Junior Choir London Performance

On Monday 23rd November Ludgrove's Junior Choir, made up of 16 boys from the VIs, IVs and IIIs, travelled to London to perform Britten's A Ceremony of Carols with girls from Garden House School, professional singers and a harpist.

Making use of three treble voice parts and harp, Britten created sonorities that, though reassuringly familiar now, were unprecedented in 1942 when he wrote this work. Not only is the writing incredibly complex for any vocal ensemble, but also the texts - taken from The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems by Gerald Bullett - are in Middle English. It is the most challenging piece written for treble voices and I'm pleased to write each and every singer rose to this challenge. This was a performance of an incredibly high standard. Difficult wordy passages in This Little Babe were crisp and eloquent; stunning pianissimo singing conjured in There is No Rose; you could hear a pin drop in the Harp Interlude and the Deo Gracias was sung with enormous enthusiasm from all 72 singers.

Particular mention should be made of soloists Joe Smith and Miranda Woodruff. The ability to stand in front of one's parents and peers and sing alone is a unique one and both did themselves proud. Thanks also to the six professional musicians, Susan Gilmour Bailey, Philippa Murray, Laura Luck, Charlotte Ashley, Clara Kanter and Joanna Bywater, to Oliver Wass (harp) and to Miss Vicky Savage for preparing the girls so brilliantly for this occasion.

I very much hope that Britten's A Ceremony of Carols will have made a lasting impression on all the boys and girls. Of the alumni lucky enough to find themselves chatting to Kirsty Young in a few years time on desert island discs, I wonder how many might choose it?

A live recording of the performance can be heard by clicking here.

AMWG