A FORMER pupil returned to Wycliffe College with his band which recently won Classic FM’s album of the year.

Sam Dressel, who attended the college in Stonehouse from 1997 to 2007 and grew up in Stroud, came to run a music workshop with the vocal group Voces8.

All eight members came to teach pupils, with Sam leading the session which was run with Wycliffe’s own vocal group, VOX.

A spokesman from Wycliffe College said: “We enjoyed learning new pieces of music and warm-up games, getting to know the members of the group.

“Voces8 listened to VOX perform an arrangement of a Gregory Porter song before giving them some excellent advice and demonstrations and singing through the piece all together as a massed ensemble.

“One of the highlights of the morning was hearing Voces8 sing through Lucy Parker’s A Level composition, which she conducted herself.”

Sam attended Wycliffe from the age of eight when he gained a music scholarship.

Speaking to the SNJ earlier this year, he said: “I was drawn to classical music from quite a young age.

“My mum plays the piano and so I started to learn simple things with her when I was about four.

“I always enjoyed singing and was involved in the choirs at Wycliffe and also musicals and shows.

“But I never thought of it as my main musical thing, it was always behind the piano and the cello.

“Then by the time I was 16 I started taking it more seriously and decided to apply for a choral scholarship to Cambridge University with encouragement from Wycliffe’s now retired director of music Chris Swain.”

Some students from VOX later attended a concert by Voces8 at St Mary’s Church in Painswick.

The performance was part of the vocal ensemble’s tour singing in venues across Europe.

Classic FM voted Lux, by Voces8 as its album of the year for 2015.