Services in Preparation for Christmas Our festive Services in Preparation for Christmas, held over two days in the chapel of St John’s College, once again heralded the start of the season with a range of carols and readings all delivered by the children. As ever, the 12 choral carols and congregational hymns were interspersed with readings involving every child in Form 6. The carols offered a wide selection of music performed beautifully by a range of choirs including the Choristers of the College Choir, 3rd and 4th Form Choir, Chapel Choir, Junior Choir and Byron House Chamber Choir. Amongst the highlights were the world premiere of a new setting of I sing of a maiden by Ian Shaw, performed by the Choristers, and the final carol, John Gardner’s The Holly and the Ivy, sung with great energy by all 130 children in the various choirs. Before and after the services, organ music was played by Senior House pupils: Alan Chen, Jaylen Cheng (both Form 4), Adam Chillingworth (Form 5), George Balfour and Blake Chen (Form 6) performed seasonal repertoire by J S Bach, Ireland, Peeters et al.
Diploma Success Form 6 Chorister, Blake Chen, gave a lunchtime recital at school in March, performing Beethoven’s F major Sonata, Op. 10, no. 2 and Ravel’s Sonatine; his performances were characterised by technical mastery and an emotional maturity beyond his years. Later in the same month, performing the Beethoven, Ravel and a Chopin miniature, Blake sat the ARSM diploma exam and was rewarded for his performances with a distinction. Blake also gave an organ recital in the highly prestigious pre-Sunday Evensong recital series in the St John’s College Chapel, performing works by J S Bach (In dir ist Freude, O Mensch bewein and the first movement of the Eb Trio Sonata), Lennox Berkeley (Impromptu) and Sir Edward Elgar (Vesper Voluntary no. IV and Imperial March).
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