On Thursday July 4th we held the Summer Concert, the final performance opportunity for the year, as well as marking a farewell to members of Year 13. We opened with the 1812 Overture, where Mrs Jackson imitated a canon with ferocity, performed by the Concert Orchestra, who led the way for the String Ensemble, Flautissimo and Aiden Wadley and Joel Evans in Year 7 to perform some fantastic classical works to start the concert.
Guitar club sought to bridge the gap between classical and popular, after performing In the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg, they launched into Boulevard of Broken Dreams, featuring vocals from Jay Puranik, Jack Hadley, and Matthew Dunstan. Sprinkled in between these pieces were some phenomenal solos and duets, featuring Daniel Rowe and Karl Puranik performing Your Song and We All Fall in Love Sometimes respectively, each accompanying themselves on the piano, Rebecca Broadway performing Colours of the Wind and Hayden Cable and Ganga Jayamohan performing Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift’s duet Everything has Changed. Following Hayden and Gagna, we had the first of our newer bands which had formed for the purpose of this, The Vast, made up of members of Year 8 performing 7 Nation Army with Jay Puranik stepping in at the last minute to perform the vocals. Following The Vast, we heard from the Senior Choir, performing Ain’t No Summertime, an arrangement by our own Mrs Jackson combining the Bill Withers and George Gershwin songs together. This stunning performance was followed by the traditional song Wayfaring Stranger, in an arrangement by Stanborough Alumni Simon Davies and Billy Boulton, before the newly-formed Jazz Jam took the stage, featuring improvisational solos from Jack Holton, Alex Saunders, Florrie Humphries, Hannah Davis, Mr Parkinson, Mrs Jackson, Joe Johnson, Annabel Dunstan and Mr Craig, ending the first half with gusto!
The second half opened with the Ukulele Group, largely made up on Year 7s performing Believer by Imagine Dragons. Following a sterling performance of Someone You Loved by Mariama Barrie, Caitlin Maciver and Daniel Rowe on the piano, William Stringer and Alfie Kerr from Year 13 took to the stage to perform Dean Town + A Bit of Spice by the jazz band Vulfpeck, complete with matching sunglasses. Following them, we had a brief selection of songs from musicals, featuring the Year 12 music class performing It Only Takes a Taste from Waitress, Laura Wells and Chloe Green of Year 9 performing Apex Predator from Mean Girls, and the Uber Choir performing Waving through the Window from Dear Evan Hansen. Both Jay and Karl Puranik performed together next, giving the audience a sterling rendition of The Void by Muse, before JRM, a band formed of Year 7s played All Star by Smash Mouth. After Holly Deacon played a beautiful solo rendition of Place We Were Made by Maisie Peters, we heard from Florrie Humphries and Annabel Dunstan, performing their own composition Come Ride the Waves. This was not our only composition performed, as Mr Torindo from the maths department performed his own song Street Song, a fantastic composition ably backed up by Alfie Kerr on the drums. Following this performance, Red Night, a band formed this year of Year 9s performed a phenomenal rendition of Holiday by Green Day, with Matthew Dunstan and Jack Hadley performing vocal duties, along with choreographed dance moves!
The Summer concert is always bittersweet, as this time is used to give thanks and send off the outgoing Year 13s. This particular concert had further emotional impact, as the students had been Mrs Jackson’s first Year 7s when she started at Stanborough. Joseph Lowton, Jasmine Gaydon, Poppy Humphries, Holly Deacon, Edie Spencer, Karl Puranik, Alfie Kerr and William Stringer have been involved in ensembles, leading groups, performing solos and working with the Sound and Light team over the last few years, and will be sorely missed. The music department is so grateful to all of them, as well as all our other performers, SaLT, staff and audience who were involved in this year’s Summer Concert.
The annual Winter Concert took place last Thursday, with the theme of Music from the Screen. The Concert Orchestra set the stage with a medley of John Williams’ work entitled Great Movie Adventures, led by a very nervous conductor! We had fantastic performances from solos and ensembles, including the String Ensemble performing He’s a Pirate from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, Hayden Cable and Justine House performing Shallow from the recent film ‘A Star is Born’ and Chloe Green, Erin Harrington and Laura Wells performing their own arrangement of Don’t Stop Me Now from the film ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. We were also treated to the debut performance of Daffodils by the Senior Choir, composed by former student Harry Boulton, a piece dedicated to Mrs Jackson in thanks for Harry’s time at Stanborough. The first half ended with the joyous Baggy Trousers from the upcoming School show ‘Our House’, which opens at the start of February.
The second half opened with Benedictus, a piece written in commemoration of the end of the First World War. Given the centenary that has passed in the last month, the orchestra, joined by the choir, gave an incredibly moving performance of this work, with Edie Spencer playing superbly as the soloist. The second half was well and truly underway with the Uber Choir launching into a phenomenal rendition of This is Me from ‘The Greatest Showman’, with 6th Formers, Year 7s and every age in-between singing. It was wonderful to see such a range in ages performing, as we saw a performance from the Year 7 band Fusion, followed by Daniel Rowe from Year 12 performing Words Fail from ‘Dear Evan Hanson’, an incredibly moving and powerful performance. With performances from the extra-curricular ensembles, such as Flautissimo and the Percussion Ensemble the evening was a great success.
As this was my first ‘big’ concert at Stanborough, I was apprehensive about what to expect, but what was really encouraging was seeing how much the students took command, had been practising, arranging (and even writing their own music in the case of Kat Kranjovic!) to perform for this concert. Their hard work and dedication, carefully guided by Mrs Jackson, lead to a fantastic evening! The music department is very grateful to all the students for their hard work, the members of staff who have been involved in rehearsals and performing, SaLT for their continued hard work, and all the members of staff and family and friends who came and supported the evening.
The concert was recorded, please see the music department if you would like a copy.
https://stanborough.herts.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Music_School_Logo.png118126Clare Pomfreyhttps://stanborough.herts.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/newlogo.pngClare Pomfrey2018-03-21 10:45:492018-03-22 09:17:36House Music 2018, Tuesday 27th March
On Wednesday 7th to Friday 9th February, five months of hard work came to fruition in three outstanding performances of this year’s school production, “Guys and Dolls”.
The work began way back in September when auditions were held and rehearsals began, with students working hard to learn lines, songs, dances and music; giving up their time after school and some weekends to ensure their performances were outstanding both on and off stage.
Huge thanks must go to the staff who worked hard to make this production a success; Mr Crann, Miss Smith and Miss Barnard who worked tirelessly throughout the year to ensure lights, staging, set, music, choreography, publicity and much more worked seamlessly to support the students. Mrs Jackson must also be thanked, for even while off on maternity leave, she managed to help with costumes, props and creating the programme.
However the real stars and those who deserve the most praise are the students, working hard on stage, back stage and in the orchestra. This year we had a plethora of students involved who had never done the school production before which was lovely to see and had students taking on roles which have traditionally been taken by staff. Particular thanks must go Harry Boulton in Year 13 who once again was our Musical Director teaching the cast the songs and teaching and conducting the orchestra, a huge accomplishment, thank you and well done Harry. Kai Brown and Dan Paget, both in Year 11, our Stage Manager and Technical Producer respectively put in huge amounts of effort as well. Auburn Bailey in Year 9 designed the winning poster to advertise the show, a detail of which was used on the front of the programme, and looked amazing.
The cast excelled themselves as always, putting in all their emotion and talent to portray the humour, heartbreak and love of New York during the early part of the 20th Century; drawing their audience in and dazzling them with their acting and singing. It is always hard to pick out individuals with a cast as they worked seamlessly as an ensemble to create the show, but specific mention must go to Justine House and Daniel Rowe in Year 11 and Macy-Leigh Birleson and Alfie Kerr in Years 13 and 12 for taking on the lead roles of Sarah Brown, Nathan Detroit, Miss Adelaide and Sky Masterson and giving such funny, emotional and powerful performances.
Well done to all students involved, your effort and talent has created another wonderful school production. Thank you and well done.
https://stanborough.herts.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Guys-and-Dolls_3.jpg6271000Clare Pomfreyhttps://stanborough.herts.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/newlogo.pngClare Pomfrey2018-02-23 09:29:422018-02-23 09:29:42Stanborough School’s Production of “Guys and Dolls”
