Musicians Dazzle Audience at Final School Concert

The third and final School Concert of the year took place earlier this week, with the audience enjoying spectacular performances from the majority of the larger ensembles at King’s.

The concert began with The King’s Swingers performing two numbers, opening with Miles Davis’ ‘All Blues’ from the iconic jazz album ‘Kind of Blue’.

The School Choir reprised one of their pieces from last term’s successful tour to Belgium, ‘The Heavens are Telling’, by Haydn, which featured three of our extremely talented Upper Sixth soloists, Martha E, Will K and Sam C.

The audience then had great fun getting involved in some vocal participation with Rutter’s ‘Down by the Riverside’ arrangement!

Two pieces for the small brass ensemble followed, featuring four pupils from four different years. Upper Sixth Music Scholar, Sam C, had written a piece for the brass trio, which featured himself and fellow Music Scholars John E and Larry R. Entitled ‘Tioram’, it depicts the grandeur and landscape of Castle Tioram in the Highlands in Scotland. They were then joined by Henry K in a performance of Sam’s arrangement of ‘Moon River’, which also featured an appearance of another musical instrument – the Melodica!

The Chamber Orchestra performed four short but challenging preludes written by Shostakovich and arranged for the ensemble by Mr Gunter. The Wind Band’s set began with the theme tune from the Star Wars series ‘The Mandalorian’ and finished with the ‘The Acrobat’; well-known to many parents in the audience as the theme tune to a 1980s children’s show.  This piece is a staple of the trombone repertoire and featured Sam C as the soloist.

The School Concert finished with the First Orchestra in two well-known tunes, ‘The Pink Panther’ and ‘Entry of the Gladiators’.

All our musicians performed to an exceptionally high standard, reflecting the many hours they have dedicated to their rehearsals. Acting Head, Dr Oliver, paid particular tribute to our leaving Upper Sixth who have contributed much to the music department and the concerts during their time at King’s.