Beaumont School Music Department

Alex Ross ' first book The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century is now available in the UK. The book has received a fantastic review from the Saturday Guardian. Read it by clicking here . You can also read more about Alex Ross (the music critic for The New Yorker ) by visiting his website/blog by clicking here .

The Classical Brit Awards will take place for the 9th time on Thursday 8th May 2008, hosted by Myleene Klass. One of the awards for which you can vote is the NS&I Album Of The Year . The fabulous band Blake (who formed via Facebook !) are among the nominations and they would really appreciate your vote. They are classical crossover group with repertoire spanning from Parry and Rachmaninov, to Ennio Morricone and Bryan Adams: Voting takes only a minute so please click here to do so. You can also obtain a free download of their beautiful rendition of Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah by clicking here . They can also be found on YouTube by clicking here . PS. You may be wondering why I have advertised Blake : it's because I know one of the members!

This week's Composer of the Week on Radio 3 is Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826). You can either tune in every day at 12pm-1pm, or click here to Listen Again (available for 7 days after the broadcast). You can also download the podcast version here , which is an edited compilation of the entire week's programmes (published each Friday). The programmes will focus on Weber's instrumental music, which might be useful for your Section C question at AS level, especially as you are studying Der Freischütz . The playlists look quite interesting, including a number of works for clarinet, horn and bassoon.

Thanks to everybody who auditioned: the standard was really high and it was very difficult to narrow it down. We have tried to keep the recalls to a minimum so not to waste anybody’s time. Many people didn’t get a recall as they struggled musically and vocally with the songs. We are sure that you could improve upon this, if you attended choir every lunchtime. This would help your voice to develop as well as improve your confidence and musicality. Perhaps you might consider this ready for future school productions. Everyone is welcome to choir! To those of you who have a recall, please come and collect your audition pack from Miss Shepherd at any time today (THURSDAY 20th MARCH). BOYS: Adam Bloomfield Liam Desborough Joe Medforth James Moorton Sam Norwood William Pate Ben Williams GIRLS: Charlotte Blake Jane Langley Rebecca McMillin Sara McNeillis Emily Packham Nev Stojkov Yolanda Sithole Beth Templeton Erica Thompson Recalls will be on Wednesday 9th April 2008 after school. Please mee...

Thanks to David Pearson from Radio Verulam for recording the opera. Extracts can be heard below. Hover over each track to find out its name and then select and press play on the box above. If you would like a copy for yourself, please bring in a blank CD. This recording has been made with one microphone but I am sure you will agree that it's a fantastic memory of the occasion. Enjoy!

Congratulations to all the cast, chorus, orchestra and crew on an absolutely stunning performance. Many people have commented on the talent and professionalism evident throughout the opera. It is always a pleasure to work with such dedicated students and I hope you are all proud of yourselves. Here are some photos, which can also be downloaded from the Central Resource Library from Thursday 13th March 2008. Enjoy! View Upload your own

It feels like such a long way off, but get ready for the Music Department tour to Paris! Plans are beginning to form for the February half term week of 2009. It will be for all the extra-curricular groups, so please keep it free, and start saving!