St Mary's Calne
Last Thursday, our first ‘Summer Music Showcase’ featured mainly younger musicians in chamber groups and two rock bands, marking the finale of the Music Department’s inaugural Chamber Music programme - one we look forward to continuing next year.
Kicking off the evening was our newly formed Lower School Band, followed by a really fun Clarinet Duo from Georgia and Silver. We had a LVI Violin Trio next, before Ysa A, one of our LIV Music Scholars, performed a very musically sensitive solo. Junior Consort were up next with a full-throttle rendition of Natasha Bedingfield's Unwritten which was beautifully uplifting and had the whole audience joining in. LV Band were next with some Motown before a Cello Duet from Teyla (another of our Music Scholars) and Ysa.
Strictly Strings performed Fiddles on Fire which was incredibly fun, before a challenging yet brilliantly executed Piano Duet (Mambo by Christopher Norton) from Kate and Amelia, both LIV.
Our second Violin Trio of the evening saw girls from three different year groups (Matilda - LIV, Katelyn - UIV and Rose - LVI) perform a lovely Mendelssohn piece, leading very nicely into some Bach from our Flute Ensemble, again with girls across different year groups - Mia in LVI, Sarina in LV, Josie in LIV and Halia in LVI.
The LV Cello Quartet played a very tricky arrangement from Howl's Moving Castle which went down a storm before we were treated to a preview of the Lower School Production - Honk! Jr. - from LIV and MIV.
A brilliant evening across the board, it's an event we're definitely keen to continue. Our students did such a great job. For many of these ensembles, it was the first time they had performed publicly together. The maturity, musicality and professionalism on display made me very proud of each and every one of our music students. A huge thanks to all of them, to all the parents that came to support and to all of the music staff involved in supporting, rehearsing and prepping all of the ensembles.
Miss Marie-Claire Arthur, Director of Music