What. A. Night. If you were not at our King’s Ely Senior Vocal Festival Finalists’ Concert, you missed out!
After battling it out in after school singing heats for more than a fortnight, our Years 9-13 finalists came together and sang their hearts out in the intimate setting of Ely Cathedral’s South Transept on March 9th.
Our Adjudicator for the evening was Old Elean and former Ely Cathedral Chorister, George Bartle. George is a graduate of London’s Royal College of Music and Switzerland’s Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, as a singer and sackbut specialist.
The following students secured a place in the Finals: Ben Kittoe, Isobel Holland, Sam Trueman, Thomas Bateman, Jessica Harding, Kit Attwater, Anna Ost, Joshua Davidson, Alexandra Bowerman, Charlotte Senior, Cordelia Udy, Robert Reed, Amy Bungard, Nell Kittoe, Aoife Willis, Hugh Chippington, and some Year 9 and Sixth Form members of The King’s Barbers.
The quality of every single student’s singing was astonishing – the strongest ever according to our Head of Vocal Studies, Peter North!
After much deliberation, Mr Bartle announced the following:
Winner of the Darren Jefferey Cup for Intermediate Singer of the Year – Nell Kittoe
Winner of the James Bowman Cup for Senior Singer of the Year – Alexandra Bowerman
Winner of the Vocal Festival House Points Cup – Wilkinson
Winner of the Years 9-11 Classical Song Prize – Joshua Davidson
Winner of the Years 9-11 Popular Song Prize – Nell Kittoe
Winner of the French Song Prize – Kit Attwater
Winner of the Comic Song Prize – Thomas Bateman
Winner of the Years 12-13 Classical Song Prize – Alexandra Bowerman
Winner of the Years 12-13 Popular Song Prize – Isobel Holland
Winner of the Self-Accompanied Prize – Ben Kittoe
Winners of the Ensemble Class – Thomas Bateman and Alexandra Bowerman
Winners of the A Cappella Class – Year 9 Barbers
A very proud Mr North said: “In all the years that I have been at King’s, I honestly cannot remember a contest where every performer has sung so well! The atmosphere in the Cathedral was wonderfully celebratory as the culmination of two-and-a-half weeks of heats came to a climax. George Bartle was so impressed, not only by the quality of the singing and the performances, but by the supportive and good-humoured atmosphere on the evening. Every pupil who has taken part in this year’s Vocal Festival, regardless of whether they reached the Finals or not, should be incredibly proud of themselves.”
Congratulations not just to the students, but to Mr North and our Music Department for pulling together such a fabulous competition!
This evening (Saturday 11th March), students who did not make the Finals will be performing in a ‘Take the Stage’ cabaret-style evening in our Hayward Theatre. The concert starts at 7pm, entry is free and everyone is welcome. Book your tickets here: www.kingsely.org/news-events/box-office/