All pupils at St John’s College, Cardiff are warmly encouraged to take part in music making. The School has a rich musical tradition, and provides outstanding opportunities for pupils to enjoy and excel in solo and group performance. The School has a number of ensembles including:

• Cathedral Boys' Choir
• Junior Girls' Choir
• Senior Girls' Choir
• Choral Society
• Concert Orchestra
• Training Orchestra
• Flute Choir
• Brass Ensemble
• Recorder Consort.

Music plays a central rôle in a child's intellectual, social, moral and spiritual development and pupils at St John's College, Cardiff enjoy a broad and fulfilling repertoire. Music enables pupils to develop invaluable personal attributes such as self-discipline, self-reliance, concentration, initiative, imagination, an attention to detail, sensitivity, and aesthetic judgement, as well as linguistic, interpretative and cognitive skills. Furthermore, on a social level, singing in a choir or playing in an ensemble fosters friendship, team-work and communication skills, interdependence and leadership. All in all, this paves the way for a very bright and successful future.

*Please select the link below to hear the Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral Choir's performance of George Dyson's Magnificat in F from its video and CD recording, Panis Angelicus:
www.cardiffmetropolitancathedralchoir.macwebsitebuilder.com/f/08_Dyson_-Magnificat_in_F.mp3

News

Choristers' Trips to Oxford

Earlier this month the Boy and Girl Cathedral Choristers were taken on a trip to Oxford, beginning at Merton College and dining in the magnificent 13th Century Great Hall and singing in the famous chapel.  This was followed by a tour of Christchurch, and its famous Great Hall which the choristers recognised as the set of Hogwarts’ in the Harry Potter films.  After a visit to Christchurch Cathedral, the choir made its way across town (via the Bodleian Library and Radcliffe Square) to a reception at Magdalen College School where they had afternoon tea and a game of football with the Magdalen Choristers.  A wonderful day was brought to a conclusion at Magdalen Chapel itself, where the boys were invited to hear Evensong sung by the grammy-nominated Choir.

On the following Wednesday the Senior Girls’ Choir also enjoyed a similar trip to Oxford, and we hope it will be the first of many trips to come.

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Charity Concert at St Mellon's Parish Church, 4 July 2008, 7pm

On 4 July, as part of St John’s College’s commitment to community outreach, the Music Department presented a Charity Concert in aid of St Mellon’s Parish Church.  The Boy and Girl Cathedral Choristers and instrumental ensembles performed a varied programme of music for a summer’s evening in the splendid surroundings of this 14th century church.

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Welsh Language Mass

The boy and girl choristers had a very busy Easter term, culminating in their joint performance of Fauré’s Requiem at St David’s Hall, in addition to the services of Holy Week at the Metropolitan Cathedral.  On Sunday 20 April, the 11am service was the Cathedral’s first Welsh Mass.

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Dutch Choral Exchange

In Autumn 2006, the Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral Choir undertook a choral exchange project with the Choir of St Bavo's Cathedral in Haarlem (a leading choir school in the Netherlands).  In October 2007, the Dutch Choir returned to the United Kingdom for a busy tour, which included a concert at Merton College, Oxford. The highlight of the trip was a concert performed by the combined forces of St Bavo’s Cathedral Choir, the Metropolitan Cathedral Choir and Llandaff Cathedral Choral Society (both of which are conducted by Dominic Neville), featuring Thomas Tallis’ magnificent 40-part motet, Spem in Alium.

The Concert Orchestra has transformed into an outstanding ensemble, and it has recently given performances in St David’s Hall. It rehearses twice weekly and performs three annual evening concerts, all of which are highly popular with staff, pupils, parents and relatives alike.

A professional DVD is available of the Orchestra's latest Concert (please contact the College Office for more details).

The right photo (below) shows the College Concert Orchestra performing further afield, on tour in Bruges (Belgium), performing in Sint Walburgakerk in 2003. The Cathedral Choir has also performed here, singing at the 400th Anniversary celebrations in 1992. Forthcoming projects for the Concert Orchestra include concert performances in Continental Europe with repertoire including:

Schubert: Unfinished Symphony, Bruch: Kol Nidrei, Elgar: Serenade, Charpentier: Te Deum, Beethoven: Romanza No. 2 in F (Opus 50), Elgar: Nimrod, Wagner: Mastersingers' Overture, Parry: Jerusalem, Hoddinott: Welsh Dances, Fauré: Pavane, Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier, Vaughan Williams: Rhosymedre, Handel: Ombra mai fu, Bach: Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor, Bach: Brandenburg Concerto Number Two.

Visiting professional musicians give tuition in voice and a broad range of instruments. For more information, please contact the Head of Music, Mrs. Diana Neville.

Members of the School's ensembles have enjoyed numerous musical excursions, attending concerts at venues such as St David's Hall and The Royal Albert Hall, and visiting places of musical interest such as the birthplace of Sir Edward Elgar. In 2007, the Concert Orchestra was a prize winner at the final of the Lloyds TSB Welsh Proms Competition at St David's Hall.

• The Cathedral's Boy and Girl Choristers are educated at St John’s College and sing at the Metropolitan Cathedral in the centre of Cardiff. Further details may be found at www.cardiffcathedralchoir.org

• For a copy of the Music Departmental Handbook, please email Dominicneville@cantab.net

Drama

Drama continues to play an important role in the English Department at St John's College Cardiff, both within lessons and in the staging of the whole school productions.
 
Within lessons drama techniques are drawn on to improve empathy and hone Speaking and Listening skills. Activities such as role play provide a unique way to further explore character and theme in texts whilst enhancing pupil confidence and team work skills.
 
Pupils have the opportunity to be involved in the staging of the whole school productions and cooperation between the English, Music and Junior departments have created recent successes such as 'Return to the Forbidden Planet' and 'Bugsy Malone'. Our most recent production involved the whole school presenting a highly successful evening of  Victorian Entertainment and drama on a stage and set fit for the West End.
 
Drama is an integral component of the English Curriculum, featuring particularly in the GCSE English Literature course.

A professional DVD of the most recent school production is now on sale.  Please contact the College office for more information.