A celebration of music by primary and secondary school choirs, featuring 160 pupils, was hosted by Gonville & Caius College in London last month.

Gwyneth Hamand, Caius’ London Outreach Officer, led the inaugural Gonville and Caius South London Choral Awards, a competition which grew out of outreach work with our London link boroughs. 

Applications were invited from school choirs in Caius’ south London boroughs – Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham – with three shortlisted primaries and three shortlisted secondaries receiving coaching from two of the judges in the lead-up to the event.

The competition took place in the auditorium at Langley Park School for Boys and was judged by Matthew Martin, Caius’ Director of Music, Jeremy Summerly, Caius’ Director of Studies in Music, and Nathan Mercieca (Music 2009), a countertenor and musicologist.

The primary schools which featured were St Saviour’s RC Primary School (Lewisham), Deansfield Chamber Choir (Greenwich), Bishop John Robinson C of E Primary School Choir (Greenwich), with Langley Park School for Boys (Bromley), Harris Garrard Academy (Bexley) and St Ursula’s Convent School (Greenwich) the secondary schools represented.

Cllr Keith Onslow, the Deputy Mayor of Bromley, and Sara Onslow, the Deputy Mayoress, and the Master of Gonville & Caius College, Professor Pippa Rogerson, were in attendance, while the Choir of Gonville & Caius College performed as the judges deliberated, having also supported the choirs in the lead-up to the event.

The Master said: “What a fabulous evening! The atmosphere in the room was electric, with amazing performances from all those children. What a showcase of talent. An evening that will live long in their and my memory. My thanks to Gwyneth, Matthew, Jeremy, Nathan and the choir – and particularly all the schools, teachers and pupils for such a wonderful event.”

Nathan added: “We were amazed, surprised and delighted by the standard of the primary and secondary choirs. I had been worried about the future of choral music in this country. This was an evening that reassures me that choral traditions have a future in our schools.”

Gwyneth said: “The Gonville and Caius South London Choral Awards have been a great way to develop and showcase some of the amazing musical talent in south London schools. The energy and commitment from the school choirs and their choir leaders ensured the final was of a fantastic standard and demonstrated the importance of music in schools.”

All choir members received a medal and trophies were given out to the winners. Officially the winning choirs were: Deansfield Chamber Choir (primary) and St Ursula’s Convent School Choir (secondary).

Caius hopes to repeat the Gonville & Caius South London Choral Awards in future.

Click on the video to hear about the event from Matthew Bowen, our Schools' Liaison Officer, and to hear snippets from the performances

@caiusschools The inaugural South London Choral Award last month was an amazing event! Congratulations to all who took part #cambridge #oxbridge #oxford #london #southlondon #choir #comingtocaius #fyp ♬ original sound - Caius Schools