Famous choir hits the right note at the Church of St. John Fisher

Jun 24 2010 By Giles Lury

The internationally renowned London Oratory School Schola gave a celebratory concert to start the Patronal Festival at St. John Fisher Church in North Harrow on Sunday 20^th June.

The Schola was founded in 1996 at the London Oratory School which is based in West Brompton. It has established itself as one of the country’s leading boys’ choirs singing a large and varied repertoire of pieces from traditional sacred and secular works to contemporary music.

They recently performed with “The Priests” at a sell-out concert in Cadogan Hall and appeared on their second album “Harmony”, but they are perhaps most famous as the voices behind soundtracks for the platinum award winning “Lord of the Rings” films. They have also been chosen to make up the core choir that will perform in Coventry at the beatification of  Cardinal Henry Newman before Pope Benedict  when he visits the UK in October.

The choir comprises choristers aged between 7 -11 and choral singers, boys from the senior school. They are often joined by ‘lay clerks’, professional singers from some of London’s leading musical schools and choirs.

The boys come from all over London and the choir currently includes a number of local Harrow boys. One of these, Wilf Jones, sang both ‘Dulcis Christie’ by Michelangelo Grancini in a duet with Michael Watkins and then gave an expressive solo interpretation of ‘Thou shalt not break them’ by Handel.

The concert, conducted by Mr. Aidan Coburn and accompanied by Mr. Lee Ward on the organ, also included works by Haydn and Mendelssohn. It was a well chosen selection that was at times reflective, at others joyful with the overall result being undoubtedly uplifting. The highlights included two versions of Ave Maria, the first by Matthew Martin sung by the choristers and the second arranged by Giacomo Caccini and sung by the full choir.

Father Kevin Jordan, the priest at the Church of St. John Fisher said afterwards “We were delighted that the school and all the boys were willing to give their time to our church to help us start our Patronal celebrations again this year and we look forward to welcoming them back next year.”