BBC Singers come to New Hall at Winchester College to perform Zadok the Priest with over 400 Hampshire Primary School Pupils

On Thursday 29^thJanuary 2015 Hampshire Music Hub invited over four hundred primary school pupils to take part in two vocal workshops in partnership with the BBC Singers and Winchester College. The workshops took place in the wonderful newly refurbished New Hall at Winchester College and were led by the BBC Singers under the direction of one of their principal guest conductors Paul Brough along with a fabulous accompanist on the piano.

The focus of the workshops was the piece of music that George Frideric Handel wrote for the coronation of George II in 1727, and played at every coronation since then, Zadok the Priest.

 Zadok the Priest is one of the works which has been chosen for the BBC Ten Pieces national music project and we were delighted to be able to work with 15 Hampshire Primary schools in this partnership as part of own Ten Pieces programme of events.

After some initial vocal warm ups led by Lynette, one of the altos from the choir, Paul taught the children a“melancholy yet hopeful” song which they sang beautifully in a three part round. This led into a first performance of the two part children’s chorus version of Zadok the Priest that has been especially written for the BBC Ten Pieces Project.

 After a short break the pupils watched the BBC Ten Pieces film of Zadok the Priest on the huge screen of New Hall, which was a treat in itself! However a real highlight of both sessions was a live performance of the complete original version of the work performed by the full four part BBC Singers. Real spine tingling moments!

After rehearsing the style, diction, interpretation of the words and other performance details the workshops culminated in a polished performance of the abridged version of Zadok the Priest by the children’s choir with the BBC Singers. A performance the children will never forget!

Quotes:

"For most of our children this is the first time they have embarked on this sort of performance -using a score, and singing a classical piece of music but we all learnt so much and had a fabulous time."

"It was their first exposure to professional singing, and it just blew them away. The conductor got such a lot out of them. The best comment made afterwards was - "I never knew I could make a sound like that" - which rather summed it up. They have raised their expectations of themselves."

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the BBC Singers and Winchester College for their roles in enabling such a fantastic opportunity for so many Hampshire children.