Celebratory Concert

Last week I went to the Lord Mayor's Appeal Celebratory Concert at the Royal Festival Hall. As most people by now know Alderman Michael Bear's Appeal 'Bear Necessities' supports two charities--the children's charity, Coram and redr UK that trains and provides engineers and other relief workers to respond to world wide disasters. This concert was in support of his appeal and marked its grand finale. And what a concert. It featured a wonderful programme from EC4 Music and the choirs from four schools.

EC4 Music is a non-professional choir and orchestra taking its name from the post code of where the group was founded. It has performed sell-out concerts at its 'spiritual home' St Brides for the last twelve years. It is a very large orchestra of the highest quality amply demonstrated by a rich programme. This included a 400 strong performance of Parry's ''I was Glad''-made famous across the world by its inclusion in the recent Royal wedding. The orchestra's own large choir was boosted by the addition of 100 children drawn from four London schools.

The concert also included 'The Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra' by Benjamin Britten with Richard Stilgoe as the irrepressibly witty narrator, as well as Handel's Zadok the Priest and the slightly off the wall Belshazzer's Feast by Sir William Walton. A delightful evening finished off by a private reception where I again had the pleasure of a long chat to both the Lord Mayor and his wife Barbara.