Events Calendar
St Alban’s Abbey Girls Choir 125 Concert
Time: 17:00
Location: St Alban's Church
Information:
We are very excited to be able to welcome the St Alban’s Abbey Girl’s Choir to Copenhagen where they will perform a concert on Saturday 18th to mark the beginning of our 125th Anniversary celebrations and will lead the singing at our Sunday Eucharist on Sunday 19th.
Made up with girls drawn from the local schools, the choir is primarily an upper register choir with girls aged between 9 and 14. They will perform a varied programme including works by Mendelssohn, Boyce, Grandi, Greene, Schubert Parry, Jerome Kern and Henry Mancini as well as some Danish pieces. They will be under the direction of Tom Winpenny is Assistant Master of the Music at St Albans Cathedral and will accompanied by Peter Holder who is Organ Scholar at the Cathedral, who will also perform a couple of organ solos.
This is the choir’s first visit to Denmark.
We hope that you will be able to join us for what promises to be a very special concert.
St Alban’s Abbey Girl’s Choir.
Formed in 1996, the choir plays an active role in the life of the Cathedral, singing at Evensong twice a week, taking part in certain weekend services each term and in other special events, where the girls sing with the Lay Clerks, the men of the Cathedral Choir.
Regarded as one of the finest ensembles of its type in the UK, and in addition to its role at the centre of the Cathedral’s daily round of worship, the Choir plays a major part in the prestigious St Albans International Organ Festival, which takes place biennially. The choir has broadcast Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3, and its CD recordings include a criticially acclaimed recording of John Rutter’s Gloria and Magnificat, performed jointly with St Albans Cathedral Choir, and recently released on the Naxos label. A recording of works by Felix Mendelssohn is also due for future release on the Naxos label.
In recent years, the choir has made concert tours to the USA (Washington DC, New York City and Miami), Holland and Germany. Concerts closer to home have included concerts performances of Handel’s Messiah, J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and Britten’s St Nicolas and A boy was born, and the choir has sung services at St Paul’s Cathedral, London and St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. This is the choir’s first visit to Denmark, and it is delighted to be singing at St Alban’s Church, a link parsh of St Albans Cathedral.
Tom Winpenny
Tom Winpenny is Assistant Master of the Music at St Albans Cathedral, where he accompanies the daily choral services and directs the Abbey Girls Choir. Previously, as Sub-Organist at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, he performed with the Cathedral Choir at the AGO National Convention, with the LSO in Mahler’s Symphony no. 8, and played for great state occasions. He has broadcast on BBC Radio and featured on American Public Media’s Pipedreams.
He was Organ Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, graduating with a music degree, and twice accompanying the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, broadcast worldwide. He studied with John Scott Whiteley, Alastair Sampson, Thomas Trotter and Johannes Geffert, winning First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Miami International Organ Competition.
As a soloist, he has performed in the USA, Europe and throughout the UK. His recordings include music by Stanford (Resonus Classics), a recital on the St Albans Cathedral organ (JAV), and music by Judith Bingham (Naxos).
Peter Holder
Peter Holder is Organ Scholar at St Albans Cathedral, where he accompanies the Abbey Girls Choir and Cathedral Choir in the daily services and assists with training of the choristers. He is currently in his third year as an undergraduate at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with David Titterington. During the course of his studies, Peter has been awarded the Joyce Rhoda Danzelmann Award for his Entrance Scholarship along with the William John Kipps Scholarship and the Gwen & Eric Windo Organ Award. Peter was educated at The King’s School, Worcester, and was a chorister at Worcester Cathedral and later Organ Scholar at St Thomas’s Church, Stourbridge. Prior to arriving at St Albans in 2010, Peter spent a year as Organ Scholar at The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, having completed a gap year as Organ Scholar at Southwell Minster, where he studied with Paul Hale.