About three weeks ago, my eponymous Holloway Children’s Choir held a party to celebrate the fifth anniversary of our trip to the UK for a competition and tour. Five years ago, I never would have imagined that they would hold a reunion party every year for the next five years, each time with a different thematic colour for the party’s attire. Over the years, the children have gradually grown from 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 years old into teenagers aged 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Although it’s normal for children to grow up, witnessing this transformation still never fails to surprise!
They had the party in Tianjin, while I joined for an hour via webcam from Taichung. I decided to share with everyone a reminiscence of the evolution of the choir from the days of the Mulan Children’s Choir, through the founding of the Holloway Children’s Choir, right up to the tour to the UK and hour last performance at the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe, London. It turned into a very moving event. Here are some of the things I shared:
This was the last Mulan Children’s Choir concert that was held in the Tianjin Grand Theatre in Summer 2017:
Tianjin Grand Theatre Mulan Children’s Choir: Summer Concert 2017
“Don’t Be Sad”, sung by the massed forces of Mozart, Schubert and Bruckner classes:
The last ever performance by the Mulan Children’s Choir was my opera for children’s choir, Cao Chong Weighs the Elephant:
Opera for Children’s Choir: Cao Chong Weighs the Elephant 童声歌剧：曹冲称象 （2017）
I reminded the students of the three wonderful performances of the title role, by three students from the choir, Wang Yantao, Fu Yihan and Fu Yuxin:
I also shared with them clips from the documentary made by Tianjin International TV about me and the opera:
This is the post I made after the inaugural rehearsals of the Holloway Children’s Choir:
Holloway Children’s Choir- inaugural rehearsals (March 2018)
In our first public performance as the Holloway Children’s Choir we sang a choral arrangement by Yang Hongnian of Mendelssohn’s Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (either I’ve completely forgotten for whose wedding anniversary we were singing, or I never knew in the first place!):
Out of the concerts we put on in Tianjin, the one of which I’m most proud is probably this one, from Winter 2018:
This one is Seeing Plum Blossom in the Snow by Huang Zi:
They sang Jasmin Flower quite well too:
The last stop on the reminiscence was the UK Tour in the Summer of 2019. I shared the tour report with the children. It had been written by the mother of one of the children, and I translated it into English:
I loved our performance of “When will the scholartree blossom?” from the Chinese Mountain Songs by Chen Yi in St Collen’s Church in Llangollen:
I was proud to commission works by Tom Green and Sam Cave specially for the tour. This is Sam Cave’s atmospheric …with magic in my eyes… performed in the foyer of Chester Storyhouse to a (surprisingly) quiet and appreciative audience:
Our best concert was in the Holywell Music Room on 8th July 2019. By this time the choir were so familiar with the music, and I had such control over them, it was simply a pleasure to conduct them:
Strauss, Zueignung:
Fauré, Cantique de Jean Racine:
Finally, the most musically ambitious piece I composed for the Holloway Children’s Choir, Red Cliff:
Looking back on some of the things I did with these children– who were all under eleven at the time, mind you– I can’t believe how gutsy I was. Getting them to sing in English three premieres by contemporary composers– from memory? Singing one-to-a-part Bartok partsongs in Hungarian? It remains one of, if not the most meaningful thing I’ve done in my life so far, and I, the children (who are all teenagers now) and the parents have many happy memories of our time together as the Holloway Children’s Choir.
Photos from the party:
