Like many top cathedral choirs, after only a handful of rehearsals so far this year, our Senior Chamber Choir was privileged to sing Evensong at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Wednesday. We are fortunate to have welcomed back as a visiting choir, famously being the first visiting choir to sing at the chapel after the COVID-19 Pandemic during our visit in January 2022. This was our first visit since early 2023 and the singers rose to the challenge brilliantly.

The girls greatly enjoyed being part of the daily royal worship at Windsor Castle, relishing the beautiful surroundings of the Chapel, the grounds, and a brief visit to the Dungeon. We savoured the opportunity to marvel at so much history, taking some time to pay our respects at the tomb of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Musically, the girls sang traditional evensong repertoire with great aplomb. Bravo to the choir for performing some excellent chanting and psalm pointing, alongside a fun, jazzy set of canticles by Ben Parry and Gabriel Fauré’s angelic Tantum Ergo. The first engagement of this year’s choir, they worked incredibly hard to produce such a stunning sound in the beautiful acoustic. Thank you very much to Mrs Haydon and Ms Stansfield, as well as so many FHS parents for attending in the congregation and supporting the singers.

Thank you very much to Miss Vickery and to Miss Murata for co-directing and preparing the group for this service, as well as all their hard work logistically and musically to ensure this trip was a huge success. We are also very grateful to Mr Max Barley, Director of Music at Holy Trinity Sloane Street for accompanying us beautifully on the organ. Most of all, thank you to all the students for their efforts and for representing FHS so superbly at such a prestigious venue.