Dozens of King’s Ely Prep pupils and our Senior dance troupe – King’s Ely-te – had an awesome time starring in Ely Arts Festival’s ‘Songs of the Sea Community Concert’ at Ely Cathedral on Friday (June 21st) evening!
Around 40 of our Year 5 pupils joined more than 270 children from local schools to sing in the sell-out concert, which also featured 60 adult singers from local community choirs, a soloist, and a 60-piece orchestra.
The event kicked-off with a colourful parade down the Cathedral Nave, during which King’s Ely-te performed, and Year 5s wore wonderful water-themed headdresses, which they created in free art workshops provided by the festival. The 14-day festival celebrates Ely and East Cambridgeshire’s rich creativity and community spirit. Its Chair and Artistic Director is Mr Chris Parsons, who is our Head of Performance Music at King’s Ely Prep!
The concert featured an eclectic mix of music inspired by rivers, seas, and bodies of water. There was a toe-tapping medley of sea shanties, Disney songs, music by Coldplay, a boisterous medley from The Pirates of the Caribbean, a performance of Strauss’ The Blue Danube, and some of Arnold’s The Padstow Lifeboat. Two pieces written by the festival’s Composer in Residence, Jonathan Brigg, were also premiered on the evening – ‘The Eel’ and ‘Gone to Sea’.
Mr Parsons said: “It was such a pleasure to conduct the concert and to have King’s Ely Prep on the front row of the choir, where I could see lots of fantastic singing! King’s Ely-te were brilliant, and there were also members of staff from King’s Ely Prep inside the giant eel too!”
The festival is running until June 29th. Find out more here: https://www.elyartsfestival.org/
Majority of images taken by Shawn Pearce