RGS Musicians Perform in Lunchtime Recitals

This week, RGS Musicians had the pleasure to be involved in two lunchtime Music recitals.

The first took place on Wednesday at St George’s Church, just a five minute walk from RGS. Twelve singers and oboe students from Years Seven and Eight attended the lunchtime concert to watch RGS oboe teacher, Ms Victoria Brawn give a lunchtime recital alongside pianist, Eleanor Hodgkinson. The pair played pieces by Clara Schumann and the Italian opera composer Ponchielli as well as being joined by RGS alumna Isabella Hulbert who, having left RGS last year, is now a singing student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Together, the trio performed music by Purcell, with solo songs and piano pieces by Copland and three beautiful pieces for oboe and voice by Vaughan Williams performed by mother-and-daughter Victoria and Isabella.

The RGS pupils really enjoyed the variety of pieces they heard. Year Eight Music Scholar, Arthur Hasling, said, ”I really enjoyed the concert. I enjoyed seeing how Bella is doing and also seeing one of our instrumental teachers performing herself. My favourite piece was the Schumann Romances which opened the concert because I loved their mood and how the oboe worked with the piano”.

The following day, four musicians in the Upper Sixth went to Worcester Cathedral to give, rather than watch, a lunchtime recital. A Level Music student Aoife Smith sang songs by Brahms and Jason Robert Brown whilst Saffron Crump sang Vaughan Williams and Finzi. Menna Sutton and Tobey Butler both played solo violin pieces, with Tobey also plays a Brahms Intermezzo on the piano. Tobey, Menna and Saffron, as three Upper Sixth Form Music Scholars, closed the concert with their touching performance of ‘Shlof Mayn Fegele’ which they learned to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day earlier this term. All four musicians performed excellently to an appreciative audience and they all look forward to returning to the Cathedral next week for the choral concert ‘A Call To Peace’ on Tuesday evening.

Mr Jonathan Soman, Director of Music