Guest Review: Autumn Music Concert

 Our music concerts always continue to astound me. The wealth of talent our students have always makes for an enjoyable evening. With potential cuts looming over the arts, evenings such as this need to be embraced and celebrated. When students of all ages and talents can stand up in front of a sell out audience with the sole purpose of entertaining them.

I'll try not to be too gushing, but I was very proud to be a part the audience for last nights concert. The students performed superbly, not only in their group pieces with the orchestras and choirs, but also all the soloists who played a variety of pieces - including their own compositions. Thank you to Rhianne and Vicky for the following review:

"Well what a way to start the new year with the Autumn Music Concert! It was kicked off by the Orchestra which set a great tone to a fantastic musical night. The evening was full of singers, pianists, flute players and even guitarists and drummers. It was full of a range of instruments which gave the feel off individuality to all of the students who performed.

As last minute rehearsals went on in the theatre, all the other students waited nervously backstage, warming up their voices to give a sparkling performance. (We were two of these nervous people!) 

We had a  packed out audience full of friends, family and even teachers. You could see from their faces that they didn’t really know what to expect, however as each person performed they grew gradually more and more impressed with the talent we have in this school.

With a total of about 50 students (making it almost impossible to name them all) taking part there was a lot of talent to show. The concert started with Radetsky March by Strauss which was conducted by our very own Miss Hedges. This was a really lively way to start the concert, getting everyone smiling and moving along to the music. Going on to an amazing piano solo by Emily Fitzpatrick, it was short and sweet and a lovely way to continue the concert.

There were a few piano solos and also a keyboard solo by Lewis Boulton, this was very interesting and definitely made us smile (we think it was different and certainly surprised us). The piano solo by Rei Shimizu shocked us a lot. You see a nervous looking girl walking over to the piano and then you're blown away by the talent. The piece was long and technical, certainly impressive. Katy Sellars’ piano solo was wonderful also. It had depth and was a soothing piece of music. A great choice. From reading this you can see we thought the piano pieces were certainly brilliant. They all seemed comfortable once they started playing and everyone loved listening.

Both orchestras (Key Stage 3 and 4) certainly made us laugh, playing Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - all songs well known by everyone. They were played well and (we think) a lot of people wanted to hum along to the parts that they knew, just as we did.

The concert was ended by the Glee Choir singing Don’t Stop Believin'. As everyone has heard either this version or the original it was a great way to end it. People were singing along (we even caught Miss Moore singing along, so the choir were proud of that!) and it was a big finish. Overall it was an incredible way to start the year."

By Rhianne Groom and Vicky Egerton