Six students from ACS Egham International School recently travelled to the International School of Beijing, China to take part in a world-renowned Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS) mixed choir festival.

Joining with their peers from international schools around the world, the Egham students aged 11 – 14 performed a range of songs in a variety of languages, including German, Chinese, Latin, Arabic, Australian aboriginal and English.

Students were selected to represent ACS Egham after auditioning in October and have been taking part in weekly rehearsals to prepare for the international festival.

After rehearsing with their peers in Beijing for three days, students performed a rousing concert in front of an audience of 500 people, ending the night with an emotional rendition of a song specially commissioned for the concert entitled ‘I choose the light’.

As well as performing, students also had a chance to enjoy some sightseeing around the Chinese capital, including a visit to Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden Palace.

Students also visited a traditional herbal medicine centre, the ancient Temple of Heaven and enjoyed a ride on a rickshaw.

ACS Egham has been a member of AMIS for the past 11 years and during that time students have taken part in choral, solo, and ensemble music festivals in Amsterdam, Ankara, Vienna, Munich, Aberdeen, Singapore, London and Doha.

Irina Walters, head of music at ACS Egham and organiser of the trip, commented on the festival, “The students really did the school proud and should feel very pleased with how they performed.

“Mastering an advanced repertoire can be quite tricky, especially as students had to balance rehearsals with other studies, but their dedication paid off and made for a wonderful celebration of music.”

ACS Egham student, Tadeusz Adamek, aged 14, who took part in the concert added, “My favourite part of the performance was the power of music and rhythm that I had a chance to feel in every single one of the songs, especially in “I Choose the Light” which was performed by both the Choir and the Orchestra.

“Before the Concert I had a feeling that absolutely nothing could give me back those hours at school and at home that I spent on singing. However when I left the Theatre-room of the International School of Beijing, I not only felt that all the effort and energy spent preparing for the concert was worth it, but I would do it all again.”