Wonderful evening with St Edmund's - Madrigal to McCartney

We had a terrific time listening to, and performing with the young people from St Edmund's Canterbury on their UK tour - Cambridge, London, Windsor... we were the London quotient!

We sang in that fantastic London church - Grosvenor Chapel, just south of the US Embassy.

The first half was from the school chamber choir - we sat in awe with everybody else as Will Bersey conducted them singing fabulously.... some of our favourite pieces... beginning with exquisite Faire is the Heaven by William Harris - sung with great assurance... and from memory!  Much excellence followed, music by Gershwin, Whitacre, Rodney Bennett, Hamlisch and Lennon & McCartney... an excellent Edition Peters moment too - Ola Gjeilo - a splendid Norwegian composer... his Second Eve was especially beautiful... (all enquiries to Edition Peters!)

Also heard were the five young gentlemen of  the Ex-Choristers - lovely ensemble... They sang Palestrina, Sullivan and Lennon & McCartney - all very finely done.

We sang a couple of songs with them too - both of which are heard on our albums, but which need more voices to be performed live....

With the Chamber Choir: Noel Gay's Love Makes the World Go Round (in 22 parts)
&
With the Ex-Choristers: Over the Rainbow (in 8 parts)

Both were great to be involved with; splendid to unleash David Cullen's huge orchestral/vocal arrangement, but the latter was especially great (and is a particularly moving arrangement anyway by Andrew Pryce Jackman) as it was apparently the Ex-Choristers swansong as they all disappear off to University.  Spine-tingling and wonderful it felt to us & the audience seemed as moved...

We finished off the evening with 45 more minutes of Madrigal to McCartney - and of course ending with a rendition of The Lambeth Walk - OY!

Carole was there to greet friends old & new - splendid; and we even had a visit from Gertie - all the way from The Netherlands... fabulous!

Great to share a concert with these excellent young people, they were wonderfully professional and more poised than I ever remember being at that age!