An Evening of Songs and Sonatas for voice, violin and piano
With Will Pate, baritone, Helena Thompson, violin, Gillian Thompson, piano, and Lucy Nall, cello, including:
- Mozart's K 376 and Beethoven's Opus 24 violin sonatas
- Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs (words by George Herbert) and some of Beethoven's Scottish Songs.
There will be an interval with refreshments.
Gillian Thompson (nee White) studied with David Ward at the Royal College of Music then at Homerton College, Cambridge for her teaching qualifications. She was Head of Music at Kew College for 15 years, directing the annual musical productions from the keyboard.
She performed frequently at Art in Action, Waterperry, both as a singer and as a pianist.
She now teaches piano and singing privately.
Will Pate studied French at Magdalen College, Oxford where he was a choral scholar, and then on the opera course at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Last summer he was a soloist at the BBC Proms where Seen and Heard International described him as “a singer who is a bit of a discovery … his sound, diction and phrasing were perfectly judged”. Will now works as in artist management supporting a roster of world renowned opera singers and directors, and sings when he can on Sundays with some of London’s professional church choirs. Away from the opera world Will is passionate about food; he is slowly cooking (and eating!) his way through Ottolenghi’s various cookbooks.
Helena Thompson
Over the course of her career so far, Helena Thompson has become well established as an orchestral musician, playing regularly for concerts broadcast on Radio 3 and Classic FM and appearing in the Proms with major symphony orchestras. Since 2019 she has started to focus more on teaching and took up a position within Harmony Opera North soon after moving to Yorkshire in 2020. She plays mainly with smaller orchestras and ensembles, including Opera North, City of London Sinfonia and Sinfonia Viva, and enjoys delivering collaborative outreach work for the three mentioned. Alongside performance and teaching Helena writes occasionally for music publications including Classical Music and The Strad and when time allows she enjoys travelling, the outdoors, good food and cultural events, preferably all combined!
Lucy Nall’s parents, David and Elizabeth Ward, were long-standing members of the School and central to its musical life. Lucy started the cello aged 4, and studied at Royal College of Music Junior Department under Rhuna Martin. She has continued playing since, through her training and subsequent medical career. Currently she plays with the Chorleywood Orchestra and chamber events with her violinist husband Peter Nall, when work and family life allow. She also sings in choirs for events in the School. She now is encouraging her children in their Harp and Drum studies.
Lucy works at The Royal Free Hospital as a Consultant in Pain Management, leading two community pain management teams. She is passionate about the influence of lifestyle choices such as diet, physical activity and mental wellbeing on health and disease.
Conversation and Communication
Speakers: Sherry Moran, Nigel Pate and Bartholomew O’Toole
What are good conversation and effective communication? How important are these routine tools of life?
All will be explored in a three-way conversation, followed by questions and conversation with all present.
Sherry Moran
In her 40 years with SPES, Sherry has tutored Philosophy 1-12, wrote and directed the 10-minute History of the School video, and ran the Ceramics section of the Art In Action festival. On its closure, Sherry launched Celebrating Ceramics, a 3-day summer festival at Waterperry Gardens.
Sherry’s career has evolved from running the internal communications department of a global investment bank to founder/director of two communications and documentary video businesses, to her current role as founder/director of a pharma technology company.
She has been a member of the Executive since 2020, is on the Waterperry Gardens Limited Board, and her most recent appointment is on the Board of Open Style Lab, a non-profit organisation committed to making style accessible to everyone regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities.
Nigel Pate
A student in the School in Midlands, Wessex, St Albans and London, since the mid-80s, and leader of the St Albans Branch since 2009, Nigel has tutored groups at every level, online and in person.
Following a career first in marketing, then in change management and employee communication for companies such as British Gas and HSBC, he retired as global head of communications at HSBC Asset Management in 2019.
His expertise in communication remains in high demand. For the last year he has worked at the heart of a successful campaign for change: to elect a new MP in his Hertfordshire constituency.
Bartholomew O’Toole has attended the School since childhood and tutored for many years in the first year Philosophy classes, and arranged and introduced these summer series of lectures for some 35 years. His career as a barrister continues, specialising in criminal law from leading Chambers in the Inner Temple.
Hamlet the Dane, Hamlet who else?
Speaker: Stephen Bagnold
We look at how Hamlet, the play’s leading character, seeks to reconcile the daggers of betrayal, revenge, corruption, madness, and ambition with nobility of mind and profound philosophical insights, framed in the most sublime language.
The aim is to be of interest to those both familiar and unfamiliar with the work.
Stephen Bagnold joined the School in the early 70s. It is through philosophy that he came truly to love Shakespeare. He had a career in communications, his last corporate role being the Communications Director of the Trafalgar House Group, after which he started his own consultancy which ran successfully for more than 20 years. Now retired, he continues his philosophical studies while still enjoying Shakespeare, gardening when he can, and the laughter of friends always. He is married with three grown-up sons and two grandchildren.
A Woman with a Will: Florence Nightingale
Speaker: Christine Lambie
Although there is a commonly held somewhat sentimental image of Florence, in fact she addressed many of the challenges we see today: medicine in a war situation, provision of fresh water, sewage, and public health. What else can we learn from this unusual woman?
Christine Lambie
Married to Donald Lambie, the head of the School worldwide, Christine has travelled extensively meeting students from the Schools across the world. She currently enjoys meeting and tutoring students coming to the School for their first introduction to practical philosophy.
Being brought up in America, Italy, and Belgium naturally gave Christine a keen interest in languages. She initially studied classics, with a special interest in Platonic philosophy. Some years later she turned to Sanskrit and completed a Master’s degree at SOAS (technically MA in South Asian Languages and Cultures) with focus on Sanskrit language & literature, and particularly Indian philosophy.
Some years ago Christine was meeting regularly with a group of medical professionals who were also students in the School, with the aim of raising morale in the face of challenges in the NHS. Out of this came an interest in Florence Nightingale.Virtue is the Only Good
Speaker: William Wray, with Fred Konings and Bryn Williams
‘Virtue is the only good’ is a Stoic maxim. In modern times ‘the good life’ has a completely different meaning than it did for the Stoics. For them it was all to do with self discovery of who we are in truth, and the expression of that knowledge in the world of practical affairs. William will outline the theory, and Fred Konings and Bryn Williams will describe this philosophy’s validity in the tough world of commerce.
William Wray worked in Further and Higher Education, before joining St James Independent Boys’ School where he became Head of Middle School. He is a playwright, and whilst at St James wrote and produced a range of plays, musicals and operas.
He has written a number of books on philosophical themes, including works on the major traditions, on the philosophy of Leonardo and on the practical relevance of Platonic thinking.
He runs Wisdom Works, an internet based initiative designed to make philosophic ideas practical. He founded Inspiration, days devoted to creative thinking and Art Symposium, a forum in which people who have contributed to the arts speak freely of their inspiration and aspirations. For a number of years he ran The First Year Philosophy in London. He now runs Philosophy As a Way of Life, courses based on Stoic thought.
Fred Konings was born in the Netherlands. He studied at Exeter University and graduated with a degree in Economics in 1975. He went on to become a Chartered Accountant and worked for one of the international accountancy firms as an auditor in four countries before retiring in 2012. He and his wife currently live in London.
Bryn Williams is a Strategic Business Leader and Executive Chairman @ Teamwork Technology
The curious case of the man on the Clapham omnibus
Speaker: Ian Mason
Who was he? Where did he come from? Where has he gone? Why does he matter?
“He has not the courage of Achilles, the wisdom of Ulysses or the strength of Hercules, though … occasionally attributed with … the agility of an acrobat and the foresight of a Hebrew Prophet.” (Per Romer LJ in Hawkins v Coulsdon and Purley UDC 1954)
Fact, fiction, and philosophy: how case law shaped a nation and a world.
Ian Mason
Ian Mason is a former barrister and current student and tutor of philosophy and economics in the School. He is the President and former Principal of the School.