Choral singing with Tim Rhys-Evans MBE, renowned UK Vocal Teacher, Conductor and Musical Director

BIS HCMC Big Sing with Tim Rhys-Evans

On Friday 20th September, Tim hosted a ‘Big Sing Day’.  The was the largest choral event BIS has hosted and included over 400 students from Year 4 through to Year 8. The morning started bright and early with a range of vocal warm-ups making sure students were fully engaged and ready for the day ahead. The first song came from Willy Wonka and was called Pure Imagination. Our students took on the challenge of learning the tune and building up to three-part harmony. 

Tim divided the day by introducing lots of fun activities and musical games with the favourite being a musical mash-up of from songs from the 2000’s. Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Madonna and Adele were all represented, and the end result was electrifying! 

Afterwards Tim engaged our students with an arrangement written by Tim himself, called ‘When I Grow Up’ from Matilda. Again, splitting themselves into 3 part harmony, they sang with passion and lifted the spirits of everyone listening in The Founders Auditorium.

Kevin, Year 13 IBDP music students shared his enjoyment of the day:

“We wanted to take this chance to celebrate the commitment, engagement and enjoyment that all our students showed at the singing workshops. Together, they worked on two songs - “Pure Imagination” from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and “When I grow up” from the musical Matilda and, after a day of rehearsing, produced an amazing performance at the end of the day”

HCMC Community Big Sing with Tim Rhys-Evans

On Saturday 21st September we invited our wider community to join us to sing with Tim.  We were delighted to welcome around 80 members from the HCMC Community, including The International Choir and Orchestra, BIS Community Choir, St. Thérèse Children Choir of Chau Binh, Saigon South International School, and British Vietnamese International School, alongside, students, staff and parents from BIS HCMC.  

For everyone, this was new music to learn from Tim and full artistic freedom was encouraged, allowing the singers to be free and fully express themselves when singing. The audience learnt a hauntingly beautiful piece of music called Trilo, written by Swedish composer Bengt Ollén. This was wonderfully contrasted with some African spiritual music, allowing harmony to be soaring around our BIS Secondary campus. Everyone left extremely uplifted with special memories that will last a lifetime.

At BIS HCMC, we are looking forward to seeing this new special relationship between The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to continue and grow in the future.   We express our thanks and gratitude to them in providing Tim the time to join us on the weekend before the start of their new academic year.

We’re very grateful for the time Tim Rhys-Evans spent with us and the opportunities created for our students, staff parents and wider community.  Thank you very much Tim for this unique and special experience.