Students at a music school in Newham shared the stage with a leading choir of girls from Poland.

The singers from the Skowronki group, which means skylarks in Polish, performed at both the Newham Academy of Music and St Angela’s Ursuline School as part of their English tour. Having worked with the singing pupils of St Angela’s during the afternoon, they performed a joint concert in the school before heading over to the Academy to share the stage with the Junior Choir, led by Mark Russ.

Skowronki is one of the leading girls’ choirs in Poland and has existed for 60 years. They tour extensively throughout Europe and the UK and have most notably given a command performance for The Pope in The Vatican. Their last visit to the UK was in 2003 when they won 1st place in the children’s category at the world famous Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. The 44-strong choir of 13 -17 year old girls sang in a wide variety of languages including English.

Their performance was an inspiration to the younger Academy musicians, who left the concert raving about the music, the singing and the lively atmosphere the choir brought to a warm and windy February evening. The culmination of the concert was a joint performance with the Academy Junior Choir of ‘Wayfarin’ Stranger’ which the Polish girls learned in the afternoon and sang from memory in the evening!

Skowronki are visiting the UK as a result of work by The Imagine Club which is a charitable educational organisation that aims to challenge and stimulate the minds of young people.