Zimbe Concert

On Friday 23^rd November 2018, over 150 singers from the local community joined together in Brecon Cathedral to perform Zimbe! Come Sing the Songs of Africa by Alexander L’Estrange. The work calls for a children’s choir, an SATB choir and Jazz Quintet. Christ College hosted singers from Cradoc and Sennybridge Primary Schools as well as the Senior Choir from The Elms Preparatory School in Colwall; all of the children in St Nicholas House, the Christ College Junior Section, also performed. The SATB choir was provided by the Christ College Chapel Choir as well as an adult community choir formed for the occasion. We were also delighted to welcome The Call Me Al Quintet, Alexander L’Estrange’s own professional jazz ensemble, who travelled from London for the concert.

The first half of the concert included several other significant items, including the largest ever gathering of percussion ever seen at Christ College. The full percussion ensemble performed music from the Lego Movie, involving over 20 pupils from Year 3 to Year 13. Following this, the Senior String Orchestra, directed by Berri Munn, performed Elgar’s Sospiri Op. 70 and the first half ended with the Chamber Orchestra’s rendition of On the Banks of Green Willow by George Butterworth to mark this centenary year since the end of World War One.

It was an uplifting experience to perform this music in such a beautiful setting and in front of a very supportive audience of over 200 people. There was a tangible sense of a community working together on a project such as this, and there is certainly a desire from those involved in putting this together to do such a thing again in the future.