27 November 2018
Despite the orchestral and choral performance of Howard Blake’s The Snowman, the Autumn Concert was especially warm this year.
This wonderful evening featured a choral Mamma Mia rendition (which had many of the audience bopping), an orchestral performance of The Harry Potter Theme and the aforementioned whole department accompaniment to the much-loved, classic Christmas film, The Snowman.
Particularly charming was the performance from the Orpheus Centre and Lower Sixth Music students. This was an original work in which a dice was thrown to decide the outcome of the following bars and, as the piece progressed, audience members, and the performers themselves, suppressed giggles as the dice stubbornly kept landing on five. Our students have been collaborating with the Orpheus Centre in their A Level Music classes since September and it was lovely to finally experience what they have been working on.
Along with the larger scale orchestral pieces, the Flute and Percussion Ensembles came together and impressed with their United Kingdom inspired piece, Pipe and Drums, featuring folk melodies from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Junior Choir also shone with their performance of Rewrite the Stars from The Greatest Showman. The music was exceptionally well learnt, and the girls clearly enjoyed performing a piece from a modern musical. All the soloists should be commended on their amazing ability and confidence when singing in front of such a large audience (I believe that the cheer they received at the end proves quite how successful it all was!). The modern pieces were balanced with the traditional, beautiful sounds of the piano trio ensemble, the violin ensemble and Victoria’s piano solo and an upbeat set from the Jazz Band in the interval.
At the end of the evening, the audience rose to their feet to applaud. Those who had travelled from as far away as Hong Kong and Russia will undoubtedly have been singing ABBA on the flight back home*! Our next big music performance is the Carol Service in Westminster Cathedral on 10 December and we look forward to seeing you all there.
Georgia Barnes, Music Ribbon
*If you too would like to find yourself singing ABBA for some time to come, click here!
