During the Easter holidays over 40 girls from Pipers had the exciting opportunity to perform in the majestic surroundings of Barcelona Cathedral as part of a music tour to Spain’s second largest city. As well as the concert in the Cathedral, the members of Consort, Vocalessence and the Sting Quartet also performed in the square at Poble Espanyol and in the spiritual setting of Montserrat Monastery.
It was a wonderful experience for the girls, not only to have the chance to perform publically but also to sing in buildings with magnificent acoustics. In Barcelona Cathedral the programme included “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” by John Rutter, Faure’s “In Paradisum” and Pachelbel’s “Canon”. As one of the girls who took part, Jenny B (Upper Sixth), commented “In the cathedral we would finish a piece, and the note could be heard reverberating above our heads for at least four seconds afterwards. I then understood why Mrs Moss had made us sing Faure’s highly challenging ‘In Paradisum’, as the notes seemed to go on forever.”
The concert held one morning in the main square of Poble Espanyol, a museum village near the Olympic Park had a lighter feel and the girls had great fun singing a selection of songs including “Dancing Queen” and “May It Be”. In the afternoon the group had the opportunity to visit the Segrada Familia, Gaudi’s unfinished Cathedral which towers above most of the buildings in Barcelona.
Their final performance was on Palm Sunday in Montserrat. The girls had assumed that they would be singing outside the Basilica, but at the last minute were invited to perform in front of the altar. The atmosphere was incredible, and again, with a more formal programme and excellent acoustics, the girls were rightly proud of their performance.