Haileybury choirs in demand by the BBC

Following on from the Haileybury Chamber Choir’s recent triumph in a BBC competition that made them BBC Songs of Praise Senior School Choir of the Year 2005, the choir has begun a busy schedule of other recordings.

The Chamber Choir travelled to Gateshead on Tuesday 12 April to record two Songs of Praise programmes at The Sage Centre, a new concert hall on the banks of the Tyne. The choir joined 1 700 local people in recording eight hymns, and the Haileybury Choir also sang two pieces on their own (Be thou my vision arranged by Peter Davis, and Rejoice, the Lord is King by Malcolm Archer). These recordings are due to air on BBC1 on Sunday 1 May and Sunday 20 November.

Both the Chamber Choir and the Chapel Choir are also in demand from BBC Radio. Engineers and producers from Radio 2 will visit the school on Sunday 24 April to record music for two programmes of their regular Sunday evening Sunday Half Hour broadcast. All 75 singers of the Chapel Choir will feature in three hymns and Stanford’s motet Coelos ascendit hodie, and then the Chamber Choir will record two additional hymns and two further anthems (Rejoice, the Lord is King by Malcolm Archer, and My soul, there is a country by Parry).

The choirs will also be maintaining their normal performing duties in school this term, leading two major Chapel Services and playing an important part in the school’s Summer Concert on 13 May. Once term has ended, the musical year is due to conclude with a Choir and Orchestra tour to Prague from 5 – 12 July.