Music tour to London and Paris

We are currently on tour with 17 inquiring minds from St John’s College, Johannesburg. The purpose of the tour is to expose our boys to the musical culture of two great cities of Europe, London and Paris. We left on the last day of term, starting our trip on the Gautrain!

After dropping our bags at the hotel Central Park London, we headed of to Leicester Square, Piccadilly circus, and then on to Savile Row.

We popped into a gallery where an intriguing (spider) exhibition of works by Louise Bourgeois were on display. The major work was that of a humongous spider, occupying about 50m2 floor space and standing 6 metres high.

Then on to Brook street, where we visited Handel house, next to which is Jimmy Hendrix’s flat. The boys experience Handel’s house, (including costume changes) including the small room in which he wrote many of his greatest master pieces.

From here we made our way to Westminster station, coming out to view Big Ben, houses of Parliament, and the London Eye. From here we made our way to the Abbey.

Evensong at Westminster Abbey

Many of the boys were sitting in the choir stalls during the singing of the Evensong tonight. They were able to watch the treble probationers, who came in a little earlier, aged about 5 – 6, watching every note during the singing of the service, as part of their training.
Ian Simcock, assistant organist and master of the Choristers, directed this superb choir. The setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimitis was by Herbert Sumsion (1899 – 1995), and we were treated to a fantastic rendition of William Byrd’s Rorate caeli.

What an experience to sit in this magnificent church listening to choral singing representative of the jewels of English church music.


Saturday 4 December 2010


Handel opera Alcina Saturday 4 December 2010
The afternoon’s visit to Handel’s house in Brook street was a wonderful introduction to the evening’s concert at the famous Barbican centre. (http://www.barbican.org.uk/). The conductor of the opera, Alcina, is Marc Minkowski, who started the ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble aged just 19. They started off concentrating on the music of Handel, Purcell, Rameau, Haydn and Mozart. Tonight’s singers included the brilliant mezzo soprano Vesselina Kasarova, Romina Basso and Veronica Cangemi.

An audience of 2750 sat in dead silence through 3 hours 30 minutes of riveting singing. Our boys, at times, were more dead than alive, and reportedly was awoken by the (more awake) rapturous applause from the audience. Be that as it may, they still appreciated this brilliant performance. This was the second Handel opera our boys listened to this year, having had the privilege to witness the brilliant production of Acis and Galantea earlier this term.

Sunday, 5 December

The morning began with a Solemn Mass at the Brompton Oratory. The entire Mass was in Latin, sung by the renowned choir. The boys were impressed by the poloyphonic singing, unaccompanied due the Catholic tradition wherein the organ remains unused during Advent, and were astounded by the detail and grandeur of the Oratory's architecture.

After the Mass, the boys were taken next-door to the V&A Museum, where they were free to explore at their own pace. This was followed by lunch in South Kensington, and an hour's rest back at the hotel.

In the afternoon (the boys were still not used to the early nightfall) they were taken to Westminster Cathedral for an organ recital. The boys were astounded by the power of the world-famous organ, and were treated to contrapuntal works by Brahms, Schumann and Bach. Afterwards, the boys explored the cathedral, and spent some time admiring the golden Lady Chapel.

The boys then hurried to the South Bank, passing the London Eye, on the way to the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the South Bank Centre. The National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain's Main Orchestra performed impressive works such as Rachmaninov's Third Symphony, Sibelius's Karelia Overture, and Delius's Walk To The Paradise Garden. This was nothing, however, compared to the virtuosic playing of Glazunov's Violin Concerto by fourteen-year-old Callum Smart. The boys left determined to improve their own musical skills, inspired by someone who only started playing at the age of six.