Private School News

Howell’s School Senior Choir to sing in Beijing

Forty members of the Howell’s School Llandaff Senior Choir are practising hard to perform in one of the world’s greatest concert halls during the forthcoming school tour in China – the prestigious Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. The choir members are all 15-18 years old and are looking forward to the experience of a lifetime. As well as singing in the Forbidden City, they will be visiting the School of Excellence in Beijing for a master class on Chinese music and will later be taking part in a concert with Chinese pupils and staff from the school. During the stay in China, the girls will also enjoy a full programme of sightseeing visits, which includes the Great Wall and the Terracotta Army at Xi’an.

This will not be the Senior Choir’s first performance in public. They have enjoyed successes in competitions and have performed with many eminent artists including the BBC Singers, the London Adventist Chorale, Crispian Steele Perkins, Karl Jenkins, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Aled Jones, the King’s Singers, Owain Arwel Hughes, Sir James and Lady Galway, Sir Willard White and Hayley Westenra. The choir regularly appears on television and in 2007 produced a well-reviewed CD, Let’s Celebrate Christmas, in conjunction with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The school’s Deputy Principal, Mrs Michelle Gosney, who along with five other members of the teaching staff will be accompanying the group, said, “This will be a tremendous opportunity for us all to experience a culture which is so different from our own and help us to extend our global links.”

For more information, please visit http://www.britishcouncil.org/china-arts-music-howell.htm