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Department Reviews

MUSIC

The department organised a range of trips to concerts and other events throughout the year. These included taking LC3 girls to see Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House, hearing visiting orchestras at the Town Hall and taking wind and brass players to exciting events as part of Cheltenham’s Jazz Festival. In College, as ever, we arranged a series of events and diverse concerts to cater for girls of all ages and abilities, from our regular lunchtime concerts, to the Gamelan workshop (for LC1 girls), to our four faculty Prize days.

The second half of the autumn term is always our busiest phase of music-making. The Junior Concert provided a wonderful opportunity for young soloists and ensembles to perform to their parents and friends. The annual Peggy Richardson piano masterclass was given by William Fong, Head of Keyboard at the Purcell School. Several of our senior pianists played beautifully and benefited from William’s expertise and experience. College Choir, replete with our senior trumpeters, represented College at the annual GSA service in Winchester Cathedral. The singing in such a magnificent space was sublime.

From Winchester, we moved to another glorious church, Tewkesbury Abbey, to perform Messiah. 150 singers comprising girls, staff, parents, family and friends were accompanied by an orchestra of music staff and senior girls. This community-based venture was a truly uplifting occasion. Our autumn events ended with the Christmas Concert and the Carol Service. The Christmas Concert is our largest school concert, with well over 250 girls participating. The programme was colourful and varied, ranging from Symphonic Windband’s inspiring Land of Louisa and Sinfonia’s stirring March from the Dambusters, to Symphony Orchestra’s account of the opening movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and String Serenaders’ elegant performance of Elgar’s Serenade. Alice Younger (saxophone), Eugenie Ng (piano) and Nicole Chin (violin) provided polished solos, whilst Jazz Band, the LC2 Chorus, College Choir and Chamber Choir all presented seasonal repertoire.

In the spring term, we listened to two outstanding A level recitals from Elizabeth Yiu and Eugenie Ng. In early February College Choir, supported by Vivian Mak on her Chinese instrument, the Yang Qin, gave an outstanding concert in Cheltenham’s Pump Room venue. Our annual Upper College Scholars’ Concert happened a week later than planned, owing to snow, but it was a recital worth waiting for. The term ended with two huge events: the LC3 Musical (The Wizard of Oz), for which the excellent orchestra comprised many girls, and the Inter-House Music Competition. Congratulations to this year’s winners of House Music: St Helen’s.

The summer term got under way with a very exciting initiative. The English Mozart Ensemble came to College for the day to work with our chamber ensembles. A series of masterclasses in the morning was followed by an open rehearsal in the afternoon. In the evening some of our chamber groups shared the platform with our visiting professionals to give a wonderful concert. In May we presented two annual events. The Leavers’ Concert featured soloists from SFC2 accompanied by the orchestra in a demanding and varied programme. This year’s soloists were Jacqueline So, Vivian Mak, Rebecca Ogilvie-Smith, Alexandra Tan, Valerie Chan, Jacqueline Ho, Erina Moon, Eugenie Ng, Clara Mead-Robson, Elizabeth Yiu, Chao-Ying Kowa and Nora Jiang. The repertoire included Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto, Elgar’s ‘Cello Concerto, Three Preludes for trumpet by Gershwin, Scaramouche for saxophone and orchestra and Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra. The May Concert, given by soloists in LC3 and UC4, was outstanding and bodes extremely well for the future. The year ended with our traditional Summer Concert which featured many of our senior ensembles: College Choir, String Serenaders, Symphony Orchestra, Jazz band and Chamber Choir.

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