Choir place is high note in singer’s career

A QE boy has been invited to join a critically acclaimed youth choir. Year 13 pupil Kavi Pau was chosen to join the Rodolfus Choir after excelling in a recent Eton Choral Course.

The renowned choir was established 30 years ago by Ralph Allwood, a former Precentor and Director of Music at Eton College. The choir, which comprises singers aged 16-25, tours nationally and internationally and also records on a regular basis.

All Rodolfus Choir members are alumni of the week-long Eton Choral Courses, which run each summer at Eton and in Oxford, Cambridge and Durham. They take the form of classes in sight-singing, aural tests and close-harmony or consort singing. Participants work with renowned directors including Ben Parry, the Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, and the composer and conductor, Bob Chilcott.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Kavi,” said QE’s Director of Music Kieron Howe. “It’s a great choir to be a part of, and a great achievement for him, especially given his young age.”

Kavi has studied both piano and singing to Grade 8, as well as clarinet to Grade 5. He is hoping to go to Cambridge University to study Music and intends to apply to King’s College, with the hope of being a choral scholar there and joining its world-famous choir.

The Rodolfus Choir usually undertakes six engagements a year. The forthcoming programme includes a workshop in October followed by carols in Eton College Chapel and at St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge, London, in December. Also in that month, the choir will be performing in a late-night concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields as part of the Brandenburg Series.

A BBC broadcast of Evensong from St Gabriel’s Church, Pimlico, on New Year’s Eve will be followed by an afternoon recital from Douai Abbey, a Benedictine Community between Newbury and Reading, on New Year’s Day.

“I was delighted to be selected,” said Kavi. “It is a very busy schedule over the next few months, but they try to schedule performances in school holidays, which will certainly make it easier to participate. There’s no doubt performing with such an acclaimed choir offers me a wonderful range of experiences and opportunities.”

Kavi has already enjoyed external acclaim during his time at QE: as a 14-year-old, he won first prize in the Drama Versatility Cup at the North London Festival of Music, Drama and Dance.

He was also part of QE’s Purdy Barbershop Group which won the Senior Popular Category at the prestigious Spring Grove Festival. At the event, the group performed a rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water by Paul Simon, which Kavi arranged.