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Westminster Abbey Choir
Westminster Abbey Choir School is a boarding preparatory school for boys in Westminster, London and the only remaining choir school in the United Kingdom which exclusively educates choristers (i.e. only choirboys attend the school). It is located in Dean's Yard, by Westminster Abbey. It educates about 30 boys, aged 8–13 who sing in the Choir of Westminster Abbey, which takes part in state and national occasions as well as singing evensong every day (except Wednesday) and gives concert performances worldwide. Recent tours include to America, Hungary and Moscow. Other tours have included Australia, America and Hong Kong. The school is one of only three choir schools that educate only the male trebles of the choir, the others being Saint Thomas Choir School in New York City and Escolania de Montserrat in Spain. The headmaster is Peter Roberts, former assessment co-ordinator of St George's School, Windsor Castle. The organist and master of the choristers is James O'Donnell, fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Independent School (UK)
In the United Kingdom, independent schools () are fee-charging schools, some endowed and governed by a board of governors and some in private ownership. They are independent of many of the regulations and conditions that apply to state-funded schools. For example, pupils do not have to follow the National Curriculum, although, some schools do. They are commonly described as 'private schools' although historically the term referred to a school in private ownership, in contrast to an endowed school subject to a trust or of charitable status. Many of the older independent schools catering for the 12–18 age range in England and Wales are known as public schools, seven of which were the subject of the Public Schools Act 1868. The term "public school" derived from the fact that they were then open to pupils regardless of where they lived or their religion (while in the United States and most other English-speaking countries "public school" refers to a publicly-funded state school). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James O'Donnell (organist)
James Anthony O'Donnell (born 15 August 1961) is a British organist, choral conductor and academic teacher. He was master of music at Westminster Cathedral in London from 1988 to 2000 and made recordings with the cathedral choir; their recording of Frank Martin's ''Mass for Double Choir'' and Ildebrando Pizzetti's ''Messa di Requiem'' received awards. O'Donnell has played organ concerts and appeared with choirs internationally. He recorded Poulenc's Organ Concerto and Saint-Saëns's Third Symphony, with organ, among others. He has held the position of organist and master of the choristers of Westminster Abbey since 2000. With the choir of the Westminster Abbey, he recorded ''Music for Remembrance'', written in memory of those who died in the two World Wars, including Duruflé's Requiem. He has been responsible for the music at several national functions at Westminster, including the funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 2002, the wedding of Prince William and Cathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrian Cruft
Adrian Francis Cruft (10 February 1921 – 20 February 1987) was a British composer. Cruft, the son of the double-bassist Eugene Cruft was educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School, Westminster School, and as a Boult conducting scholar at the Royal College of Music from 1938, completing his studies there briefly in 1946-1947 after service in World War II. He was a composition student of Gordon Jacob and Edmund Rubbra but also studied double bass with his father. Cruft became chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain 1966. Cruft, called a "performers' composer" by Roderick Swanston in an article in ''The Musical Times'' a couple of years after his death was, as a young chorister at Westminster Abbey, influenced by the revival of Tudor music and later by the counterpoint of Bach. Grove's music dictionary calls his music "diatonic, firmly based in tradition and generally straightforward in idiom". He composed church music as well as orchestral works and chamber music.Hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabriel Crouch
Gabriel Crouch is a British baritone, choral conductor, and record producer. Early life Gabriel Crouch was born on 19 September 1973. Musically inclined since the age of eight, he joined the choir of Westminster Abbey. He became the Head Chorister of that choir and even had a solo at the wedding of Prince Andrew and Miss Sarah Ferguson. He attended the University of Cambridge where he studied Geography. Career He held the second baritone position in the King's Singers for eight years, from 1996 to 2004, including a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album in 2001. He has also performed and recorded with Polyphony, Tenebrae, and The Cambridge Singers among others. Formerly the director of the DePauw University Choral Ensembles, he currently is a professor at Princeton University and directs the Princeton Glee Club and Chamber Choir and the early music ensemble Gallicantus. He has recorded and produced numerous records for many major labels, most notably BMI ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Civil
Alan Civil OBE (13 June 1929 – 19 March 1989) was a British horn player. Civil began to play the horn at a young age, and joined the famous Royal Artillery Band and Orchestra at Woolwich, while still in his teens. He studied the instrument under Aubrey Brain, father of Dennis Brain. Civil was engaged by Thomas Beecham to play second horn to Dennis Brain in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and when Brain left for the Philharmonia, Civil took over leadership of the section. In 1955, Civil joined the Philharmonia himself, becoming principal horn player when Brain died in a car crash in 1957. In the 1960s, Civil became the first non-German to be approached by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to become a member. Civil stuck with the Philharmonia however, who were reshaping themselves into the New Philharmonia. In 1966 he became principal horn of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, remaining there until his retirement in 1988. As a soloist, Civil recorded the horn concertos of Mozart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Burton (conductor)
James Burton (born 1974) is a British conductor and composer. He is currently the Boston Symphony Orchestra Choral Director and Conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. He also holds the position oDirector of Orchestral Activities and Master Lecturer in Musicat Boston University. Early life and education Born in London, Burton studied at Westminster Abbey Choir School and he became head chorister of the Choir of Westminster Abbey in 1987. He was awarded a music scholarship to Radley College, and a choral scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, where his initial interest in conducting was encouraged by Christopher Robinson. Burton holds a master's degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied orchestral conducting with Frederik Prausnitz and Gustav Meier. Conducting In February 2017 the Boston Symphony Orchestra appointed Burton as Choral Director, a newly created position, and Conductor of the orchestra's Tanglewood Festival Chorus. He gave his Boston ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timothy Brown (conductor)
Timothy (Tim) Brown (born 9 December 1946) is an English choral conductor. Education He was a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and later an alto choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge, under the direction of Sir David Willcocks. Career Following his time in college, Tim went on to become a lay clerk at New College, Oxford, and later worked as a schoolteacher for a number of years. In 1979 he succeeded John Rutter as Director of Music at Clare College, Cambridge and Director of the college choir. In his time at Clare he released several acclaimed recordings with the choir (largely on the Naxos label) by composers including Rutter, Vaughan Williams and Stainer. In 1986 he re-founded the Cambridge University Chamber Choir, directing annual performances of all the major Bach and Handel oratorios. He later founded the London-based professional chamber choir, English Voices. Many of his students have gone on to form successful careers in music, notably Norwich Cathedral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Brown (composer)
Chris Brown (born 1953) is an American composer, pianist and electronic musician, who creates music for acoustic instruments with interactive electronics, for computer networks, and for improvising ensembles. He was active early in his career as an inventor and builder of electroacoustic instruments; he has also performed widely as an improviser and pianist with groups as "Room" and the "Glenn Spearman Double Trio." In 1986 he co-founded the pioneering computer network music ensemble "The Hub". He is also known for his recorded performances of music by Henry Cowell, Luc Ferrari, and John Zorn. He has received commissions from the Berkeley Symphony, the Rova Saxophone Quartet, the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio, the Gerbode Foundation, the Phonos Foundation and the Creative Work Fund. His recent music includes the poly-rhythm installation "Talking Drum", the "Inventions" series for computers and interactive performers, and the radio performance "Transmissions" series, with composer Gui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Songs Of Farewell
''Songs of Farewell'' is a set of six choral motets by the British composer Hubert Parry. The pieces were composed between 1916 and 1918 and were among his last compositions before his death. Background The songs were written during the First World War when a number of Parry's pupils at the Royal College of Music were being killed in action. Parry's choice of texts are thought to reflect a yearning to escape the violence of a world at war, and to find peace in a heavenly realm. In contrast to Parry's assured 1916 setting of William Blake's poem "And did those feet in ancient time", "Jerusalem", ''Songs of Farewell'' is seen as representing a decline in national confidence. During the war, Parry lost many of his students, George Butterworth was killed, Arthur Bliss wounded and Ivor Gurney was gassed. Having been a lifelong Germanophile, who previously believed that Britain would never go to war with the Kaiser, the war proved to be a time of personal despair for Parry, which is re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", his 1902 setting for the coronation anthem "I was glad", the choral and orchestral ode '' Blest Pair of Sirens'', and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind". His orchestral works include five symphonies and a set of Symphonic Variations. He also composed the music for ''Ode to Newfoundland'', the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial anthem (and former national anthem). After early attempts to work in insurance at his father's behest, Parry was taken up by George Grove, first as a contributor to Grove's massive '' Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' in the 1870s and '80s, and then in 1883 as professor of composition and musical history at the Royal College of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Curriculum For England
The National Curriculum for England was first introduced by the Education Reform Act 1988. At the time of its introduction the legislation applied to both England and Wales. However, education later became a devolved matter for the Welsh government. The National Curriculum is a set of subjects and standards used by primary and secondary schools so children learn the same things. It covers what subjects are taught and the standards children should reach in each subject. The statutory National Curriculum in force dates from 2014, when it was introduced to most year groups across primary and secondary education. Some elements were introduced in September 2015. The National Curriculum sets out the content matter which must be taught in a number of subjects in "local authority–maintained schools". Aims There are two main aims presented in the statutory documentation for the National Curriculum, stating: # The national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential kn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Independent Schools Inspectorate
The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) is approved by the Secretary of State for Education – under section 106 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 – to inspect independent schools in England. These schools are members of associations, which form the Independent Schools Council. Role and remit ISI is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, with a board of independent directors. As required by law, ISI is independent of the schools it inspects and accountable to the Department for Education. In November 2020, Vanessa Ward was appointed as Chief Inspector and CEO of ISI, following endorsement by the Secretary of State for Education, on the recommendation of the ISI board. She previously led inspections in the state and independent sectors as one of Her Majesty's Inspectors for Ofsted. ISI inspects more than 1,200 schools, which together educate around 500,000 children each year. ISI reports to the Department for Education on the extent to which these schools meet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
