40 INTERNATIONAL Tours Choir Tour The boys attended matches at centre cour t,Wimbledon and played on both grass and then clay in Barcelona. The Kearsney team spent two awesome days at Wimbledon where they witnessed Nadal, Sharapova and Federer perform on centre cour t and also managed to see Bouchard, Rainoic, SerenaWilliams, Cornet and Tsonga grace the grass cour ts. The team played three matches, losing to Millfield (16 – 8); losing to the Sutton Tennis Academy (14 – 10) and beating Dulwich College (15 – 4). The Spanish leg of the tour was the highlight and the boys spent five days on the clay at the Andres Gimeno tennis centre in Barcelona. The boys began each day at 7am with a two hour session with the Spanish coaches. They were then able to go sightseeing but returned for another two hour session in the late afternoon. By the end of the five days, the boys had shown remarkable improvement. The team played two matches in Barcelona: beating the Polo club (15 – 6) and the Egara club (18 – 2). Sightseeing in Barcelona included trips to the beach, shopping in the centre of Barcelona, Camp Nou, la Rambla, Sitges and a visit to the unfinished Antoni Gaudi temple. Ant Willows 16 boys had the experience of a life time in June touring the United Kingdom and Spain. The choir under took a tour to Europe this year, spending a week in Switzerland, followed by a week in Latvia (hear t of the Baltic region). In each destination the choir took par t in a major choral festival which gave the group an oppor tunity to showcase their hard work to a diverse, multinational audience. In Switzerland, the choir stayed in Geneva where they represented the African continent at the Rhythms of OneWorld music festival, together with choirs from the USA, Canada, Romania, Switzerland and Trinidad &Tobago.This weeklong celebration of songs culminated in a performance inside the United Nations European headquar ters to invited dignitaries and diplomats from all over the world. In Latvia, the choir competed at the 8thWorld Choir Games, held in Riga. Our choir is no stranger to this competition, having brought home a staggering 10 gold medals since 2000. This year, the choir exceeded all previous results by achieving its highest score yet from the international jury (96 points) for our entry into the scenic pop competition. In addition, the choir received gold medals for scenic folklore (87,50 points) and young male choir (85,63 points). It remains a humbling experience to be crowned champions of theWorld Choir Games and have our beautiful national anthem played whilst our multi-coloured flag is raised in front of an audience of thousands. We remain eternally grateful for the immense effor ts made by the College, as well as the parents, to make it possible to under take such a mammoth tour.The parent committee, led by Gary Knight, did a phenomenal job raising money to lessen the financial burden of international travel. A hear tfelt ‘thank you’ goes out to everyone who played a par t in the success of this year. The same applies to our fantastic music events team who work together like a well-oiled machine: Bernard Krüger (ar tistic director), Brigette Oakes, (logistics), Craig McMurray (sound design), Michael von Bardeleben and Musa Zwane (lighting design), David Maree (stage manager), Liam Hobden and Grant Kruger (general assistance). Bernard Krüger
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