After a busy academic start to the Summer term, the Lower and Middle School musicians finally came together to demonstrate their musical accomplishments of the past term.
The Foundation Orchestra’s performance was Mr Dyer’s most ambitious arrangements yet, collating years of past arrangements into a 40 minute ‘Symphonic Finale’. This included many classical music including Bizet’s ‘Carmen’, Rachmaninov’s ‘Piano Concerto No.2’ and Tchaikovsky’s epic ‘Swan Lake’ finale. The arrangement was crafted in a way to give solo opportunities to as many Lower School students as possible, all of whom stepped up commendably. For a 75-person group of Year 7s to Year 9s to tackle such a big work of music is a fantastic achievement and we are excited to hear all the music to come from them as they progress up the school.
Following that came the Chamber Orchestra, performing a couple of movements for strings from Walton’s ‘Henry V’ Suite, music he wrote for the 1944 film based upon the Shakespearean play of the same name. In an ensemble comprising some of the most accomplished musicians across the school, it was wonderful to see younger musicians stepping up in place of the departing Upper Sixth, none more so than conductor Marcus (Y11) who brilliantly helped the ensemble convey the tragic nature of the music.
Junior Chamber Choir then performed two numbers, opening with a medley of two classic Disney tunes ‘A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes’ and ‘Once Upon a Dream’. These dream-themed songs were filled with jazz-inspired harmonies of the early 20th century, before fast forwarding 75 years to their next song ‘Die on this Hill’, by Sienna Spiro. This song, still trending in current pop charts, was a performer favourite and included stunning solos from Rose and Ava (Y9).
Year 7 choir assembled for their final performance as a year group, singing songs they’d been taught across the past term in their music lessons. They began with Supergrass’s ‘Alright’, before continuing the pop theme with Sia’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ and Mumford and Sons’s ‘Rushmere’. They ended with ‘Get Lost’ from the film Moana 2 accompanied by a small band of piano, guitar and bongos – there are few more upbeat ways to end a concert!
