Ealing: World famous Voces8 sings with St Benedict's choirs
The widely acclaimed professional a cappella group, Voces8, visited St Benedict's Ealing, to work with the school's choirs, Abbey choristers and pupils of all ages.
Children from west London primary schools also attended the singing day, which culminated in a wonderful concert to showcase what had been learned.
Voces8 began the concert with music by Byrd and Rachmaninov before the youngest singers took to the stage to perform American and British folk songs, dazzling the audience with their enthusiastic singing in two and three parts. The St Benedict's Consort Choir then joined Voces8 to sing Stanford's Beati quorum via and Evening Prayer by the contemporary Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, with the Ealing Abbey choristers singing his setting of Ubi Caritas and Parson's Ave Maria.
Voces8 sang a wide range of music, including Duke Ellington's It don't mean a thing and Nat 'King' Cole's Straighten up and fly right. Their repertoire is huge, and even included Abba's Dancing Queen as an encore!
St Benedict's Headmaster Andrew Johnson said: "It was a great privilege to have Voces8 with us. Their perfectly blended voices, expressive and committed singing, as well as a sense of fun, was hugely inspiring for everyone."
Read and see, more about Voces8 here: www.voces8.com