Amazing young talent provide a treat

FROM the moment the girls’ voices started the first line of John Rutter’s modern classic All Things Bright and Beautiful, the audience knew they were in for an undoubted treat.

The Arnold Singers from Rugby may be a school choir, but their conductor Richard Dunster-Sigtermans demands the very highest of standards from them.

Their tone was amazingly rounded for such young voices, their control of dynamic range and phrasing puts other choirs to shame, and their enjoyment of the music was obvious.

The very varied programme ranged from a setting of the Magnificat through to a Take That arrangement, interspersed with solos from some of these highly talented singers and a brilliant young trumpeter, accompanied by versatile Rob Colley. Selections from popular musicals changed the atmosphere in the second half. The girls sang Karl Jenkins’s Adiemus and the boys performed a close harmony Beatles arrangement with great aplomb.

This well attended concert was being given in aid of the restoration fund for the arson-hit Radford Semele church. St Mark’s church in Rugby Road has itself undergone some imaginative reconstructive work recently which has given it in addition a much more open performance area and this was well showcased by the choir. Their full volume rang around the building while the beautiful quieter items could be heard without difficulty.

It was especially warming to think that this outstanding concert was being given in aid of the community by young people from outside Leamington. It would be very good to see them come again.

Verdict: School choir brilliance.

Malcolm Burns