On Saturday 4th May, 57 of our pupils had the huge privilege of performing at the Royal Albert Hall as part of Prom Praise 2024. We were invited to be a part of the event because the concert this year was in honour of Eric Liddell, in the 100th anniversary year of his gold medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics.
The organisers had commissioned a brand-new piece of music for Eltham’s musicians to perform, called Songs of Praises; the piece combined a number of famous hymn tunes in a new arrangement for full orchestra, Chamber Choir, Young Voices, and three solo roles for Eltham Music Scholars. Nirvana (Y8), Aaron (Y8), and Michelle (Y10) have, therefore, officially made their solo debut at the Albert Hall, and four further musicians performed in the orchestra alongside professional musicians.
The Prom Praise massed choirs were added in at the end, and the entire audience of 5,000 sang along too, meaning that, at the piece’s peak, our musicians were leading over 5,500 people. Sebastian Johns, Director of Music, conducted the piece for its official world premiere, which was live-streamed online. The performance will live in the memories of our pupils for a long, long time.
