Despite the weather threatening to intervene, the Christmas Concert went ahead in full force and was certainly a night to remember. Following our unique format of music items interspersed with dance, the event showcased what talent we have at Queen’s.
The College Orchestra opened and is great to see (and hear) such a mighty ensemble on the Queen’s Hall stage. They opened in sparkling form with Mozart’s Overture from ‘Die Entführung aus dem Serail’ followed up by a gentle rendition of Vaughan-William’s famous Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’. But they had saved the last till best with ‘March To The Scaffold’ from Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, played with great power and precision. We were then treated to some beautiful musical theatre solos from Cora, Aria, Mary-Tess and Millie. The girls sang beautifully, showcasing numbers from musicals such as Jet Set, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid.
The Junior String Trio provided a characterful interlude with the March from ‘The Nutcracker’ before some more spellbinding dancing from Isla, Emily and Milly. These dances were in the style of modern and jazz; requiring a large amount of energy and stamina, these dances were no mean feat and the students took them in their stride to give a powerful performance!
The first half was rounded off in fine form by the 65 strong Concert Choir, made up of members of Year 7 and 8 performing ‘A Million Dreams’ and ‘High Hopes’; featuring a range of solos and plenty of harmony, it was especially well received.
A short interval later, the second half was kicked off in style by the Concert Band with two movements from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’, aptly enough ‘Autumn’ and ‘Winter’, followed by the jazzy ‘Beachfront’ and rounding off with ‘Christmas Potpourri’, which had the audience clapping along within a few bars! The Senior Quartet then took to the stage with two polished performances of Carol Of The Bells and ‘Fairytale of New York’ to the high standard we now come to expect from them. We then had our final dances of the evening from Lily, Flora and Robyn who were performing lyrical dance solos. This soft, calming and fluid style of dance beautifully encapsulated the magic of Christmas and the students showed great poise and care over their work. Finally String Group ended the evening, with the Brook Green Suite by Holst, Take Five by Brubeck and (as it’s Christmas) a smooth rendition of ‘Let It Snow’, together with snow floating down from the theatre’s snow machine! Their precision and range of tone was particularly note-worthy and they provided a superb conclusion to the concert.
A packed and varied concert programme, it was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience and certainly shows the high standards of music that Queen’s is renowned for.
View the full album here.
