International tour for Abbey Gate choir

Abbey Gate College chapel choir tours Belgium and Germany, including performance at Menin Gate

Posted by Stephanie Broad | August 06, 2016 | International

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The 70-strong Chapel Choir of Abbey Gate College recently undertook a week-long concert tour of Belgium and Germany, accompanied by organist Graham Eccles. 

The tour began in Belgium to an audience of 600 people, including ex-service personnel, with a performance at the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres. 

After travelling across the border into Germany on the second day, the choir gave a concert in the Marktkirche in Weisbaden near Koblenz, followed the next day by a Concert in the Florinskirchem, also in Koblenz.  

But it wasn’t all work and no play for the singers. Whilst in Germany the pupils enjoyed a river trip on the Rhine, a cable car ride over the Rhine and a walk to the picturesque Elz Castle.

The group also performed in the Alternberger Dom cathedral near Cologne for the final Concert and Mass Participation. The magnificent building with superb acoustic boosted the whole musical programme.  

The Choir's Director of Music, Stewart Smith, said: “This tour has been two years in the planning and we are grateful to all the parents for their support and fundraising. The tour follows not only annual visits to English Cathedrals but is yet another of many successful tours abroad by the Choir.”

www.abbeygatecollege.co.uk