WELCOME
Welcome to the very first NLCS Music Festival Concert. This has been a long held dream of mine to pull together musicians from all of the NLCS schools to work together to prepare a concert. I have had so many amazing experiences myself as a music student and even more recently as a member of staff, where I was able to collaborate and learn from other musicians from around the world. I wanted to develop a project that would bring the NLCS schools together and give our students the opportunity to benefit from our combined musical expertise.
We are thrilled to showcase the extraordinary talents of students from NLCS Dubai, Jeju, London and Singapore, coming together to share their passion for music and performance. Over the course of this festival, students have experienced a variety of different styles of music and had the opportunity to work together with music staff and industry experts to create unforgettable moments on stage.
The entire festival is concluding today with this finale concert. We are thrilled to share with you an exciting array of music all rehearsed and put together in just 2 days. We also welcome guests Dr David Lancaster, Noel Sullivan and James Bennett. All of whom have been an amazing part of making the first ever NLCS festival a success.
Join us as we embark on this exciting journey as an NLCS group, fostering community spirit, musical collaboration and inspiring future generations through the universal language of music!
Ms Hannah Baldwin Director of Performing Arts NLCS (Singapore)
DAVID LANCASTER
We are thrilled to have been able to work with David Lancaster who has composed a special piece for the Festival named Unity. The lyrics are inspired by suggestions made from the students in our NLCS schools and are set to music by David for our festival orchestra and choir to perform
David Lancaster’s music has been performed, recorded and broadcast internationally. ‘Strata’ was recorded by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, and ‘Swan’ featured by the Delta Saxophone Quartet on their album ‘Bowie, Berlin and Beyond’ The album ‘Apocalypse’ was recorded by Ex Corde Vocal Ensemble and released on Resonus Classics in 2023, featuring three of David’s large-scale choral works; his music has also been recorded by pianist Duncan Honeybourne, soprano Ana Beard Fernandez, baritone Paul Carey Jones, and the Elysian Singers of London.
David’s chamber music has been widely performed: ‘Before I fall asleep, the city, again ’ (2019) has been played in London, York and Buxton by Trilogy Ensemble, ‘Canzone Sospesa’ (2023) for cello and piano was premiered in Milan and subsequently performed in Washington DC Ensembles that have performed his music include the Danish Radio Vocal Ensemble (‘Apocalypse’), the Kronos Quartet, (‘Still Life with Angels’), Ligeti String Quartet (‘Velocity), trombonist Ian Bousfield (‘Becoming Winter’), and Oxford Harmonic Choir (which commissioned ‘Of Trumpets and Angels’ in 2019) David’s music has been broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and national radio stations in Ireland, Denmark, Australia and the USA.
Originally from Wigan (UK), David studied at York and Cambridge universities and was for three years Composer-in-Residence at Charterhouse He is Associate Professor of Composition at York St John University and Musical Director of York Railway Institute Band; his music is published by UYMP
www davidcomposer com
NOEL SULLIVAN
Noel will be working with the festival choir on performance techniques and using his expertise in the world of musical theatre to help the students give their best performance of a Lin Manuel Miranda medley.
His theatre Credits include: Drew Boley in Rock of Ages (UK National tour) Tick / Mitzi in Priscilla queen of the desert (UK National Tour); Galileo in We Will Rock You (UK National Tour); Danny Zuko in Grease (Piccadilly Theatre); young Yusef Islam inMoonshadow (Royal Albert Hall); Black Mountain Male Chorus of Wales (US Tour); Danny Zuko in Grease (Jersey Opera House); Nick Piazza in Fame the Musical (Edinburgh Playhouse); Will in Love Shack (National Tour); Royal Gala Opening (Wales Millenium Centre); What a Feeling (National Tour);Glamorous Night, The Music of Ivor Novello (Wales Millenium Centre); Simply Ballroom (Golden Nugget, Las Vegas); The 12 Irish Tenors (Reno, Branson); Nick Hurley in Flashdance the Musical (National Tour); Terminal Four Play(Theatre503, Latitude Festival)
Arena Tours include: Popstars (36 date National Tour); Stormy in Moonshadow (Royal Albert Hall, O2 Dublin, Liverpool Echo Arena, Birmingham NIA)
TV Credits Include: Gavin and Stacey, Popstars, Meet the Popstars, Hear'say It's Saturday, Hear'say the Next Chapter, The Royal Variety Show, Top Of The Pops, MTV Select, Trust Me I'm A Holiday Rep
Recording Credits Include: Popstars, Hear'say; Everybody, Hear'say; Hafan Gobaith for Ty Hafan and Bryn Terfel; Dr Who, The Ultimate Adventure, Jason; Moonshadow for Yusuf Islam, Stormy; Acoustig by Amy Wadge, Moment. Here I Go Again, Noel Sullivan
http://www noelsullivan co uk/biog php
JAMES BENNETT
James will be working together with Noel to help the festival choir with performance techniques and using his expertise in the world of musical theatre to help the students give their best performance of a Lin Manuel Miranda medley. James has worked extensively in theatre, film and TV, whether it be Strictly Come Dancing, being assistant choreographer on Britain’s Got Talent, and The BGT Christmas Special, or as the choreographer working exclusively with Oti Mabuse and her acts on the BBC’s The Greatest Dancer. He has just created Oti Mabuse’s debut tour I AM HERE which completed a UK tour at the London Coliseum
Other Choreography; Creative Director/co choreographer for I AM HERE performance (Dancing on Ice); Choreographer Wind in the Willows (Norwich Playhouse, Jetty at Battersea, Cultural Hall Bahrain) During the pandemic James created, choreographed and produced a new dance film entitled Choked, (winner best experimental at Soho film festival, nominated for best short Soho New York Film Festival) Choreographer of TGD2 (BBC); Creative director and choreographer for the last 3 years of Lunch with an Old Bag (Princes Trust, Edinburgh) and Don’t Stop Me Now, a Queen tribute concert ( BSJ Jakarta), He oversaw the choreography for Oti Mabuse on Dance Beats Flashmob (Tesco and British Heart Foundation) Has choreographed corporate shows for Imagine Cruising (Australia/Singapore), Prestonfield House, Aladdin, Cinderella (Gordon Craig Theatre); Cinderella, and Robin Hood, Peter Pan (Regent Theatre Stoke), Aladdin (Fernham Hall), Mecca (Swindon)
Performance Credits; Resident director/dance captain Tango Moderno, starring Vincent and Flavia Tommy Arbunt in the UK and North American premiere of Strictly Ballroom the Musical, Dance Captain for Dirty Dancing (UK and European Tour); Dance Captain for We Will Rock You (UK and European tour); Carmen (02 arena and Royal Albert Hall); We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre); IQ and swing in Hairspray (Shaftesbury Theatre); Santa Claus The Musical (Marina Bay, Singapore) and Dance Captain for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Birmingham Hippodrome)
Television includes: Strictly Come Dancing (BBC), Britain’s Got Talent (ITV), Ant and Dec, Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV), Genie in the House (Nickelodeon) and Spooks: Code 9 (BBC); John Barrowman’s Tonight’s the Night (BBC 1), Children in Need (BBC) and the The Paul O’Grady Show (Channel 4) James spent most of 2018 working on the brand new Elton John biopic, Rocketman Other film includes: Cruella (Disney), Rocketman (Paramount), See You Soon, Dance Party 2 (Universal).
https://www.jamesbennettcreative.com/about
Logo Designed by Denise Wang NLCS (SINGAPORE)
Students
NLCS Dubai
Ria Futnani, Zirui (Ricky) Zhao, Yuanzhen (Max) Fang, Sanah Jain, Ziye Ji, Alexander El-Ghandour, Heloise James, Noag Mansour, Yicheng Liu, Sri Gupta, Avantika Rajesh, Lana Alrayes, Benjamin Gluck, Erika Saji, Valentina Squillacioti, Xinyuan (Howard) Hu, Siri Karia, Jianqin Tang, Mikaeel Dadlani, Samara Mahajan, Arjun Vijay, Amber Moghadam
NLCS Jeju
Jiyul (Jennifer) Kang, Sehyun Lee, Seunghoon (Simon) Lee, Bitna Kim, Seungchan (Robert) Park, Sieun (Teddy) Shin, Hyunseung (Chloris) Kim, Jooha Lim, Minseok (Andy) Park, Sooin Cho, Jaesung (Marc) Chung, Jiho Eun, Jian (Serena) Eun, Q-ri Baik, Haena Kim.
NLCS London
Anya Adarsh, Olivia Bloomfield, Aroha Dutta, Rebecca Eapen, Valentina Esposito, Keya Gadlay, Radhika Goswami, Thashini Jesunayahan, Claire Jiang, Jessica Kee, Myra Oberoi, Amya Patel, Sophia Patel, Hesanya Rathnayake, Amelia Schoeman, Khushi Shah, Lara Shah, Tara Shah, Olivia Silver, Summer Zovidavi
NLCS Singapore
Can (Charles) Wang, Xintian (Cynthia) Gao, Zhouxi (Norah) Dai, Qianqi (Emma) Liu, Jingyao He, Eugene Han, Yuxuan (Abby) Wang, Mikayla Ting, Jiayi (Jessica) Shi, Liqing (Amy) Chen, Emily Aldridge, Anya Sanghrajka, Lana Darmono, Amara Sahir, Xiyu (Nicole) Lin, Jiho (Peter) Chung, Leshi (Alice) Zhang, Jean-Edouard Dahy, Anna Terahara, Yifei (Linda) Wang, Yilin Wang, Yi hong Qian, Olivia Van Der Vlies, Yifan Chen, Tyson Kim, Yuxin (Abby) Jiang, Enhe Ji, Chenbin Wang, Krish Sharma, Lucas Gronow, Chenxin (Chelsey) Liu, Yiyu Wang
FIRST HALF
Technology by Jim Casella
PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
A Lin Manuel Miranda Choral Medley
Arranged by Mark Brymer
FESTIVAL CHOIR
Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber
CELLO ENSEMBLE
Lady Gaga Hit Mix arranged by Larry Moore STRING ENSEMBLE
Moves like Jagger, words and music by Adam Levine, Benjamin Levin, Ammar Malik and Johan Schuster,
arranged by Paul Murtha CONCERT BAND
THERE WILL BE A 20 MINUTE INTERVAL WE INVITE OTHE AUDIENCE TO ENJOY COMPLIMENTARY CANAPES IN THE AMPHITHEATRE
SECOND HALF
Madrigal by Gabriel Fauré
FESTIVAL CHOIR
The Seal Lullaby, words by Rudyard Kipling, Music by Eric Whitacre, Adapted by Emily Crocker
FESTIVAL CHOIR
Fanfare for the common man by Aaron Copland, arranged by Robert Longfield
FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
Raiders March by John Williams
FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
World Premiere
Unity by Dr David Lancaster
FESTIVAL CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA
THANKYOU FOR COMING
WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE CONCERT
THANKYOU
Something on this scale is only possible with the help of a small army. Please see below the many staff members who supported the music festival and helped make it a success
NLCS Music Staff
Ed Jefferies
Roddy Howie
Tracy Tan
Lorna McDonald
David Marley
Hannah Baldwin
Scott McCall
Chao Cox
George Agius
Chloe Byrnes
Tracey Kelly
Harry Thorrington
Ruth Baker
Performing Arts Support Staff
Trevor Teo, Gee Chinnaadakan, Eileen Lim
NLCS Singapore Staff
Ed Wright, Sophie Davies, Agathe Avila, Kate Hall, Alex Sanson Events
Kate Greening, Nur Samirah Rafiq, Operations & Facilities
Harry O’Hare, Justin Lin, Rasiddin Rizwan, Fitri Amad, Peter Tan, Naimuddin Aznan
Friends of the Arts
Cao Xueying, Anna di Giacomo, Rita Waswani, Sally Aldridge
Thankyou
Victus, Songwork International, Whitecoat Studios, Glypph Photography
FOTO88, Tanglin Trust School, Salient Strings, Accent Musical Equipment
Musical Visitors
David Lancaster, Noel Sullivan, James Bennett
BRB, Tara Poston, Roo Pigott
Samuel Armstrong, Tokito Murichiro, Alvin Quek
UPCOMING EVENTS
FEBRUARY
SENIOR PRODUCTION -
BUGSY MALONE
WEDNESDAY 26 FEBRUARY
THURSDAY 27 FEBRUARY
FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY
AUDITORIUM
A collabration between the Music and Drama departments in Senior school Our first ever Musical in the Senior School - Bugsy Malone
MARCH
SENIOR MUSIC & POETRY
TUESDAY 4 MARCH
AUDITORIUM
A collaboration between Music, English and Drama departments. A formal presentation of music and poetry from our Senior students.
GRADE 2 STRINGS SHOWCASE
TUESDAY 11 MARCH
AUDITORIUM
An opportunity to enjoy our fabulous Grade 2's show their skills on the violin.
GRADE 1 STRINGS SHOWCASE
WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH
AUDITORIUM
An opportunity to enjoy our fabulous Grade 1's show their skills on the violin.
JUNIOR CCAS PERFORMANCE
THURSDAY 27 MARCH
AUDITORIUM
This performance will feature a range of the Junior School CCA groups who have been preparing for a performance.
