Music

A student-led ensemble, the Abingdon Academicals are an acapella choral ensemble who perform a variety of choral music. Rehearsed and co-ordinated by a pupil in the Upper Sixth, the Academicals are equally at home singing close harmony arrangements of popular songs and jazz standards as they are performing sacred and liturgical repertoire. Highlights of the concert calendar include the Academicals Christmas Concert and Cabaret in March.

The Abingdon School Choral Society prepares for two concerts per year with performance of large-scale choral works supported by professional soloists and orchestra. Alongside pupils, an adult chorus meets on Tuesday evenings in term time and all are welcome to join. Recent concerts include Mozart Requiem (March 2025) and Handel Messiah (Dec 2024).

Our popular music provision is ever expanding and with both a range of technical and practical facilities, our pupils are able to rehearse together in preparation for a number of performance opportunities throughout the year. Across the school, there are between 15-18 bands at any one time and all will aim for performance at the annual Rock Concert (March) and at the Anything But Classical event in June. Alongside this, we have a termly Open Mic Night where all are encouraged to perform whilst pupils are able to use the Music Technology facilities to record their songs and arrangements. 

One of the flagship ensembles of the Abingdon Music Department, the Big Band is comprised of the strongest jazz musicians and performs in numerous events across the year.  Particular highlights include Christmas and summer concerts, the annual Cabaret Jazz evening, alongside Open Day and external concert performances.  The Big Band regularly go on tour, most recently to Czechia (2025) and France (2023).  As part of our masterclass provision, the Big Band has worked with professional Jazz musicians and will record an album in 2026.

The Chamber Choir is a smaller group of singers who principally work towards performance of liturgical music for two or three evensongs per year alongside contribution to the annual Cabaret evening in March. Recent evensongs and workshops have included The Queens’ College, Somerville College, Pembroke College and Exeter College, Oxford. This contrasting style of music aims to build skills in both ensemble singing, musical skills of balance, awareness and blend alongside improving sight-singing and wider awareness of choral music. This is an auditioned ensemble with pupils involved from the breadth of the school. 

Alongside the full ensemble provision, the department runs a varied and extensive chamber music programme, encouraging all pupils to enhance their musical skills through smaller ensemble playing. Each year, we hold a Chamber Music concert whilst for our pianists, there is opportunity to be part of the Piano Extravaganza, a concert dedicated to piano ensembles, some which feature up to 24 players. In a typical year, there will be between 20-25 chamber ensembles including String Quartets, Piano Trios and Wind ensembles whilst our Clarinet Ensemble features between 8-12 instrumentalists. Some of these ensembles will prepare for the National Pro Corda competition which takes place during the second half of the school year. 

The Chamber Orchestra is our strongest string ensemble, featuring between 16-20 musicians. This ensemble is auditioned and musicians are of Grade 8 standard or above. Regular performance opportunities enable these musicians to access a broad range of string music including work by Dvorak, Elgar, Tchaikovsky as they perform at the Remembrance Concert in November alongside the usual end of term events.

The Chapel Choir is a vibrant part of our music programme, performing a series of services throughout the term alongside performance of large scale choral works. The Chapel Choir visits a Cathedral each term to sing evensong and recent venues have included Coventry, Salisbury, Winchester, Christ Church Cathedrals whilst the choir is due to sing at Westminster Abbey in May 2026. Aside from preparation for these services and whole school services locally in Abingdon, the choir will give performance of larger choral works at the Remembrance and School Choirs’ Concerts. Finally, the Chapel Choir travels both nationally and internationally.

Led by Abingdon Music teacher and composer, Dr Preece, this is a session for budding composers – or anyone interested in the craft of composition – to expand their composing experience and learn about the mechanics of how music works. The sessions will include some ‘taught’ elements where composers’ techniques are introduced and some more improvisatory and exploratory sessions in which students will learn about the essentials of different vocal, instrumental and choral forces and how to write for them. Alongside this weekly workshop, professional composers are invited to work with our pupils on a termly basis, sharing their technique and compositional skills alongside providing further inspiration for the pupil’s creative process.

The Concert Band encourages all wind, brass and percussion players to participate with a minimum standard of approximately grade 3. Focusing on performance of arrangement of film soundtracks or musicals alongside traditional wind band music, this ensemble prepares for performances at the end of each term. Musicians from this band also support other events such as the Remembrance Parade or CCF events.

Our Jazz Band is an ensemble for pupils between grades 3-6 and rehearses once a week in preparation for end of term concerts. This is a feeder ensemble into the larger and more experienced Big Band, providing a transition to this more experienced ensemble as pupils gain more confidence and skill.

Performs during the year but especially for Lower School Gala Concert.

For all string players from beginner to about Grade 5 standard. The atmosphere is relaxed and the ensemble progress significantly throughout the year.

Lower School Open Mic Club is an opportunity for pupils in the Lower School to expand their performing experience of modern musical genres in band settings. All abilities and instruments are welcome to come along, for an enjoyable session of music making.

Our Lower School Orchestra is an extension of the former Lower School Band and includes instruments from the full breadth of the orchestra. More experienced players are joined by pupils who have had several lessons as part of our First Year instrument taster scheme to form a larger ensemble of about 35-40 musicians. Performances take place in the Christmas Concert, Spring Concert and Lower School Gala Concert in June. It is hoped that this ensemble is the first major ensemble experience for pupils on their musical journey at Abingdon.

This activity enables a small group of selected students to learn about studio techniques and the history of audio recording, under the guidance of a Music Technologist. Lessons are also offered to students on a one-to-one basis and several students have gone on to forge careers in sound recording.

For those who wish to improve their music theory skills or are aiming to take an exam to progress further with their practical studies.  This weekly class is tailored to the specific needs of the pupils in question and is run by our graduate musician. 

The Sinfonietta are our largest string ensemble, comprising of pupils from the full breadth of the pupil body. This large string ensemble has a weekly rehearsal and performs in the large-scale end of term concerts.

The Symphony Orchestra is the school’s largest ensemble with 65-70 pupils, exploring a range of orchestral repertoire from symphonic works to stand alone orchestral pieces whilst in the summer term, the repertoire focuses on a theme. In the past two years, these have been concerts of World Music and Film Music. Each Michaelmas term, the Symphony Orchestra plays a complete symphony with performances of Dvorak 8th Symphony in 2024 and Dvorak 9th Symphony in 2025. A separate concert is scheduled for performance of Concerto movements for those pupils given experience to play a solo work accompanied by an orchestra comprised of professional and student musicians.

The Symphony orchestra is an auditioned ensemble with the string players being of a minimum of grade 6 level whilst the wind and brass parts are covered by pupils of grade 8 level. The Symphony Orchestra has a strong history of touring with recent visits to Czechia (2025), France and Belgium (2023), Japan (2019) and Germany (2017).