Music Scholar Sings Spectacular Soprano for The Snowman

Talented Music Scholar, Alice (Year 10) enjoyed celebrity status over the Christmas break being recognised on the London Underground for her spectacular performance at Cadogan Hall of ‘Walking in the Air’. Alice’s opportunity to sing the famous aria from ‘The Snowman’ was hugely exciting but also a little nerve-wracking; at least for her family and friends!

Alice’s proud mother, Hannah, commented, “Alice is so incredibly lucky in terms of the musical opportunities she is able to be a part of. That definitely includes the many and varied fantastic musical activities at LP!  Having the chance to sing as a soloist for ‘The Snowman’ is another one of those wonderful experiences!  I was mindful that the rehearsals and concerts would be fairly intense and lay just after the packed end to the School term, but Alice was very keen to be involved, so she went for it!”

The film, an adaptation of the children’s picture book story by Raymond Briggs, has become a Christmas classic and the annual screening at Cadogan Hall with the soundtrack created by a live orchestra provided a fantastic venue for such a wonderful piece of cinema. Alice sung to a full house and gave a magical soprano performance. The Mozart Symphony Orchestra deliver this particular concert annually as an antidote to the more rowdy Christmas pantomimes but for 14-year old Alice, this was definitely a new adventure!

Sharing more about the experience, Hannah continued, “The first concert was at Cadogan Hall, which is a lovely venue. Alice had a little fan club in the audience of friends and family who wanted to support her. The first thing that struck us when the lights went down for ‘The Snowman’ was that the hall was packed and that to sing a solo on that stage with a big orchestra and an enormous film screen behind her was going to be a big deal!  As the music quietened and the very famous introduction to Alice’s solo passage started, I definitely felt nervous for her.  She sang beautifully.  A strange thing was that the audience, who had been quite rowdy throughout the previous pieces and during the beginning of ‘The Snowman’ (there were lots and lots of small children at their first concert) fell silent for ‘Walking in the Air’, which made the whole thing quite magical.  As ever, I am incredibly proud of Alice, not just for singing so nicely, but also for staying calm, handling her nerves and being so professional.  I think she was rather pleased when loads of people stopped her after the concerts to say how lovely her performance had been; even in the tube on the way home, children were pointing at her and recognising who she was!”

Following the London opening and a second Cadogan Hall concert, Alice continued with the Mozart Symphony Orchestra on their performance tour, visiting Bristol and Cheltenham during the festive break.

Rosemary Scales, Director of Music and Media at Leighton Park, enthused: “This is absolutely brilliant!”