London Oratory School Schola
Encyclopedia
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
for Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
boys. The current director of the Schola is Lee Ward
Lee Ward
Lee Ward BMus ARCO is a British organist, conductor and teacher.He first studied the organ with Ian Tracey at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and was appointed Assistant Organist at Chester Cathedral at eighteen years of age....
. The choir's patrons are Princess Michael of Kent
Princess Michael of Kent
Princess Michael of Kent is an Austrian-Hungarian member of the British Royal Family. She is married to Prince Michael of Kent, who is a grandson of King George V....
, the barrister Cherie Booth, the actor Simon Callow
Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE is an English actor, writer and theatre director. He is also currently a judge on Popstar to Operastar.-Early years:...
and the composer James MacMillan (musician)
James MacMillan (musician)
James MacMillan CBE is a Scottish classical composer and conductor.-Early life:MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977....
.
Directors of the Schola
Michael McCarthy (choirmaster)
Michael McCarthy is currently Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral. Previously, he was the founding director of the London Oratory School Schola at the London Oratory in London. In addition to liturgical duties, the Schola recorded for the film scores of Sleepy Hollow, The Lord of the...
. After seven years with the Schola, McCarthy moved to the USA to become the Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral]. He was succeeded by Steven Grahl, who is now Organist and Director of Music at St Marylebone Parish Church and Assistant Organist at New College, Oxford. The current director is Lee Ward
Lee Ward
Lee Ward BMus ARCO is a British organist, conductor and teacher.He first studied the organ with Ian Tracey at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and was appointed Assistant Organist at Chester Cathedral at eighteen years of age....
, who combines work as Director of the Schola with his duties as Director of Music at the London Oratory School
London Oratory School
The London Oratory School is a Catholic secondary comprehensive school in Fulham, London. The Headmaster is David McFadden. It has around 1,365 pupils. It is not to be confused with The Oratory School, a Catholic boarding school...
. He is also Director of Music at St John-at-Hampstead Church and a renowned organist who performs both in the UK and abroad.
Performances
Roxanna Panufnik
Roxanna Panufnik is a British composer of Polish heritage. She is the daughter of the composer and conductor Sir Andrzej Panufnik....
's "Schola Missa de Angelis" - a work written for the choir. The London Oratory Schola Foundation is a charity set up to help finance the Schola and its work. Past concerts have included Panufnik's Westminster Mass, Britten's St Nicholas, Jenkins' Armed Man, Haydn's Missa in tempore belli and many sacred choral works.
Other recent Schola concerts include the 2009 and 2010 performances at the Royal Albert Hall of The Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers soundtracks. The Schola has also performed with 'The Priests
The Priests
The Priests are a classical musical group made up of three Catholic priests all from Northern Ireland. Fr Eugene and his brother Fr Martin O'Hagan are originally from the village of Claudy, County Londonderry with the family now residing in Derry whilst Fr David Delargy is from Ballymena, County...
' in Dublin's St Peter's Cathedral and in London's Cadogan Hall, the former being broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster. In November 2008 the choir performed in a concert for Save the Children at St Paul's Cathedral and in September a concert in Liverpool's Hope University. On 7 July 2007 the Schola performed a concert in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, backed by the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, with the Orchestra Philarmonia Di Roma. The concert, written by Michael D’Alessandra, aimed to recall the glory of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
The choir's concert for World Aids Day
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Government and health officials observe the day, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an...
took place at the Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall is a 900-seat capacity concert hall on Sloane Terrace in Chelsea / Belgravia in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, United Kingdom...
in London on the 1 December 2007. . All proceeds from the concert went to the SURF Fund (a campaign which works in Rwanda campaigning for free anti-retroviral
Retrovirus
A retrovirus is an RNA virus that is duplicated in a host cell using the reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome. The DNA is then incorporated into the host's genome by an integrase enzyme. The virus thereafter replicates as part of the host cell's DNA...
treatment for survivors of the genocide, and provides medical support to reduce the effect of opportunistic infections) and SOS Children's Villages (a charity working in Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
to provide resources for those living with Aids
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and to help prevent family abandonment).
Controversy
The schola was involved in some controversy in November 2007. For its performance for a World AIDS DayWorld AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Government and health officials observe the day, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an...
concert, the beneficiary, the Terrence Higgins Trust, was abruptly dropped one month before the concert was to take place.
David McFadden, the Headmaster of The London Oratory School, claimed that the nominated charity did not support Christian values so the school could not support the charity from the proceeds of the concert.
In response, Actor Simon Callow
Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE is an English actor, writer and theatre director. He is also currently a judge on Popstar to Operastar.-Early years:...
threatened to resign as patron of a choir at the school in protest. He was also a patron of the Terrence Higgins Trust.
Film soundtracks
The choir has also featured on many film soundtrackSoundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s including Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
, The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film)
The Phantom of the Opera is a 2004 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux....
, The Golden Compass, The Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm (film)
The Brothers Grimm is a 2005 fantasy Adventure film directed by Terry Gilliam. The film stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger in an exaggerated and fictitious portrait of the Brothers Grimm as traveling con-artists in French-occupied Germany during the late 18th century...
and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a 2004 fantasy film directed by Alfonso Cuarón and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the third instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by Chris Columbus, David Heyman and Mark Radcliffe...
.
Audio recordings
The Schola released a recording of Ave Maria's on the Regent record label in 2008, with a recording of the music of contemporary British composer Roxanna Panufnik due in November 2009. The choir recorded an album of Christmas Carols, 'Songs of a Shepherd' in 2001, released on the Herald AV record label.In 2007 the Schola worked with the choir of an orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...
in Harare
Harare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, to record a version of the popular Christmas carol Silent Night
Silent Night
"Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
. The orphanage cares for children who were abandoned or whose parents died, largely due to AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. This recording supported, and was launched on, the World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Government and health officials observe the day, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an...
. Over 50% of the purchase price goes directly to the orphanage in order to assist it with its work. In 2008 The London Oratory School Schola recorded with Icelandic band Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with classicaland minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced...
on their song Ára Bátur for their new album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
-Track listing:-Personnel:* Jón Þór Birgisson – vocals, guitar* Kjartan Sveinsson – keyboards* Georg Hólm – bass* Orri Páll Dýrason – drumsStrings: Amiina...
, recorded on the Christmas album of Faith Hill and Andrew Johnston, runner-up from Britain's Got Talent, in 2009 the choir featured on albums of 'The Priests' and Camilla Kerslake.