| The Arts: Music, Drama and Performance
All pupils at St John’s College 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:
• Boys' Cathedral Choir
• Junior Girls' Cathedral Choir
• Senior Girls' Cathedral Choir
• Choral Society
• Sixth Form Close Harmony
• Concert Orchestra
• Training Orchestra
• Flute Choir
• Brass Ensemble
• Recorder Consort
• String Quartet.
Extra-curricular Music Rehearsal Schedule 2009-10: f/SJC_Music_rehearsal_schedule_2009-10.pdf
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.
• For a copy of the Music Departmental Handbook, please email Dominicneville@cantab.net
*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:
/f/08_Dyson_-Magnificat_in_F.mp3
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News
• Junior Girls' Choir Concert at Nazareth House - Wed 7 July
The Junior Girls' Choir performed their annual concert at Nazareth House, Cardiff. The residents look forward very much to their coming and this year were delighted by the professional way the girls sang. As usual the choristers were beautifully behaved and were a credit to the school.
• Joint Charity concert with the Schola of the London Oratory School at St Peter's Church, Roath - Sat 3 July
The London Oratory School Schola: Director: Lee Ward
Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral Choir: Director: Dominic Neville
Schola Missa de Angelis by Roxanna Panufnik: Welsh premiere
Parry’s I was glad; Bruckner Motets; Grayston Ives' Canterbury Te Deum.
The concert raised funds for Cardiff-based cancer charity, Tenovus. The Director of the London Oratory Schola, Lee Ward said: “We are delighted to be raising funds for such a worthwhile and wonderful charity. We are excited also about our collaboration with the renowned choir of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Cardiff.”
Richard Nicholls, Director of Fundraising at Tenovus said; “We are thrilled to be chosen as the charity for this historic event. Choirs are very close to our heart, being a charity based in Wales, a country with such a strong cultural history of singing. Indeed, Tenovus has set up its very own choir, ‘Sing for Life’ which consists of cancer patients and their families who are united in song as well as through their cancer experience”.
• Visiting Choir from the College de St Jean Baptiste De la Salle, Rouen - Tues 29 June
Our choristers joined forces to sing Delibes Messe Brève in three part harmony, with string players from the Sixth Form. The French choristers joined us for football, and many of the boys and girls exchanged email addresses. We are hoping to make a return visit to Rouen in the autumn. We were very pleased to welcome the choir for their fourth visit to us in Cardiff.
 • Congratulations to Noa Gabay of R12 - Winner of the Urdd National Eisteddfod Solo Harp Competition (Yrs 7-9) 2010!
Many congratulations to Noa on this outstanding achievement. Noa gained first place with a flawless performance of 'The Minstrel's Adieu to his Native Land' by John Thomas.
*Please select the link below to view Noa's televised winning performance: www.youtube.com/watch
• Spring Concert - 28 April 2010
Congratulations to the Concert Orchestra, Training Orchestra, Flute Choir, Junior Girls' Choir and the Metropolitan Cathedral Choirs, as well as soloists, for outstanding performances:
Please follow the link below to view the programme (a DVD will be available from Mr Davies soon):
f/2010_Spring_Concert.pdf
• Cathedral Choir BBC Radio Wales broadcast - Easter Sunday 2010
• Girl Choristers Crowned Champions of CSA Sports Festival for Second Year
• Choir Schools Association Sports Festival - Magdalen College, Oxford - Wed 24 March
We'd like to congratulate the choristers for their wonderful achievements at Oxford on Wednesday. They sang splendidly with the 150 choristers from the cathedral choirs of Bristol, Exeter, Hereford, Llandaff, Wells, Worcester, and the choristers of Tewkesbury and Magdalen College, Oxford.
We are extremely proud of the girls' netball team who won the entire netball competition for the second year in a row and remain unbeaten in CSA sporting history. We are equally proud of the boys, who scored several truly outstanding goals and came through to be victorious as winners of the football plate.
A special note of congratulations to Ross Lisney-Wilson for his solo treble performance in Handel's Messiah with Llandaff Cathedral Choral Society on Saturday evening. The performance was a sell-out and received a standing ovation!
• Easter Concert given by Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral Choir at St David’s Hall, Cardiff, 1.00pm - Tues 23 March
Many congratulations to the Cathedral choristers for a magnificent performance of Bach's St John Passion to a large audience on Tuesday. The opening chorus was especially thrilling.
• Cathedral Choir BBC radio broadcast - 14 February 2010
• Boy & Girl Cathedral Choristers in BBC's Doctor Who - Christmas 2009
The boy & girl Cathedral Choristers appeared and sang in 'Christmas Special' of BBC’s Doctor Who with David Tennant, Bernard Cribbins & Claire Bloom. The episode was aired this Christmas, and was David Tennant’s last. Congratulations to all the choristers.
• The Cathedral Choir sings to thousands at the Benediction and Mass for the Reception of the Relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux - Tues 22 September
The Cathedral Choristers sang magnificently at Benediction to honour the arrival of the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux this afternoon. The choristers had an excellent dinner at the Hilton Hotel before returning to sing at Mass with a congregation of some 1500 people. The choristers received praise from far and wide for their high standards of singing and musicianship.
• Cathedral Choristers' Summer Trip to Cambridge & Evensong at King's College - Sun 12 July
After such a successful year for the Cathedral Choir, the girl and boy choristers were rewarded with a day trip to the historic University town of Cambridge.
The Cathedral Choristers (girls and boys age 8-15) and GCSE Music pupils were given a warm welcome by King's College and had the privilege of hearing the world famous Choir in its last service of the academic year. The boys and girls also saw Trinity College and St John's College, and were able to explore some of Cambridge's fine shops, as well as the market square.
• Junior Girls' Cathedral Choir & R13 pupils' Summer Concert at Nazareth House, Cardiff - Wed 1 July, 2pm.
As part of our commitment to wider public benefit, the Junior Girls' Cathedral Choir and R13 instrumentalists performed their annual summer concert for the residents of Nazareth House. Congratulations to all pupils involved.
• Girl Choristers in WNO's The Queen of Spades
Three of our Girl Cathedral Choristers, Sophie Nethercott, Jennifer Son and Hannah Son were selected to sing in Welsh National Opera's performance of The Queen of Spades at the Wales Milennium Centre and at Birmingham Hippodrome 13 May - 4 June 2009. The girls performed outstandingly and were a credit to the school.
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.
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The Concert Orchestra
 The School’s reputation for musical excellence encompasses its many instrumental ensembles including its award-winning Concert Orchestra (a recent finalist in the Welsh Proms Schools Competition). All pupils are warmly encouraged to take part in the superb opportunities available, to enjoy and excel in solo and group performance.
The thriving Training Orchestra performs to a high standard and gives beginners the chance to play in a full orchestra, preparing them to audition for the Concert Orchestra. The Concert Orchestra (grade 5 - diploma standard) 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. The Concert Orchestra has performed further afield, on tour in Bruges (Belgium), and recent repertoire includes:
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.
A professional DVD is available of the Orchestra's latest Concert (please contact the College Office for more details).
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.
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The Cathedral Choirs www.cardiffcathedralchoir.org
• 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.
• Public benefit means-tested bursaries are available for Cathedral Choristers from Junior School through to A level & also for some other pupils.
• Musicians enjoy exciting concerts & tours; live broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 to an audience of 1.6 million; also singing in Oxford, where Harry Potter was filmed, and appearing & singing in BBC’s Doctor Who.
We have choirs for both boys & girls, with choristers of all ages. No previous training is required.
Please email Mr Dominic Neville (Director of Choral Music) for more details: dominicneville@cantab.net |
