“In Our Service” 2022 – Joyful Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

With “In Our Service”, composer Thomas Hewitt Jones – who also composed the Ahrensburg Rumpelstilzchen, has composed a work for the Royal School of Church Music to pay musical tribute to the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022) of the United Kingdom. Over 500 choirs around the world – most of them, of course, in the UK – have performed the anthem and/or published a video of it. The Ahrensburg Musical School’s close ties to the United Kingdom and to Thomas Hewitt Jones were what prompted us to want to be part of this global and unique project. Approval from the project management in London came swiftly – including for our wish to create a special version of “In Our Service”… after all, we’re not a choir, but a musical theatre school!

Our tutor Jon Mortimer (himself a native of England), worked together with our headteacher Jacqui Dunnley-Wendt (also a native of England) and arranged the “Broadway Version” of “In Our Service” – now available – which was subsequently orchestrated by Jennifer Green. The vocals, rehearsed by Jon, were then recorded by our students directly at the musical theatre school, whilst the recordings for the band and orchestra were the result of an international collaboration:

at MCE Studio 3 here on Bogenstraße, Uli Kringler (guitar), Jens Wrede (bass) and Hauke Wendt (drums) recorded as the rhythm section, whilst Thomas Hewitt Jones recorded the orchestral instruments in England. He also mixed and mastered all the tracks. As a special treat, Simon Gibson mastered the recording at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London – whose legendary sound will be familiar to music lovers –!

Phew – what a project… and that was just the music!

In Our Service (Broadway Version) – the video

We quickly settled on the wonderful Friedenskirche in Siek as the location for the video shoot, as we also had a personal connection to the church through its pastor, Christian Schack. The parish council and the pastor were quick to give the go-ahead, and so we were soon able to start planning three days of filming in and around the church. Developing and rehearsing the choreography for this project and the many different groups at the musical theatre school is a speciality of ours, Jacqui, who was actively supported by our fantastic team of dance tutors at the musical theatre school – as was the coordination of the groups, locations and times for the shoot – for which our Britta was the point of contact for everyone involved.

We were warmly welcomed and looked after by Pastor Christian Schack at the Friedenskirche and had a great time with over 150 participants! The weather almost played along… except for the one time when almost EVERYONE was on site to film outdoors – really the only fly in the ointment that weekend.

After we’d sorted through a huge amount of footage, Jacqui and Marko stepped in to prepare and carry out the video editing – a Herculean task, if only because of the sheer number of individual clips!

Just as we were on the home straight and had found a fitting occasion for the release – the anniversary of the Queen’s state visit to Germany – we received the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. So, we first had to wait for the period of national mourning to end, before releasing our Broadway version of “In Our Service” – not only to honour the Queen’s 70th jubilee, but also to pay our respects in retrospect and bid farewell to an extraordinary monarch.

In Our Service on Spotify

In Our Service (Broadway Version) is now also available on Spotify: In Our Service (Broadway Version) on Spotify

In Our Service – Acknowledgements

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Thomas Hewitt Jones and the Royal School of Church Music,

the parish council of the Evangelical Lutheran Friedenskirche in Siek and Pastor Christian Schack,

to all the pupils at the Ahrensburg Musical Theatre School who took part in this project, and to their families,

to all the helpers behind the camera and behind the scenes

to all the artists, tutors and technicians who have put so much heart and soul into this project, and whom we would also like to mention here:

Direction and choreography: Jacqui Dunnley-Wendt

Assistant director: Alina Carstens

Assistant Choreographers: Julia Seel, Heidi Lammi-Brink, Franziska Grau, Yasmine Jockel

Musical Arrangement and Rehearsal Direction: Jon Mortimer, James Mironchik

Head of Organisation: Britta Schwalba

Camera: Hauke Wendt

Drone pilot and camera: Finn-Ole Rechner-Petersen

Video editing: Marko Formanek

‘In Our Service’ – music and lyrics by Thomas Hewitt Jones

Broadway version arranged by Jon Mortimer

Orchestration: Jennifer Green

Recording producers: Hauke Wendt & Thomas Hewitt Jones

Mixed by Thomas Hewitt Jones

Mastered by Simon Gibson at Abbey Road Studios

The Vivum Music Orchestra feat. MCE Allstars

Violins: Matthew Denton & Simon Hewitt Jones

Trumpets: Connor Smither

Trombones: Callum Au

Piano: Thomas Hewitt Jones

Guitar: Uli Kringler

Bass: Jens Wrede

Drums: Hauke Wendt

Orchestral percussion: Matt Whittington

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