Another year, another tour. It’s barely believable that a full 12 months had gone by since Poland, but it had, and this year Ipswich School Chapel Choir headed back down south, this time to be resident choir at Salisbury Cathedral. Read the rest of this entry »
In June 2009, I received the very exciting news that I was a winner of the HMC Young Composer competition, and that my anthem, This Lowly Ground, would be premièred at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral on 6th October 2009. I was invited to attend this performance, and I travelled up with my mother the night before, so we could make a day out of the whole experience. Read the rest of this entry »
After many hours spent during the summer months recording and mixing, Funky Town is finally here. I’ll be passing my judgement here, and revealing some things that went on behind the scenes during the recording process. As I have so much work to avoid, I’ll look at it on a track-by-track basis. Read the rest of this entry »
Prior to this summer, I had attended three Oundle for Organists Get Ahead days in London and the one in Ipswich in March 2008. I chose to attend the Prospective Organ Scholars’ course in July, to experience firsthand the life of an Oxbridge organ scholar. This year the course was based in Oxford, with accommodation at The Queen’s College. Read the rest of this entry »
Friday 3rd July, a notable day for many reasons. The final day of the academic year at Ipswich School, where I finished year 12 by playing for the Prep School Final Assembly (also managing to knock the Chapel fire extinguisher down the organ loft stairs in the process – don’t ask!), the SSYO concert which included works by Sibelius, Beethoven and Matthew Curtis, but also the end of an era. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes, this article is a bit late, but better late than never! For once the weather was nice, a good crowd gathered on the school field and there was a very friendly atmosphere. There were varying genres of music throughout the evening, with the usual ensembles performing. Read the rest of this entry »
It was quite the year of surprises at this year’s Music Competition. The first class was the Piano and Guitar, on Tuesday 24th February. The Advanced Piano was won by Sam, whilst Dave took away the Advanced Guitar cup – no real surprises there, as both did their pieces justice at the Winners’ Concert (I was not in attendance that night). Read the rest of this entry »
My planned live-blog for this tour didn’t work due to technical difficulties, so I am making up for it by writing a detailed review here instead.
This was an excellent tour, very well organised with plenty to see and do, and magnificent venues to sing in. There were also, however, some amazing stories from this tour, which I hope to relay here!
If you were to ask me what I would be doing on Sunday 15th February 2009 the previous morning, then I would have told you that I would be working my way though a mountain of homework, perhaps stopping to listen to a bit of the cricket at some point. How come, then, 27 hours later, I was in Jesus College Chapel, in Cambridge, playing 2nd Horn with the College orchestra? Well, on Saturday afternoon, I received a phone call from Edward Leach OI, who is mentioned on this site as conductor of Schubert’s 8th Symphony at Snape Maltings, and barbershop arranger at the Midsummer Soiree. Apart from that, he is an excellent singer and oboeist, and is now a Choral Scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge. Anyway, Ed phoned to say that he was short of a horn for the College orchestra’s performance of Dvorak’s 8th Symphony, and asked for my services. Once practicalities were sorted out (the Leach family kindly gave me lifts each way), I was happy to accept. Read the rest of this entry »
The final week in November was the type that makes you a musician. There were daily concerts and rehearsals for many different projects, and it was a fantastic, but incredibly hectic week. In fact, I have been so busy in the run up to Christmas, that I only now have time to write about it!