I had a wonderful day today. From 9.30am until 4.30pm the two other vocal adjudicators and me were utterly blown away by the most extraordinary performances of mixed voice vocal ensembles I think I have ever heard. One after the other the walked up in front of the big and beautiful church altar, (see picture and the wonderful wood carved lecterns and alter table ) and sang like angels.
We heard everything from tricky madrigals to contemporary music filled with sounds and speech as well as incredible singing, we navigated through John Rutter to Monteverdi, singing in Latin, Italian, German and French as well as English. It was a tour de force of magnificence, no other way to put it.
We each chose our own standout and most memorable performance of the day about which to talk in the final moments. You will find it hard to believe that mine was a six part arrangement of The Seal Lullaby, by our own Eric Whitacre ! I am not exaggerating a bit when I tell you it was sublime. To see these Chinese children, well 16 year olds, boys and girls, all mixing up of parts, moving with musical delight and singing with a ppp to die for, was something I will not easily forget. It made every hair on my body stand on end with such sparkling electricity that I was almost unable to write. My colleague Ben had tears rolling down his cheeks and Steven was speechless.
If these youngsters had been paid for their performances it could not have been bettered or more moving. There was a totally out of this world rendition of the madrigal Adieu Sweet Amaryllis that made us melt, The Kings Singers could not have given a more beautiful or nuanced performance. How is it possible, we Brits asked ourselves all the way through the competition, that school choirs in the U.K. would be hard put to a) get any boys to sing at all and b) to tackle music of such complexity, and not shouty choruses from The Lion King ? Both Ben and myself had never ever heard the like of it before. One school who came in second and third had THREE ensembles entered ! Three, three, yes really 3. The marks for the first three places were 92, 91 and 90 and the ‘also rans’ were all 88 or above !
It certainly was the most exquisite musical experience. I got them to take some photos with my camera, and permission from the teachers to post them, so you can see the youngsters themselves and the pride and joy they had in their achievements.
It was 28 degrees today and much too hot outside, I did not venture out of the church which was a cool and relaxed haven with lovely air con. It was a large Methodist Church and luckily for us, today was their free coffee to passers by in the church foyer !! Actually it was the best cup of coffee I have had here, and I told them, and waxed lyrical with thanks ! That was just another great bonus, adding to a bonus filled day.
Angela was our most competent assistant, both efficient and jolly, thus perfect for a hall filled with over excited teens ! We did have one slight problem……it was meant to be an SATB day and one group, most unusually had 8 girls and 2 boys and proceeded to sing Balulalow and This Little Babe from the Ceremony of Carols ( SSA remember !) with the 2 boys singing the alto part in baritone voices !?! This flummoxed Angela, as there was not a single rule or regulation which covered this inventive use of parts ! Fortunately they were not at the top of the pile so their punishment was a ‘no marks given’ violation of the rule stating ‘wrong music offered’. We speculated that next year another rule would be added to the Vesuvius sized pile of rules. I will try to take a discreet photo of the rule book the assistants have, it is slightly larger than War and Peace.
Oh how I wish recording was allowed and you could all share in the infinite joys of the day. Alas not, and I’m not breaking any of those said rules, being clapped in irons does not have much appeal.
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