Winter Concert

Mr P Craig, Music, writes:

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.