Always a musical highlight of the autumn term, this year’s St Cecilia’s Concert proved no exception. On Tuesday evening, the Great Hall was filled with a wonderfully eclectic mix of music from across the ages, performed by an incredible 100 pupils across ensembles of varying sizes, from Rock Band to Symphony Orchestra. As one audience member commented, the evening was “a triumphant expression of all that one can gain from Bedford School”.
The Brass Ensemble opened proceedings with Three Brass Cats by Chris Hazell, and their upbeat, crisp performance set the standard for the first half, which contained a fantastically diverse repertoire of funk, big band, modal jazz and more, played by the Festival Band, Funk Band, the New Jazz Collective and the Jazz Orchestra. However, the buzz in the interval (and indeed the talk in school the next morning!) was all about the Consort Choir, who lit up the Great Hall with their brilliant gospel performance of Worthy to be Praised!, from Los Angeles composer Byron J Smith. Mr Roberts’ energy and enthusiasm was contagious and, mixed with the choir’s high-quality singing, not least from soloists Alice Toone (Bedford Girls’ School) and Toby L’Estrange (Upper Sixth), made it impossible not to jump up and clap along with them.
More delights followed in the second half, with some fine wind playing from the Concert Band in Festivo by late 20th century composer Edward Gregson, who were followed by the Segovia Guitar Ensemble who transported the audience to sunny Spain with their version of Canción y Danza. With a change to the printed programme, Rock Band played a Royal Blood number, and Ben Pickering bravely fronted the band for the very first time – and did so with great success.
To round off the evening, our three orchestras took their turn on the stage. First, the Orchestra of the Ouse, with a super Flourish for Strings, by Peter Martin. They were followed by the Chamber Orchestra, who gave a beautiful performance of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, which perfectly showed off the musicians’ skill as well as their emotional intelligence. The evening was brought to a suitably rousing conclusion by the Symphony Orchestra. A special mention must go to the trombone soloist in Grondahl’s Concerto for Trombone, namely Max Leung (Upper Sixth), whose performance was passionate and expressive, as well as being technically brilliant. This was followed by the Prelude to Act III from Wagner’s Lohengrin bringing a fortissimo finale to a fantastic evening of music – “Bedford School music at its absolute finest!”.
“What a wonderful way to round up a fantastically musical term. We attended the Carol Service last week and then to hear the boys play so well tonight across a huge variety of different musical instruments and styles was absolutely thrilling.”
