(天使之声、童声飞扬、天使童声、纯音天籁、空中云雀、清澈童声、玫瑰之歌)

—英国威斯敏斯特男童合唱团音乐会

Westminster Boys’ Choir, UK

Tickets: 30 60 90 120 180 380 580 yuan

曲目

14. 丹尼少年          传统民歌 克里斯•哈泽尔改编

--休息--

15. 同一个声音         贝瑞•曼尼洛

27. 我的路          克洛德•弗朗索瓦，雅克•赫霍

Program

14. Danny Boy         Trad. arr. Chris Hazell

--Intermission--

15. One Voice         Barry Manilow

27. My way          Claude François & Jacques Revaux

英国威斯敏斯特男童合唱团

Westminster Boys’ Choir

英国威斯敏斯特男童合唱团享有出众的声望，经常在伦敦显要场所演出，其中包括圣约翰史密斯广场，巴比肯音乐厅，卡多根音乐厅还有威斯敏斯特大教堂。自从在皇家节日音乐厅首演马勒第三交响乐后, 该团在BBC无线3台、4台现场演出，并在BBC、伦敦周末台、电视4台等表演， 还为2个BBC电视剧录制主题音乐。该团还同皇家爱乐乐团、英国室内乐团、南岸交响乐团以及Julian Lloyd Webber等著名演奏家合作演出。2007年该团参加Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano国际艺术节末场演出, 在Jan Latham-Koenig 指挥下表演 奥尔夫的布兰诗歌。2010年11月作为BBC无线3台合唱大赛决赛参与者将在伯明翰交响乐大厅演出。

英国威斯敏斯特男童合唱团的生源长期以来是由威斯敏斯特附属学校提供的。该合唱团成员曾在众多国家级仪式上表演：如为伊莉莎白女皇表演，在兰贝斯宫，在议会大厦以及皇室婚庆等场合表演。 他们还为教皇保罗二世在圣比得广场和梵蒂冈西斯汀教堂演唱。

在音乐总监杰瑞米•沃克的带领下，威斯敏斯特男童合唱团曾去欧洲、美国、加拿大、阿根廷、巴西、智利及南非等地巡回演出。2005年，在巴西举办的演唱会为当地儿童慈善机构募集了上千英镑。2007年他们返回南美洲，先在智利及阿根廷主要剧院和歌剧厅表演，随后再度回访里约热内卢，他们在Candelária的现场演出会由巴西电视台向全国播放。2008年，该团最近一次巡回演出他们去了波士顿、纽约和华盛顿分别在哈佛及哥伦比亚大学演出。

合唱团演唱曲目跨越5个世纪包括许多专门为该团创作的作品，作曲家包括Anthony Caesar、 John Gardner、Chris Hazell、Edmund Jolliffe、Simon McGregor、Giles Swayne 及John Woolrich, 其作品《忧郁的歌》(Faber)在意大利阿西西圣弗朗思科大教堂首演。

合唱团中的独唱演员常在伦敦音乐会、歌剧及清唱剧中露面。在作曲家的邀请及英国文化协会的资助下，合唱团为马耳他的马诺伊尔剧院上演的John Gardner儿童歌剧提供独唱演员。越来越多的合唱团成员离校后从事音乐职业，他们或进入英国领先的音乐学院深造或在牛津、剑桥大学获取声乐奖学金，在皇家歌剧院、英国国家歌剧院经常能看到该团老成员的演出如男低音Leigh Melrose、小提琴家Thomas Gould、还有曾排名第一的男子乐队A1主唱Ben Adams。

他们的录音碟片包括《圣诞选曲》、《Benedicamus Domino》 （曾在古典音乐电台播放）、 《Laudate Pueri》（被评为最受喜爱的圣歌集）、《在音乐会中》 （一组古典及现代选曲） 以及《凯莱在星际》。

威斯敏斯特男童合唱团获得了众多评论家和媒体的好评如：作曲家, 国家歌唱大使Howard Goodall 在2008年BBC三台全国合唱比赛决赛中评价道：“能见到那么多男童一起兴致勃勃地欢唱令人欣慰. 但更令人喜悦的是观察你们歌唱时富有表情的面容. 作为观众, 观看你们时我完全沉浸在你们歌声的世界里, 即被你们脸上的表情也被你们动人的歌声感染”；"歌声"基金会创办者Susan Digby说：“给人心里一股暖流...一种既有声势又有良好支撑的音质. 真正发自内心的演唱. 非常感人”；伊顿公学音乐总督Ralph Allwood评价说：“此合唱团演唱时具有高度的信念, 达到控制与敏感交融一体的境界”；《巴西晨报》评论到：“在里约热内卢圣本图 修道院 辉煌的巴洛克装潢中, 属于天堂的音色演唱跨越五个世纪的乐曲.闪亮的头发和眼睛, 玫瑰色的脸颊还有天使般的声音.. 威斯敏斯特男童合唱团演示了出众的纪律和完美的技巧”； 圣地亚哥《水星报》的Gilberto Ponce：“我被他们巨大的热情和职业性所感动.我的注意力被他们的纪律, 他们的音乐措辞, 他们自然的悟性, 他们的高低起伏还有他们歌声中的快乐深深吸引住”。

Westminster Boys’ Choir

Westminster Boys’ Choir enjoys a fine reputation and frequently performs at prestigious London venues, including St John’s, Smith Square, the Barbican Hall, Cadogan Hall and Westminster Abbey. They made their South Bank début in Mahler’s 3rd Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall and have since performed live on BBC Radios 3 and 4, have appeared on BBC, LWT and Channel 4 television, and have recorded theme music for two BBC television series. The choir has also appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Hilary Davan Whetton, the English Chamber Orchestra under Jan Latham-Koenig, with Simon Over and the Southbank Sinfonia and in concert with Sir Thomas Allen and Julian Lloyd Webber. In 2007 they took part in the final concert of the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano, performing Carl Orff's Carmina Burana under Jan Latham-Koenig and, as finalists in the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year Competition 2010, they will perform at Birmingham Symphony Hall in November of this year.

The choristers of St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey – the historic church of Parliament – are also drawn from the Under School and boys from the two choirs have performed at a number of state occasions: in the presence of HM the Queen, at , in the Houses of Parliament and at a royal wedding. They also sang for Pope John Paul II in St Peter’s Square and in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

Under their director, Jeremy Walker, the Westminster Boys’ Choir has toured throughout Europe and to the U.S.A., Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Africa. In 2005 they toured Brazil, where their concerts raised thousands of pounds for children’s charities in the country, and they returned to South America in 2007, performing in the principal theatres and opera houses of Chile and Argentina before revisiting Rio, where their concert in the Candelária was broadcast on Brazilian TV networks. Their most recent tour to the U.S.A. (Boston, New York and Washington) included concerts at Harvard and Columbia Universities.

The choir’s varied repertoire spans over five centuries and includes many pieces composed especially for the choir, including works by Anthony Caesar, John Gardner, Chris Hazell, Edmund Jolliffe, Simon McGregor, Giles Swayne and John Woolrich, whose setting of Smart’s A Hymn on Melancholy (Faber) was first performed in the Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi.

Soloists from the choir can be heard in concert, opera and oratorio in the capital and, at the composer’s invitation, the choir provided soloists for performances supported by the British Council of John Gardner’s children’s opera, at the Manoel Theatre in Malta. On leaving school an increasing number of former choristers choose music as a career, taking up places at the UK’s leading conservatoires or, as choral scholars, at Oxford and Cambridge. Ex-choristers have recently been heard on stage at both the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and at the English National Opera. Former choristers include operatic baritone, Leigh Melrose, the violinist, Thomas Gould, and Ben Adams, who went on to achieve No 1 success in the boy band, A1, and recently appeared on Celebrity Big Brother!

Their CD recordings to date include a Christmas selection, Benedicamus Domino, which has been featured on Classic FM radio, Laudate Pueri, a collection of favourite anthems, In Concert, a programme of classical and popular songs, and Gloria in Excelsis.

What the critics say:

 “Absolutely brilliant to see so many boys singing together and obviously enjoying your singing so much. But what I think is fantastic is that you have unusually expressive faces when you sing and, as a member of the audience, it’s wonderful to watch you because I feel totally brought in to your singing world, as much by your faces as by the very lovely sound that you make.”

—Howard Goodall, Composer and National Ambassador for Singing giving his adjudication at the finals of the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year Competition 2008

“Heart-warming… A wonderfully powerful and well-supported sound. Really heart-felt and committed singing. A very moving performance” 

—Susan Digby, Founder of The Voices Foundation

“The choir sang with excellent conviction and achieved admirable blend with poignant control and sensitivity to the words.”

—Ralph Allwood, Precentor and Director of Music, Eton College. Director of the Rudolfus Choir.

“In the baroque surroundings of the Monastery of Sao Bento, in Rio de Janeiro, celestial voices sang music that crossed five centuries. Shining hair and eyes, rosy faces and voices of angels… the Westminster Boys’ Choir display exemplary discipline and technical mastery.”

—Bom Dia Brasil, 1 April 2005

“I was much affected by their tremendous enthusiasm and professionalism. My attention was grasped by their discipline, their phrasing and by their natural musicianship, their handling of dynamics and by the joy that they convey when singing.”

—Gilberto Ponce in El Mercurio, Santiago, April 2007

 “At the Candelária, the Westminster Boys’ Choir, with a lingering pennywhistle and their delicate vibratos, closed the evening with Shenandoah. I nearly cried. Leaving the church, I think of the street children we know, wondering if there will ever be a chance to bring them to things this beautiful.

—From the online diary of Jenna, Rio de Janeiro, April 2007

杰瑞米•沃克，音乐总监

Jeremy Walker, music director

杰瑞米•沃克于1988年任威斯敏斯特附属学校音乐总监至今, 是当今英国首屈一指的少年合唱教练。作为歌唱家，他几乎与英国最出色的室内合唱团都合作演出过，并在歌剧和清唱剧里担任独唱。他录制的英国歌曲系列曾在BBC电台播出。2006年开始担任英国国家青年歌剧团音乐副总监。今年夏天，他为该团导演了Stephen Sondheim的音乐惊险剧《理发师陶德》来庆祝作曲家诞辰80周年。在作曲家John Gardner的要求和马耳他英国文化协会的资助下，杰瑞米•沃克制作了儿童歌剧《美女和龙》并在瓦莱塔马诺伊尔剧院演出，第二年指导该团在同一剧院公演了韩德尔的《弥赛亚》，一共有100名舞蹈演员参加本场演出。

杰瑞米•沃克还是著名室内合唱团Voyces的发启人和音乐总监。该团成员都是伦敦一些最出色的专业歌唱家。此外，二十年来他还兼任达廷国际暑期学校声乐班教练。

Jeremy Walker, music director

Widely regarded as one of the UK's leading exponents in the training of young voices, Jeremy Walker has been Director of Music at Westminster Under School since 1988.

As a singer, Jeremy has performed with some of the UK’s leading chamber choirs, appeared as soloist in oratorio and opera (including Thomas Hemsley’s production of Rigoletto at Dartington Festival) and he has recorded a programme of English song for BBC Radio. Since 2006, he has also been Associate Musical Director of the National Youth Music Theatre of Great Britain, for whom this summer he is to direct Stephen Sondheim's musical thriller, "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street", as part of the composer's 80th birthday celebrations in London. With the support of the British Council in Malta, and at the composer’s request, Jeremy directed John Gardner’s children’s opera, "Bel and the Dragon", in the Manoel Theatre, Valletta and, the following year, a specially choreographed performance of Handel’s "Messiah", involving over one hundred young singers and dancers.

He is also founder-director of the acclaimed chamber choir, Voyces, which draws upon some of London’s finest and most versatile, professional singers and he has for some twenty years directed annual choral courses at Dartington International Summer School.