5 April 2022
It was wonderful to see all of the hard work our various music ensembles have been doing this term come to fruition in the Spring Concert. There was a variety of music on offer, from large orchestral works down to small close harmony singing.
The concert opened with the entire second year singing ‘Himmelflugt’ and, from the musical Dear Evan Hansen, ‘You Will Be Found’. The choir sang sensitively and with real enthusiasm under the excellent direction of Mr Treadaway. Gospel Choir, directed by Dr Preece, followed next with ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ on’ and ‘Rolling in the Deep’ accompanied by a staff band consisting of Mr Barnes on keys, Mr Windsor on bass and Mr Treadaway on drums. As always, the sense of enjoyment came across greatly from the choir. Abingdon Academicals closed the choral part of the concert with some sensitively balanced renditions of ‘Thula Thula’ and Seal’s ‘Kiss from a Rose’ and, a humorous account of ‘I’m a Train’.
The bands rounded off the first half of the concert with Concert Band playing an exciting medley of Coldplay tunes and finishing with some highlight from Oklahoma. Big Band played an enjoyable set consisting of ‘Highway to Hell’ by ACDC, ‘Belly Roll’, ‘Pick Up the Pieces’ and ‘Back to the Chicken Shack’. All the tunes were arranged and directed with real enthusiasm by Simon Currie. There were some terrific improvised solos by Cameron Gouldstone, Thomas Harding and Josef O’Connor amongst others, and the band overall played very well indeed.
The orchestras played to a very high standard after the interval. This was the first outing for our new string teacher, Bojan Cicic, who directed the Chamber Orchestra in a fine performance of the first movement of Bach’s 3rd Brandenburg Concerto. The Second Orchestra, led capably by Wyatt Ip, gave enthusiastic accounts of the March from Carmen and Brahms’ Hungarian Dance. The concert was rounded off by First Orchestra with the finale of Dvorak’s 8th Symphony and a lush medley of Burt Bacharach tunes, including ‘Alfie’, ‘I Say A Little Prayer’ and ‘Close to You’. There was some fine playing in the Bacharach by Cameron Gouldstone who carried off the trumpet solo very well indeed.
As always, the sense of joy and enthusiasm for music was palpable amongst pupils, staff and audience. The standard overall remained high, all the more impressive considering the many pupil absences on the night due to Covid. All in all, a very lovely evening of Music making.
