Kingston College Chapel Choir LP "In Memoriam" 1970
Organist and Choir Master- Barry Davies

The arts have not been neglected in the life of the school and music, in particular, champion by Mr. Douglas Forrest, who had been second headmaster under the leadership of Dr. Gibson had been encouraged from early stages in Kingston College's development. Today the Kingston College Chapel Choir carries a high reputation throughout Jamaica and the Caribbean, acknowledged as the leading music making school group, and this is not unworthy of comparison with the best Choral groups in the world.

In the beginning, the school choir received a sound choral singing foundation from the late Miss Edeline Soutar L.R.S.M. and the late Mr. George Goode I.S.O. The Chapel Choir, however, was formed as such when the school chapel, attractive in its unadorned simplicity was completed in 1947, the same year as the Headmaster's elevation to the Suffragan Bishop.

Half the cost of Chapel had been donated by parents and old boys, and was dedicated to the glory of God and in memory of Saint Augustine of Hippo. At the chapel dedication, the Kingston College Chapel Choir, gowned in their purple robes made their first appearance.

In the early years, the choir sang at Sunday services during the term and at special services held in connection with the school. They have been invited to perform in churches throughout the island and the take part in concerts such as the Sacred Concert which closed the 1955 Jamaica 300 celebrations marking the anniversary of three centuries of British rule and the Arts Celebration Concerts, organized on the occasion of Jamaica's Independence,1962. They have also broadcast on numerous occasions locally and have had a recording broadcast by the B.B.C.

In 1960 began the annual recitals of Sacred music, which have become an important feature of Kingston's artistic life and the choir has included on those occasions works by Palestrina, Byrd, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Elgar and some important twentieth- century composers. These Christmas recitals are given in one of Kingston's largest auditoriums to accommodate the audiences they draw.

The choir's achievement is all the more remarkable, when it is realised that Kingston College has no Choir School and that the members of the Chapel Choir learn their music entirely by rote and sing it from memory. Their choir practice is held outside ordinary school hours.

Pupils come and pupils go. Boy soprano voices break and the new troubles have to be found, but the Chapel Choir has taken all the enormous difficulties in its stride and have succeeded in maintaining a good standard at all the times, although, naturally, some vintages have produced finer musical wine than others.

As firmly established now as the present school itself, the Kingston College Chapel choir means to continue for a long time to come.

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