RGS Autumn Concert: A Triumph of Musical Talent
This year’s annual Autumn Concert was performed twice in Perrins Hall on the evening of Wednesday 9 November, enabling maximum audience attendance and the chance for six of our major ensembles to perform for the first time this academic year.
The Concert opened with the Orchestra, comprising of pupils from Years Eight to the Upper Sixth, playing Sibelius’s rousing nationalistic tone poem ‘Finlandia’ followed by ‘‘A Touch of Jazz’, a medley of seven different jazz standards. The Wind Band performed a theatre-inspired concert piece called ‘Broadway’ and the Disney hit song ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ before the Intermediate Strings played a canon by Mozart and the crowd-pleaser ‘Hey Big Spender!’ from the show ‘Sweet Charity’.
The second half of the Concert featured our three major choirs; first, the Junior Choir sang ‘Both Sides, Now’ by Joni Mitchell with a beautiful sincerity and then the toe-tapping ‘Better When I’m Dancing’, accompanied by a band of GCSE and A Level Music students. Chamber Choir brought a more reflective mood with ‘Sure on This Shining Night’ by Samuel Barber and then Robbie Williams’s ‘Angels’, with a rich solo sung by Year Eleven pupil, Kieran Lilley. The Concert closed with the Senior Choir, continuing to boast over 100 pupil and staff singers, first performing the energetic Indian-inspired unaccompanied ‘TāReKiTa’by Reena Esmail, followed by ‘Shine’ by Take That.
Once again, the Autumn Concert made a superb start to our ensemble performances for the academic year, and we look forward to more at ‘Christmas with the Big Band’ and the Carol Service in December. Well done to all of our performers of all ages.