At time of writing, we are approaching the end of the academic year and whilst the few weeks after Half Term were quiet from a musical performance point of view, the Music Department continued to be a hubbub of rehearsal and creativity.
This all culminated in three weeks of performance events beginning with the Summer Festival week, during which the Music Department took its musical wares out into the wider school with our Pop-Up Performances. Guitar Ensemble, Sinfonia, the choirs and a myriad of soloists all performed across the school in venues including Old House and the Atrium inside the new Ideas Hub. The penultimate week involved our grand Summer Concert on 1st July, featuring the choirs and orchestras as well as the Saxophone, Clarinet and Guitar Ensembles. Instrumental music performed included the first movement of Mozart’s Haffner Symphony, the second movement of Marcello’s beautiful Oboe Concerto, a splendid arrangement for clarinets of Bach’s Toccata in D minor and an ethereal Guitar Ensemble piece composed by our very own Guitar teacher Mr Marlow.
Chorally we heard Time after Time originally made famous by Cyndi Lauper, the beauty and warmth of The Rose by Norwegian composer Ola Gjielo and in a first for our concerts, Chandos Singers and Spiritus sang together accompanied by harp. Film music featured with the theme from How to Train your Dragon and a fabulous collection of John Williams soundtracks. On the day after our Summer Concert, Spiritus headed into London to perform at the Royal Institution, as part of a concert celebrating 175 years of NLCS, organised by Mrs Cox, Director of Junior School Music.
The last short week of term saw the advanced solo musicians from the Junior School perform in our final Old House Recital of the year in the Drummond Room, featuring music by Nielsen, Bach, Chopin, Schumann and Mompou. The Music Department thanks all of the students for their dedication to creativity through music-making. A good rest is well deserved and we look forward to a busy, exciting programme of musical performances and events in the new academic year.
Have a wonderful summer holiday.
Scott McCall, Director of Music
