Continuing tale of a musical prodigy; TVChoice Alex: A Passion For Life (Channel 4, 9pm).CO N D U C T I N G the Bach St Matthew Passion is not an ambition held by many teenagers. But Alex Stobbs is far from ordinary. The phenomenally talented 19-year-old is a choral scholar A choral scholar is a student either at an university or private school who receives a scholarship in exchange for singing in the school or university's choir. This is a common practice in England at schools attached to cathedrals where the choir is the cathedral choir or at Oxford at the world-renowned King's College, Cambridge, and is at home conducting professional musicians twice his age in some of the great musical masterpieces. He has toured the world with his singing since he was nine and studied as a music scholar at Eton. Add to that the fact that he has cystic fibrosis cystic fibrosis (sĭs`tĭk fībrō`sĭs), inherited disorder of the exocrine glands (see gland), affecting children and young people; median survival is 25 years in females and 30 years in males. - a disease that affects the lungs and digestive Ulcers (Digestive) Definition In general, an ulcer is any eroded area of skin or a mucous membrane, marked by tissue disintegration. In common usage, however, ulcer usually is used to refer to disorders in the upper digestive tract. system - and will probably kill him. Alex first appeared on our screens in January 2008 with the launch of Channel 4's Cutting Edge documentary, A Boy Called Alex. But now the Cambridge undergraduate is back in a follow-up documentary, A Boy Called Alex - the Continuing Story, which tracks his first year at university and his latest musical project. Reflecting on the last 12 months Alex seems to have packed a lot in. "I've enjoyed it loads. In April I conducted the Bach St Matthew Passion at Cadogan Hall Cadogan Hall is a 900-seat concert hall in Chelsea, London, in the United Kingdom. Its resident orchestra is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Previously, the building was the First Church of Christ, Scientist completed in 1907. . It's a huge piece in comparison with the Bach Magnificat, which was what I conducted in the first film. The Passion is three hours long, and it's with two orchestras and two choirs. "And apart from that, I've just finished my first year at Cambridge, so a lot of it is following that and how I deal with managing my health at King's, which has been quite a steep learning curve." CAPTION(S): Boy genius: Alex: A Passion for Life tells how the choral scholar has coped with life away from home at university. |
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