Tag Archives: Chethams

Chets in Sydney Day 2

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Chets in Sydney!!:))

Great day seeing the city and the famous landmarks. Took the ferry to Manly beach and spent a couple of hours on the ocean front there, then back to the city and a bit of time at Circular Quay and the Rocks. Then back to our apartments to change before visiting the Sydney Conservatoire. Had a tour round and listened to the rehearsal for a world premier of a piece for violin and small ensemble. Then to the Opera House for a fantastic performance of Don Giovanni. A pinch yourself to believe you were there evening!

Tomorrow a few more hours sightseeing before flying on to Melbourne. More from there!!

Sydney!!!

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Chets group said farewell to Purcell group this morning and flew to Sydney. Nice views from the air although lots of turbulence.
Found our apartments in the city which are great and we then walked to Sydney tower, the highest building in the city, and took the lift to the top. Fab views as the sky darkened and the city lights came on. Also a lightening show from distant storms.
Walked back to Chinatown and had a great meal with compulsory use of chopsticks!
Only one broken piece of crockery which was good going.
Looking forward to sightseeing day tomorrow, with visit to Sydney conservatoire late afternoon and then Don Giovanni in the opera house:)
Hope Purcell group have safe trip back and Catherine too of course. Missing you!
Can’t upload photos from here but will do so when in Melbourne later in the week. Nick and Sarah. Gday!!

New arrivals …

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On day 5 I blogged that Maltese Tenor, Joseph Aquilina, had arrived I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce all the members of the team who have arrive with us so far!

We of course have the Chethams and Purcell Schools of music, the biggest and oldest specialist music schools in the UK. Chethams is based in Manchester and Purcell just outside North London. Both schools have sent 6 – 7 pupils aged 16 – 18 to perform to and encourage young musicians in Australia.

The combined teams of Purcell and Chethams Schools

Joining the schools are two Royal Over-Seas League soloists, Les Neish and Yelian He who have been with us since we arrived. Les Neish is an international Tuba soloists and has joined us whilst he has joined us whilst he is touring Australia and New Zealand for 5 weeks! Yelian He has flown out as part of a 3 week tour of Australia, originally from Melbourne he is currently a post graduate student at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Yelian will be performing the Haydn Cello Concerto with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra as part of the Commonwealth festival

Joseph Aquilina

We are also very lucky to be joined by two Maltese musicians, one old friend who was on the original Commonwealth Resounds tour as a Purcell School pupil. Cecelia De Maria rejoins the team as a harp soloist and two days ago we were also joined by the celebrated Maltese Joseph Aquilina

Joseph is a world-renowned Tenor soloist and notably has performed for the Commonwealth Heads of Government before when it was in Malta where he sang to many dignitaries from around the World.

Joseph has also recorded for major international record labels and has championed the work of many Maltese Soloists. We are especially pleased to be joined by him and would like to thank the Maltese Government for supporting him whilst he is out in Australia.

We are due to be joined very shortly by more musicians from Singapore and from Trinidad. The Commonwealth Resounds is managing to bring together musicians from all over the World to share musical ideas and experiences!

Pre-CHoGM ROSL Gala Concert

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A morning of rehearsing for todays Royal Over-Seas League concert has passed us by and once again the two teams, Purcell & Chethams, are working together to produce some fantastic music. So far the opening piece – Tschaikovsky, string quartet no.1 op.11 – has jumped out as a highlight. But we still await the ROSL soloists who will be joining us for the Gala concert at 3.

The concert includes original pieces composed by members of our own team of young musicians alongside other well known great pieces of music. You can find the full programme on our calendar page.

We’re giving the concert in the iconic Princess Alexandra Hall in Overseas House this afternoon at 3pm tickets are available on the door for £12.

Pre-Perth Purcell Resounds Tour

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We’ve just announced details of the Purcell Resounds concerts that our Purcell pupils will be taking part in!

Pinner Resounds,
Saturday 24th September

Royal Over-Seas League Pre-CHoGM Gala Concert
Sunday 25th September
This concert will also feature some of our Chethams friends!

Potters Bar Resounds
Friday 7th October

Little Missenden Festival
Saturday 8th October

All of the concerts and events linked to the Australia trip can be found on our calendar

There’s still more info to come so keep checking back

The weekend

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This weekend four of the Purcell team have travelled up to a little village in Derbyshire to prepare and team build. Seeing as we are so far north we have decided to travel up to join the Chethams team in Manchester which has given us a great opportunity to rehearse for the Royal Over-Seas League Gala concert in London next Sunday which the two schools are both taking part in.

So far we have looked at several string quartets from the usual repertoire of Dvorak’s American Quartet and Tschaikovsky’s quartet (op. 11) to several new compositions by members of the team.

The day has been very useful for us all to get to grips with possible programmes that we could put together in Perth during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting 2011. We’ve also used the day to meet everyone again and prepare for our two weeks down under.

We’ll blog again soon to keep you updated with the concert programme or visit our calendar