Review of 2011-12

This has been another year of wonderful achievements from the musicians at the Vaughan and I hope that all involved will take great pride from their work. Particularly exciting has been the increased amount of film and other recording work the younger boys have been involved with and we have recorded and performed a number of very interesting projects. It is also very pleasing that we have developed our relationship with English National Opera through involvement in their production of Britten’s Billy Budd in June and July. Our connection with Music For Youth was made yet greater when we hosted a regional festival at the School in March - with both the Chamber Orchestra and the Big Band performing in the National Festival in July. Our existing links have continued to flourish with appearances at the Royal Opera House and also perhaps our finest joint concert yet with Southbank Sinfonia, the school’s orchestra in residence.

There have been some wonderful performances during the year – the Victoria Requiem in November, Handel’s Messiah in December, the Grieg Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite in March, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria at Easter, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Sibelius Symphony No 2 in May, Guys and Dolls at the end of July: this is just a fraction of the music that the pupils have explored this year.

Perhaps the most notable event of the entire year was the School Choir’s Tour to California in February. 92 pupils travelled with 12 staff to San Francisco and Los Angeles for a series of concerts. This was a tremendous trip with the Americans, in this very Catholic part of the USA, as welcoming and generous as always. The memory of hearing the Schola sing at the magnificent Oakland Cathedral, with its Rolls Royce acoustic, will live long in the memory.

The Californian Tour was to be Mr Cole’s final trip with the School of course as he has now moved on after nearly fifteen years of directing the Schola. There are tributes from Mr Stubbings and myself in the Vaughan Magazine which will be available in September. Mr Cole’s dedication to the Schola over many years has been remarkable and I am sure that I speak for all when I thank him for his wonderful contribution to the musical and also the spiritual life of the Vaughan. We wish him all the very best for the future.

I would like to thank the pupils who are leaving too: This year’s Upper Sixth have contributed well and I thank the following in particular for their strong contribution to the musical life of the School: Francis Hornsby Clark, Matthew Collins, Luke Colairo, Adam Hill, Peter Galea, Aaron Marchant, Jack Robertson, James Roscow, Joseph Sealey and Katherine Yeo.

Next year the Department will feel a little different as Mr Evans will only be spending two days a week with us and will no longer teach in the classroom, concentrating on the organ teaching. Miss Wilby, you will be very pleased to learn I am sure, becomes the Assistant Director of Music. We are also to be joined by a new teacher, Mr Jackson, a very talented young man who I am sure will quickly make a huge impression with everyone. As ever there are many exciting ventures planned. We are to perform Verdi’s Requiem in December and in March will tackle another of music’s greatest challenges when for the first time we perform Bach’s St Matthew Passion. The Schola are to tour Poland in April and also will be singing twice every term at Westminster Cathedral. Our boys are to sing in Glorianna at the Royal Opera House in June 2013. And there will be so much more besides of course.


Full details will soon be available on this website. Huge congratulations and thanks once more to all involved in the Vaughan’s music-making.

Scott Price, Director of Music