Chiswick Pupils Sing at King's College Cambridge
School's choir joins Choral Evensong services with King's Voices
Chiswick School pupils in front of King's College, Cambridge
November 16, 2023
Members of Chiswick School’s choral group this week have sung in the chapel at King’s College, Cambridge.
They were invited along to take part in a joint service of Choral Evensong with King's Voices, the mixed choir of the college this Monday (13 November).
The Chiswick Voices group was invited along as one of the diminishing number of school based choirs that are still performing more demanding traditional choral music, much of which requires both a strong vocal technique, and a musical ear.
Though it only started up in January 2022, it has not shied away from tackling the most challenging choral repertoire. In March, they sang the whole of Vivaldi's Gloria with Hounslow Youth Choir, and subsequently performed works by John Rutter, Imogen Holst, Gabriel Faure, and Thomas Tallis.
Preparation for this evensong started on day one of term, and rehearsals have happened every day before school starts, and their teachers say that, even if sometimes they were half asleep, they have been determined to turn up and start their days with singing.
Evensong is a staple part of life at most Oxford and Cambridge colleges, many of which offer it in their chapels two or three times a week for students to pause from daily work pressures and reflect quietly in an inspiring space. Many colleges also invite schools to sing alongside the college choir for a one-off service, but this has been a dying custom for some time.
Mrs Emmett, the senior leader for the arts, who accompanied the students on the trip said, “I was quite emotional during the service. The children have been so hardworking, often balancing choir rehearsals with a rigorous academic programme, and the beauty of their sound was such a testament to their efforts. I will remember it for a long time”.
The choir in the chapel at King's College
Chiswick Voices' next concert will be the Faure Requiem with Hounslow Symphony Orchestra on 16 March 2024. For the first time, the performance is open for local Chiswick residents to join in - a new venture called 'Chiswick Community Choir'. If you are interested in joining for the performance as a singer, you can sign up here.
In another success for the performing arts at Chiswick School, Mr Robinson and the Drama department have again been shortlisted for 'Drama Department of the Year' at the UK Music and Drama awards, and more recently, Mr Dubois, music teacher and Steel Band tutor at Chiswick has just been voted the UK's Number 1 Steel Pan player by the British Association of Steel Bands. This is a very prestigious award as he was voted in by a panel of 200 of the UK's best players. He will collect his award at a ceremony next month.
One of Chiswick School's steel bands
If you want to hear more of Chiswick's Steel Bands, you can come to Chiswick House and Gardens on Sunday 3 December at 12pm for an outdoor show, and at Chiswick School Hall (open to the public) on Thursday 14 December at 6:30pm for the Steel Band Christmas show.
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