Over the last ten days, our talented musicians have been involved in four concerts (Autumn Concert, Royston Choral, Rush Hour Drums and Guitar and Faure Requiem, Hertford) and around seven services (Remembrance and St. Edmund’s s services). There has been a great buzz around the department; it is clear music is thriving at St. Ed’s.
The musicians performed to a very high standard in the Autumn Concert. The concert began with an excellent performance of the last movement of the Mendelssohn’s Fifth Symphony played by the school symphony orchestra. This was followed by two solo instrumental works accompanied by a professional orchestra. Our soloists Thomas H and Isabelle L, were exceptional in their respective solo works (Glazunov Saxophone Concerto and Faure Fantasie for flute and orchestra) playing with great finesse and with extraordinary virtuosity. It really was a sight to behold! The second half saw the choir and orchestra perform Faure’s sublime setting of the requiem. The choir sang beautifully throughout, leading us to moments of heavenly splendour as well as taking us to the dramatic depths of hell. The choir soloists, Patrick M, Isaac B and Amelia J were outstanding, performing with great professionalism and delicately shaped phrasing. This was a concert that we will all remember as it celebrated the many layers of talent within the school.
One of our choristers commented:
“It was a pleasure to be part of this concert , it was exciting singing with a professional orchestra. It an incredible experience and I look forward to more.”
Following this, the choir performed at two masses over the St. Edmund’s weekend.
On Wednesday, the choir hot footed it to Hertford to perform the Faure Requiem at a concert in All Saints Church, Hertford. It was truly wonderful to perform to a packed church and once again work with a wonderful band of professional orchestral players. The choir gave a moving performance which was greatly appreciated by the audience. Ann Stevens-Jones (one of the organisers) was full of compliments after the performance. She commented in her closing speech “they performed with such beauty of sound and great sensitivity, very few schools could take on a work like this and perform it to such a high level. In the last movement, we were certainly taken to heaven”
Yesterday, the choir met to start working on the music for the carol services but also to celebrate the many wonderful performances over the past two weeks.