Our annual Summer Serenade took place on Friday 14th May in St. Edmund’s Hall. This is a concert traditionally given by some of our younger musicians in the FY and the Remove and, this year, we had 11 performances. We took the decision not to have an audience other than the performers, but not having friends and family on this occasion took nothing away from some really lovely music-making.
William kicked things off with Gypsy Songs by Balogh on the saxophone. There was much to enjoy here in William’s performance with some toe-tapping energy and dexterous playing after a slow, quiet introduction set the scene. Mia then followed with Walter Carroll’s The Reef from the Southern Seas no.5 on the piano. This was full of robust chords and Mia really exerted a calm authority as well as drawing out some lovely contrasts. Beth then sang When she loved me (from Toy Story 2) by Randy Newman. Beth really got inside this performance and told the story so well and musically, something that she has always done so well. We then had Lochie play Modal Behaviour by Santin on the saxophone. This piece is a Head arrangement, offering opportunities for improvisation interspersed between the pre-composed chorus and Lochie really enjoyed himself, playing with a lovely tone and good agility.
Emeric was accompanied by his sister Oriane (more on her later) in playing Cavatina by Raff. This is a lovely, lyrical piece that utilises the full range of the violin, and Emeric communicated a really beautiful line very skillfully and with great musicality. Elliot then followed with a solo piano arrangement of Clocks, made famous by Coldplay. This was a strong performance which Elliot played at an energetic tempo and was very well done. Charlotte was next up on the violin with the finale of Rieding’s Concerto in B minor. Again, a well-chosen tempo really gave this performance life and vitality and Charlotte impressed with her technical mastery and sense of line.
Catherine then sang a beautiful song by Elwyn-Edwards –The Cloths of Heaven. This is a reflective song and Catherine quickly captured the slightly melancholic mood and did so with a very pleasing evenness of tone across the range and with shape of the melody. This was very musically sung. Kristy was next, playing Chopin’s well-known Nocturne in Eb. Chopin was the consummate melody writer in developing the Cantabile style that he is most known for. There are real technical challenges in this piece, and Kristy did very well in overcoming those as well as bringing out the singing style nature of this melody.
Our last two performances were from Maggie and Oriane. Maggie played an unaccompanied piece on the French Horn –Laudatio by Krol. This performance contained a whole variety of tone colours, exploring the full range of the instrument and dynamics, and Maggie delivered both in abundance, showing a real understanding of this difficult piece. Oriane finished off proceedings with Mendelssohn’s well-known Rondo Capriccioso. This piece is well-known for its great technical challenges and we were treated to a super performance, full of lyricism and dexterity in the contrasting moods that this piece exhibits.
Our thanks go to the instrumental and vocal teachers who have worked with these pupils to prepare for the concert; to Mrs Price and Mr Phillips for their accompanying; and to Mr McDade and Mrs Buchanan for all of their hard work in putting on this lovely concert. And, of course, our thanks to the performers, who did such a sterling job – well done!