Beckenham Junior Choir - giving children in Beckenham, Bromley and Southeast London a place to sing!

St Bartholomew's Church in Sydenham is renowned for its musical history and is host to the annual Sydenham Music Festival. What a fitting venue for an inspiring evening of music on Saturday 19 March 2011 from the Beckenham Junior Choir and Youth Voices, joined on this occasion by the Beckenham Concert Band, conducted by John Hargreaves!

Photographs of the concert

Thanks once again to Nick Charles there are some photographs online here, remember to enter your password to see the 'in performance' and 'rehearsal' photo's. If you click the 'slideshow' link you see them all play automatically

photographs 'in performance'

photographs of rehearsals

views of the Church

Beckenham Concert Band

The programme had something to please everyone. Older members of the audience could reminisce about Daisy Bell on her bicycle made for two, and chlldren could enjoy the silliness of the Bananas in their Pyjamas coming down the stairs!  Fans of musical theatre could sit back and listen to Sophie Kale's thrilling performance of "On My Own" from Les Miserables, and for classical music devotees there were treats such as the Beckenham Concert Band's interpretation of Prokofiev's Kije's Wedding and Holst's Song Without Words, and the lovely voice of our guest soloist of the evening, Zosia Edwards, singing Vedrai Carino from Don Giovanni by Mozart.

The programme also reminded us of the beauty and simplicity of our traditional folk songs, with the Junior Choir's pure rendition of Brigg Fair, the Concert Band's performance of Vaughan Williams Folk Songs from Somerset, and the Young Voices' spirited version of The Wild Rover accompanied on the guitar by Mark Edwards.  Zosia Edwards, accompanied by her brother Tomek on the trumpet and her dad Mark on the guitar, also performed One, Two Three, Four by the Canadian singer/songwriter Feist.

Some of the items  blended  performances from soloists, with the Choirs and the Concert Band.  We were all moved by the duet of Zosia Edwards and Kate Lewis singing I Am A Small Part Of The World with the Junior Choir. The Choirs and the Concert band joined together for Daisy Bell, Sing a Rainbow, Li'l Liza Jane, Tie a Yellow Ribbon and I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing and it was lovely to hear the children's voices together with the mellow sounds of the band.

Many thanks to all of the performers, especially all of the soloists, the accompanists, and Zosia Edwards. Thanks to St Barholomew's Church for hosting the concert. Thanks also to all of the parent helpers behind the scenes, and of course a big THANK YOU to John Webber, for making it all possible!