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6
September 2011
Ovations in the US
Abingdon’s First Orchestra and Big Band
spent ten days in America over the Easter
holidays performing in four East Coast
cities – Boston, Worcester, New York and
Washington. The tour culminated in a huge
concert in Washington National Cathedral
joining with musicians from St Alban’s, the
Washington National Cathedral School and
two other visiting schools from Manhattan.
Charlie Hall played Bruch’s
Violin Concerto
,
Osman Tack Saint-Saëns
Piano Concerto
and Humphrey Thompson sang Mozart’s
Non Plu Andrai
. For the finale a massed
chorus of 250 voices sang the two national
anthems, Parry’s
I was Glad
,
Jerusalem
and Patrick Doyle’s
Non Nobis Domine
– a
thrilling finale to an exciting tour that earned
the musicians several standing ovations.
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Members of the Lower Sixth returning from study leave last term had three
weeks to produce Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, which they performed during
the last week of term. The production provoked both sadness and laughter
as it examined what Beckett described as the fun of unhappiness.
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End Game
Overtures and
Finales
The Summer Bands Concert is always
a nostalgic affair since for many of the
musicians it is their last concert at School.
It was therefore an inspired idea to have
the First and Second Wind Band share a
musical number at the beginning of the
concert, not only did it give Lower School
musicians a chance to perform with the
leavers but it also allowed the audience
to see the exciting talent that still remains
at the School as the Upper Sixth-formers
played their farewells.
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