This concert is being held to help raise money to restore one of the rarest pipe-organs in Europe recently discovered in the school’s Grade II* chapel where the concert will be held.  The organ was built by a Flemish organ builder Hippolyte Loret for the Society of the Sacred Heart and installed at their headquarters site at Hôtel Biron on Boulevard des Invalides in Paris in 1861.

It was later dismantled in a hurry by the nuns and quietly shipped to England in 1904 to save it from being seized by the French government as the country moved to secularisation. The site was indeed later seized and its chapels desecrated. Today the site is occupied by the Musée Rodin at one end and a secular secondary school at the other.

We are being advised by the Curator of Organs at the Royal Festival Hall and are raising money to restore the organ. The plan is to to provide regular recitals and concerts here open to the public and to use the organ to strengthen our choral tradition and to offer organ lessons, etc. 

Scroll down to book tickets for this fundraising concert.

Fundraising Concert Programme

Handel Let the Bright Seraphim

Handel Trio Sionata in G Minor

Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.4 (Movements 2 & 3)

Bach Cantata 51 'Jauchzet Gott'

Interval 20 minutes

Vivaldi Gloria sung by the school's Schola Cantorum

Katherine Gregory, Soprano.

Katherine received her first experience of choral singing as a chorister in the fine choir of Truro Cathedral. She then gained a Choral Scholarship to Trinity College Cambridge in whose celebrated ranks she distinguished herself as a soloist in numerous broadcasts, recordings and international tours. She is now studying on the prestigious opera course at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Recently she sang the solo in a Radio 3 broadcast of Durufles Requiem with the Bach Choir directed by David Hill. 

Litsah Tunnah, leader and first violin

Winner of numerous awards and prizes violinist Litsa Tunnah has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues. Highlights have included Litsa’s debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing Paganini under Ben Pope, and Tchaikovsky at Farnham Malting’s with conductor Alexander Walker. Litsa made her Russian debut in Moscow to huge critical acclaim and was invited to return to St Petersburg for further performances which were documented in a film recorded by ITV.

As a concerto soloist Litsa has appeared in collaboration with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London International Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra, Harlow Symphony Orchestra, St Bartholomew Chamber Orchestra and the Kensington Sinfonia and has toured internationally to France, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Russia, Singapore and Greece

Flute: Kris Swain (Head of Music at Sacred Heart)

Kris began his musical journey in Enniskillen, taking up the flute at the age of eight under his father's guidance. A prize-winning Royal Academy of Music graduate, he has performed with several leading London orchestras, including as Principal Flute with the Philharmonia Orchestra, broadcast on BBC Radio, performed for Her Majesty The Queen during her Diamond Jubilee visit to Northern Ireland, and studied with Sir James Galway, Sam Coles and Karen Jones.

Now Head of Music at Sacred Heart High School, Kris continues to perform, compose, and arrange alongside his teaching, and is completing a Master's in Music Education at UCL - with a focus on music authenticity, cultural representation, and whose music shapes the next generation.

Eloise Yates, Trumpet

Eloise has an MPerf with distinction from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She played regularly in the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra which performed at the Barbican. Now she teaches music at St Paul’s School, Barnes and is also working as freelance musician alongside her teaching, performing both modern and natural trumpet with groups across London and the country.

Recent highlights include playing with the BBC Concert Orchestra in the Sam Smith BBC Prom, playing as sub-principal trumpet for the English National Opera in the run of Swan Lake at the London Coliseum; with the Georgian National Ballet in September 2024 and playing as sub-principal for Pirates of Penzance also with the ENO in 2024 and 2025.

James Cullen, second violin

Nat Willow, Viola

William Bass, Cello

Manuel dell Oglio, Double Bass

Martin Hall: Conductor, keyboard

Martin received his musical education at the Royal Academy where he was a prize winner, and at New College Oxford where he later returned as a staff member. Between these two periods of study he spent three joyous years directing the music of the Sacred Heart junior school here, which later moved to Brook Green.  During this time he gained the prestigious Fellowship and Choir training diplomas of the Royal College of Organists as well as being Assistant Director of Music at the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great.  Martin taught organ here, on the organ we are seeking to restore! 

50 years on he is still much in demand as a conductor, keyboardist, teacher and animateur.