Royal High singers kick off The Bath Festival

We are thrilled to be one of the schools taking part in the Bath Festival, our city's much loved and renowned annual celebration of music and books. Not only are we proud sponsors of this prestigious event, we are also delighted to be one of the schools working with Bath Philharmonia as part of their Creative Choir Project.

Thanks to Bath Philharmonia, ten of our Year 9 students were given the opportunity to join up with young musical talents from other Bath secondary schools to compose and perform music together. Comprising 120 students, this exciting new choir is called Harmony Rising - named by the young people taking part, and gave the first performance of their original compositions with Bath Philharmonia to a packed house at Bath Abbey on Friday night at Party in the City, a popular city wide event which kicks off the Bath Festival. The Choir also performed a day later on 18 May at The Forum at Bath Philharmonia's annual Concert for the People. 

Our students relished the experience of singing with a symphonic-sized Bath Philharmonia to a large and lively audience, with family, friends and staff also there to cheer them on. What a wonderful project to encourage young people to develop their love of classical music and bring the community together through song. 

The creative process, teamwork and hard work began weeks before Harmony Rising's first performance at this year's Party in the City - and we are delighted to have been part of it. Led by experienced and enthusiastic staff from Bath Philharmonia, students from all of the Bath secondary schools worked together to write a set of four songs, create a choir and perform those songs together.

Our ten Year 9 students joined up with students from Beechen Cliff and Prior Park for a Creative Choir Workshop and by the end of the day, had come up with a beautiful collaborative composition which they also sang together. 

Commenting on the process, our Director of Music, Mark Bradbury, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to be working collaboratively with students from the many different independent and state schools in Bath. The quality of the music that we’re hearing from the students is exceptional. What an amazing achievement by all the students who have been able to create such imaginative and uplifting pieces in such a short space of time We’re hopeful this will be the first of many projects that we’ll be involved in, successfully bringing together and inspiring young people with a shared passion and talent for music.”