As part of the Music Department's series of professional concerts, VOCES 8 visited Queen Anne's on Friday.  The multi award winning vocal octet led two very active workshops, made a massively popular appearance in chapel and performed in a spectacular concert in the evening.

In the afternoon two workshops were held, which were attended by the L4s, choir members and singing lesson pupils, with visitors from schools such as Cranford House and St Andrew's. Throughout the workshop VOCES 8 showed us how singing can be more than just standing and singing a tune and how through interpretation and movement the music can really come alive! After a very active warm up that tested even the most rhythmic of the group, VOCES 8 taught us a four part song called ‘Great Day' that we enjoyed performing with them in the concert later on.

Straight after the second workshop, VOCES 8 rushed to the chapel for a special ‘hymn practice'. Whilst Queen Anne's enjoys singing, sometimes at 8.15 in the morning our voices can be a bit rusty... But in all my time at Queen Anne's I have never heard such singing in chapel! The extremely charismatic VOCES 8 managed to coax an incredible sound out of the school as we sang some jazz influenced hymns. Even the notorious U5s proved that they could certainly hold a tune. Let's just hope that, inspired by VOCES 8, the school can maintain this newly discovered enthusiasm!

After supper, and having changed into some far more glamorous attire, VOCES 8 joined a large audience in the hall for a highly anticipated concert. The programme included some very technically advanced classical pieces by composers such as Bach and some very slick and alluring James Bond songs, ‘Nobody Does it Better' and ‘Goldeneye'. Each was met with thunderous applause and murmurings of ‘and they don't have any instruments'. VOCES 8 is an exceptionally talented group of vocalists and their outgoing, individual personalities and brilliant sense of humour come together to produce a captivating performance, as their encore of an opera medley displayed excellently.

After a day of such inspiring music, I'm hoping, as I'm sure the rest of the school are that this wasn't the last we shall see of VOCES 8.

Charlotte Rowe
Head of Orchestra