Vibrant, vivacious and very, very talented! – the members of a cappella choir Voces8 breezed into Sevenoaks School on Friday 12 November to deliver a day of masterclasses and workshops across the school and a very special evening concert.

Voces8 is a choir with a difference, as over 650 Sevenoaks students discovered during the day. With innovations ranging from the New Zealand haka to gospel singing, club dance bass-lines to the Indonesian kachak and beat-boxing in multi-layered rhythmical improvisations, Voces8 spread the message to every student in Years 7 to 11 that a cappella music-making is fun! 

The school choirs were also put through their paces in rigorous workshops during a day masterminded by Sam Gladstone. Singing technique and skills such as vocal characterisation were developed in a constantly inspiring way by the eight remarkable singers of the group.

Voces8 was formed in 2003 for a jazz competition, which they won, and has never looked back since. As a group involved with 200 schools internationally, and regularly performing in the top venues in the UK and Europe, it was a thrill to have them performing to a packed Pamoja Hall audience. The evening concert, which sold out in advance, surpassed all expectations, with a wonderfully varied programme of music, ranging from the Renaissance to new arrangements of jazz standards. The vocal pyrotechnics of Gibbons and Bach, and the images of tenor Charles jumping into the arms of a fellow singer, or bass Dingle strumming a walking bass-line will be long remembered by the audience, who were enthralled by the whole event.

Hundreds of Sevenoaks students had the opportunity to perform alongside Voces8, demonstrating their work during the day, and clearly inspired by singing alongside performers at the top of their game. The leader of the group made a very simple post on their Facebook page following the day: ‘Sevenoaks School – amazing concert hall, amazing kids, amazing audience.’

Voces8 now has a very sizeable number of Facebook fans in Sevenoaks, and no doubt this will be their first visit of many to the Pamoja Hall.