As part of the Sevenoaks Summer Festival, the school has regularly hosted a concert in late June celebrating talented young musicians. This year, the Kent Sinfonia, the county’s leading professional orchestra, was invited to give a concert on Monday 25 June, augmented by Sevenoaks School performers.

The biggest item of repertoire, around which the programme was built, was the Elgar Cello Concerto, which was a given a very special performance by four cellists. Claire Macfadyen, Constantin Weiss, Alexander McBride and Marcus Mok performed one movement each of this cornerstone of the cellist’s repertoire. This was a monumental piece for the young players to tackle, and each handled the different movements with aplomb. The performance that demonstrated great musical subtlety and awareness and yet was appropriately muscular at times, contributing to a spectacular overall effect. The four players were united on stage for a well-deserved ovation at the end of the first half. Read the full review.