Celebrate in aid of Young Lives vs Cancer

Our King’s St Alban’s Chamber Choir enjoyed what for some could be a once in a lifetime opportunity on Saturday evening when they took part in a very special concert in Worcester Cathedral.

OVs Shulah and Ivan Oliver, together with Shulah’s partner Simon, will collectively celebrate birthdays adding up to a total of 150 years this year. As dedicated musicians, all three decided that they would prefer to host a fundraising concert rather than organise a party. The result was a spectacular evening of music-making of the highest quality, featuring two local adult choirs, The Oakville Singers and Elgar Chorale, a wonderful orchestra, The Orchestra of St John, professional soloists Isabelle Palmer OV, soprano, and Roderick Williams, baritone, as well as Shulah herself, also a professional musician, on the violin.

Our Chamber Choir were immensely proud to be invited to take part in such a high-profile event, and they have been working extremely hard all term to learn John Rutter’s challenging and beautiful Mass of the Children. This piece is completely different from our usual concert repertoire, not least because the children’s chorus part is layered into the complex musical texture alongside the orchestral and adult choral parts, rather than appearing as a stand-alone element. The children have shown growth-mindset skills aplenty as they tackled the demands of this music, and they have been very impressive in their determination and enthusiasm for the task.

On Saturday, they joined forces with representatives from King’s Senior Lower Years Choir and Worcester Cathedral Voluntary Choir to form a children’s chorus of around 50 voices, with 33 from KSA. The adults around them were incredibly impressed by the maturity and focus of all the children as they navigated the high-speed demands of their first ever rehearsal with a professional conductor. For most of them, this was also their first time singing with an orchestra rather than a piano or organ accompaniment or a backing track. Many admitted to feeling rather overwhelmed initially, but they held their nerve and were gradually able to relax a little and enjoy the experience.

By the evening, it was clear that the nerves had vanished. We were privileged to be able to sit in the audience for the first half of the concert, enjoying stunning performances of pieces such as Elgar’s Songs from the Bavarian Highlands and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. This put everyone in the mood for their own performances and they relished the opportunity to show what they could do to a packed cathedral. It was a superb performance, and the children earned a well-deserved cheer from the audience at the end.

All funds raised from the event will go to the incredible charity Young Lives vs Cancer. We were all moved to hear testimony from one family of their experience of childhood cancer, and the incredible level of support they received from the charity throughout that period of their lives. Although the final total has yet to be announced, this event raised many thousands of pounds, all of which will go to support children suffering from cancer and their families.