Zimbe
Students from schools across the country perform at London’s Lyceum Theatre
In 2016,students from United Learning schools across the country took to the stage for a sold-out performance at London’s prestigious Lyceum Theatre.
Conducted by popular composer Alexander L’Estrange, over 1,000 students and their teachers from across the country performed songs from Zimbe!
Zimbe! is an imaginative fusion of traditional African song and jazz which as a choral piece seeks to bring communities together. Given the geographic spread of the schools, the students had all been rehearsing their parts within their schools for months and had very few opportunities to come together as one choir before the final show-stopping performance in central London.
There were special performances from Kettering Buccleuch Academy’s African djembe drummers as well as dancers from Lambeth Academy and the Glenmoor and Winton Academies in Bournemouth. The Lincoln Minster School Choir, many of whose members are part of Lincoln Cathedral Choir, also performed at the event.
One particularly memorable moment from the night was a poignant solo from Olivia Hewitt-Jones, a student at Hull Collegiate School, singing traditional South African funeral song Aleluya/Thuma mina. She was accompanied by Caterham School Chamber Choir who performed from the private boxes at the theatre.