College Chamber Choir sings Acis and Galatea at St Paul's Covent Garden
Posted on Monday 13 July 2009
250th Anniversary of Handel's death celebrated by remarkable performance
Standing ovation for College Chamber Choir
St Paul’s church, Covent Garden was the venue for the first of two stunning performances of Handel’s Acis and Galatea given by Farnborough Sixth Form College’s Chamber Choir this weekend. This splendid setting, which would have been known to Handel himself, formed a perfect backdrop to the power, beauty and musical assurance of these accomplished young musicians as they told the story of Acis’ doomed love for Galatea.
The choir was joined by three former students who each took principal roles. Helen Lewis (left 2006) sang the role of Galatea with such beauty that no one could fail to be moved by her grief at the end. Acis was sung by Nathan Cox (left 2003) whose light lyric tenor was perfectly suited to Handel’s high tessitura and the part of the monstrous ogre Polyphemus was brilliantly brought to life by the powerful baritone Matthew Stone (left 2006).
Complimenting these principals were current students Vicky Tay and Sarah Brown who shared the role of Damon, each bringing to the part a maturity of singing and understanding of style way beyond their years; first year student, William Malins sang the tenor solo in the opening chorus.
The following day saw the choir and soloists travel to Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, to give a second performance at Holy Trinity Church as part of their annual music festival. Here the choir’s singing was so luminous and impassioned and the soloists so accomplished that the audience would simply not let them go. The sustained applause and standing ovation lasted many minutes. On both occasions the choir were joined on period baroque instruments by the Emerald Ensemble with whom the College has been partnered on a number of previous occasions.
Speaking after the performance, Director of Music Paul Bambrough said, “I cannot express how proud I am of these remarkable students. It was a great privilege to conduct a group of people so committed to perfection and so able to achieve it. These performances would stand up against any other professional choir; to think the average age is only seventeen is simply astounding”.
However, the best tribute came from an unknown lady who had wandered into St Paul’s during the rehearsal in the afternoon. “I was so moved, so inspired and so uplifted by this music and by these young people that I had to sit and hear the whole rehearsal to the end. Their energy, enthusiasm and enjoyment made me forget all my problems for an hour. Thank you!”
