.

 Former Director of Music John Catlow with the Director of Music

Mr Catlow had previously been a very successful professional cellist, playing with the LSO, the Halle and as principal cello of English National Opera and it was to the instrumental performing, and the classroom music (which was then a very new invention, regarded by many as radical!) that he set his very considerable energies and talents.

Within three years of his arrival the School possessed an orchestra that performed at several important occasions in and around London, most memorably performing Malcolm Arnold's Little Suite in the presence of the composer at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1986.

After leaving the Vaughan Mr Catlow worked for the following twenty years at Camden School for Girls, building a very successful music department there.

It was a real joy to spend a little time with this wonderful man - you will be able to hear a little of what he had to say about his time at the Vaughan at the Centenary Event at the Royal Albert Hall this October.

Schola Concert in the Brandenburg Festival and visit of David Hill.

On Friday 7 February the Schola sang a concert as part of the Brandenburg Choral Festival. The concert was held in the beautiful stetting of the chapel of King's College London.

The programme was a collection of music spanning more than five hundred years from Palestrina to Jonathan Dove, all of which involved settings of the Psalms of David. 

The centre piece of the concert was a performance of the famous Miserere by Allegri, including the repeating high c for the treble soloist.

The Schola will sing this work again on Ash Wednesday for the School's liturgies on that important day in the Church's calendar.



In preparation for the concert the choir was very pleased to be able to work with leading choral conductor David Hill, who visited the School on the previous Monday to work on the programme with us. David led a wonderful workshop on the music and greatly helped the choir with a number of aspects of its performance and general technique.


Schola sing on new film soundtrack

10 younger members of the Schola added to the choir's growing list of film credits in February when they sang on the soundtrack for the forthcoming Hollywood movie Transcendence starring Jonny Dep.

The score has been composed by Mychael Danna, whose Oscar-winning score for Life of Pi also featured the voices of the Schola. This is the second film starring Jonny Depp that the boys have sung on, having previously been heard on the Tim Burton movie Dark Shadows.

The boys added their vocal lines in a four hour session in Abbey Road's famous Studio 1.



Here is the trailer for the film which is due for release in April.


Strings Day with the English Chamber Orchestra

On Tuesday 28 January we were we very fortunate to welcome to the School five members of the English Chamber Orchestra who lead the pupils through what had been entitled 'Strings Day'. This involved a day of playing by all the string players in the School in various ensembles ranging from chamber music to large ensembles.








The day ended with a very enjoyable concert in the New Hall where all the ensembles performed including a first as the Junior Strings joined together with Senior Strings for pieces by Bach and Purcell. The concert also involved a performance of Bach's Double Violin Concerto and the last movement of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.