THE thrill of the Olympic Games will be immortalised in music when 3,000 Hertfordshire youngsters perform an ambitious new work by a Bishop’s Stortford composer.
Former Herts and Essex High School teacher Paul Burrell, who still lives in the town, penned 10-minute opus The Winner’s Dream to celebrate next year’s international sporting spectacular.
The piece, commissioned by Hertfordshire Music Service with county council backing, will be performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall in May – just two months before the Games kick off in the capital.
Incorporating choirs, an orchestra, a rock band, African djembe drums and dancers, The Winner’s Dream will be performed twice at the venue by two 1,500 groups of children from up to 98 schools across the county.
Invitations have now been sent out and organisers are waiting for replies. Those chosen to take part will be sent the musical score and practice CDs with backing tracks – but because of the scale of the work, they will not all sing together until the real performance.
Passionate sports fan Paul, who is now assistant head and director of music at Ware girls’ secondary Presdales School, wrote the score and took it up to the Albert Hall with a similar-sized group last year.
Among those taking part were schools from Bishop’s Stortford, Sawbridgeworth and surrounding parts of East Herts. This time round, schools who could not take part will be given a chance to join in.
And with 2012 being the year of the Olympics, the pressure’s on to make sure next spring’s performance runs as smoothly as the first outing.
Paul, 55, said: “The orchestra does rehearse for several days beforehand, but the whole choir comes together on the day. That certainly adds some excitement, although having done it before I can actually send pupils a recording of the orchestra doing it.
“I think we were invited back because it went really well last time. Also, it was commissioned to celebrate the Games, and this time it’ll only be a couple of months before they get underway.
“I was really pleased to be asked to do it again. A lot of my projects are on a smaller scale, so you can keep repeating them - but you need a massive auditorium for this, so it really is a privilege to have a chance to come back.
“It’s only been performed fully once before. Quite a few individual schools since then have performed it, but not with all the ingredients required. Getting everyone together in one place filled one-quarter of the Royal Albert Hall!”
Split into four sections, The Winner’s Dream opens with a fanfare to symbolise the entry of the athletes. The next two sections move from a Caribbean and Latin feel to a faster rock passage, representing the uniting of nations and the build-up to a race.
It ends with a finale entitled This Is Victory, which is a big stadium anthem encouraging everyone to join in the celebrations.
Last year’s performance was professionally filmed to mark the occasion – and there are plans to tape this year’s ambitious undertaking as well.
Broadleaf Avenue resident Paul hit the national spotlight in 1986 when – while a teacher at Herts and Essex – he won the BBC’s That’s Life Royal Wedding Song Competition to mark the union of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.
Since then, his works have been broadcast on the Beeb’s Radio 1, 2, 3 and 5 networks as well as Classic FM and a number of regional stations.
In his current post at Presdales, he has composed numbers for the school chamber choir to perform at Canterbury, Ely and Winchester Cathedrals.
• Click here for Paul’s review of a recent concert by the Bishop’s Stortford Choral Society.
