Music for Movies
On Friday 18th November, members of ensembles small and large gathered in the Top Ref to perform to an audience of pupils, parents and staff. All the music played had been featured in a film, and ranged in date from ‘Let’s Do It’ (Grand Slam, 1933) to Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean from the early 2000s. The Vocal Ensemble, a new a cappella group directed by Mr (Jonathan) Sharples, made its début with Autumn Leaves (written originally as ‘Les Feuilles mortes’, from the French 1946 film Les Portes de la Nuit). But the show-stopped was undoubtedly Daniel's highly engaging rendition, accompanying himself on guitar, of ‘Твои глаза зеленые’ ('Your Eyes are Green') from a 1978 Soviet film.
As with all music concerts, the event was live-streamed and continues to be available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/YJ-8xuPKoRU.
Carol Service at Farm Street
Since 2018, Schola Petri has visited the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mayfair in December each year to lead a carol service for current families, OS and friends of Stonyhurst who might find it more convenient than attending the Association carol service in St Peter’s. This year there were over 200 members of the congregation to join in with well-known carols and to hear Schola Petri and members of Farm Street’s professional choir tackle some of the more difficult parts of the standard choral carol repertoire, such as Willcocks’ 8-part arrangement of the Sussex Carol and Whitbourn’s 6-part arrangement of Praetorius’ A Great and Mighty Wonder. On the following day, the Stonyhurst contingent enjoyed a Choir Good Day, consisting of a lie-in until around 8am, a trip on the London Eye and a visit to Pizza Express. We are grateful to the clergy and staff at Farm St for hosting us, particularly Fr Nick King SJ OS, who took the service, and David Graham and the Farm Street Singers for giving the pupils the opportunity to work with a quartet from their professional choir.
Image 001: Schola Petri rehearsing in the organ loft at the Church of the Immaculate Conception
Image 002: Schola Petri outside Buckingham Palace on the Choir Good Day