On by far the coldest night of the year so far, the bustling Great Hall provided a lovely, warm oasis for the audience members as they packed in to enjoy the musical highlight of the term, our annual St Cecilia’s Concert. Each year, this concert is a showcase for all our orchestras and bands, and this year’s programme truly had something for everyone to enjoy.
The concert opened with a 1950s fanfare from the Brass Ensemble, after which we were transported back to the Flemish 16th Century by Thunderbrass, who played La Mourisque, a Moorish dance grounded in folk traditions composed by Susato.
The New Jazz Collective flung the audience forward in time, this time to a 1960s jazz club, with their fine renditions of Road Song by Wes Montgomery (with some notable solos from Kieran Hamel-Henn (Fifth Form) on trumpet and Aryan Sohanpal (Fourth Form) on saxophone). They followed with The Preacher by Horace Silver, during which there were more classy solos from Hugo Hodgson (Fifth Form) and Korede Alagbe (Upper Sixth) on saxophone and Fred Dickson (Fifth Form) on clarinet.
For the next two performances, boys were joined by players and vocalists from Bedford Girls’ School. First came the Funk Band with their rendition of Feeling Good and immediately after the Bugsy Malone Band, who treated listeners to two excerpts from their recent sell-out run of the musical at our Quarry Theatre.
The first half ended in upbeat style with two toe-tapping pieces from our Jazz Orchestra; namely, I’ll Take Les and Pick up the Pieces, giving each section of the orchestra their chance to shine.
The concert’s second half was as varied as the first in repertoire. The Concert Band opened with a march in the traditional brass band model, Ravenswood by Rimmer. This was followed with an arrangement of film themes by John Williams, which played out like a game of ‘Name That Tune’ of Hollywood Blockbuster tunes.
The Festival Band gave us an arrangement of the finale from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, taking us back to the classical era beautifully. However, we did not rest there as the Segovia Guitar Ensemble took their turn on the stage with a lovely version of Lennon and McCartney’s Yesterday.
The turn of our strings players to shine came next, with the Chamber Orchestra’s performance of the first movement of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Novelletten No 1 Op 52. They were followed by the Orchestra of the Ouse, who played a rousing arrangement of music from Pirates of the Caribbean. Many of the boys were performing in an orchestra for the very first time, and they rose to the occasion expertly.
The finale of the evening came in the form of our largest ensemble, the Symphony Orchestra, who played George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture. Full of Latin beats and rhythms, the audience was transported to tropical climes, ending the concert on a sunny and joyful note.
Director of Music Joss Sanders commended all the performers, saying, “I was absolutely delighted with the outcome of the St Cecilia’s Concert. We pride ourselves in aiming to present an outstanding, vibrant and diverse musical experiences for all boys in the school, and I think that there was much to be excited about in the concert last night. I was particularly pleased that we were able to present a real diversity of musical styles (both classical and contemporary) and include composers of colour (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor) in the repertoire. It has been a long and challenging term, but the boys really came good right at the end to present an excellent concert!”.
Our thanks also go to the staff in our Music Department, who work tirelessly to put on these wonderful concerts for the boys, their families and the wider community to enjoy.
If you would like to experience the concert for yourself, do have a look at our highlights reel here.
