Despite having only been open since August 2011, WellingtonCollege in Tianjin made a significant contribution to the Wellington Community Concert, commemorating 150 years of WellingtonCollege, at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Monday, 30th April. The Royal Albert Hall is one of the premier concert venues in the world, holding over 5,000 seats, and is one of London’s many iconic landmarks. It was originally opened by Queen Victoria in 1871, a few years after she had opened WellingtonCollege, and is named after her beloved consort Prince Albert.
In this historic site, with a sell-out crowd, the concert was nothing short of brilliant, a visual and musical treat for everybody lucky enough to be present. For the Wellington students, led by College Music Director, Steve Griffiths, they not only sang in the combined choir numbers, but presented their own individual brand of Chinese entertainment in the form of a colourful and dramatic Dragon Dance choreographed by Ms Georgina Chakos, the Drama teacher, complimented by two outstanding solo performances by four-year-old pianist, Mimi Zou, and seasoned guzheng player, Year 11 student, Keiko Hayashi. All three elements of Wellington Tianjin’s contribution were rapturously applauded and acclaimed. It is no exaggeration to say that Mimi, already a celebrity in London, due to a series of interviews with leading English newspapers, brought the house down. She is the youngest piano soloist ever to perform there.
The Royal Albert Hall concert was timed to coincide with the second Wellington exchange programme where students from Tianjin went to the College in the UK for a two-week period, living with host parents and attending all relevant classes and activities. These exchanges have become a regular feature of the Wellington timetable and there was also a first student to board, again for a fortnight, at Eagle House, the College’s preparatory school, also located in Crowthorne.
WellingtonCollege is building up a deserved reputation in the Arts, the success of the Royal Albert Hall concert coming on the back of the acclaimed production of Joseph and the Amazing Technocolour Dreamcoat, performed in the College’s Seldon Theatre in March.
