Abbey Gate College Chapel Choir Tours Belgium and Germany

Published on isbi School News dated Tuesday 20th of September 2016

The 70 strong Chapel Choir of Abbey Gate College has recently undertaken a Concert tour of Belgium and Germany over a seven day period, accompanied by organist Graham Eccles. The tour began in Belgium to an audience of 600 people including ex-service personel with a performance at the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres where the choir sang 'Above all Praise' by Mendelssohn and 'Christus Factus Est'. After a second day of travelling across the border into Germany, the Choir gave a concert in the Marktkirche in Weisbaden near Koblenz, followed the next day by a Concert in the Florinskirche in the old part of Koblenz. But it wasn’t all work and no play for the singers at the Chester based school. Whilst in Germany the pupils enjoyed a river trip on the Rhine, a cable car ride over the Rhine and a walk to the picturesque Elz Castle. The group also performed in the Alternberger Dom cathedral near Cologne for the final Concert and Mass Participation. This magnificent building with superb acoustic enabled the whole programme to sound magnificent with music ranging from the quiet 'Ave Verum' setting by Philip Stopford and the 'Seal Lullaby' by Eric Whitacker to the pomp of Parry's 'I was glad' and Handel's 'Zadok the Priest'. The Choir's Director of Music, Stewart Smith said: “This tour has been two years in the planning and we are grateful to all the parents for their support and fundraising. The tour follows not only annual visits to English Cathedrals but is yet another of many successful tours abroad by the Choir.”