Lower School Concert

The old school hall was filled to the brim with girls, parents, staff and friends on Thursday evening to see the Lower School Concert, featuring the new – and much talked about – Lower Four Choir, conducted by Mark Bushby, Assistant Director of Music. 

The concert brought together the orchestra, strings, choir, soloists and instrumentalists from the Lower Fours, Fours and Upper Fours for an entertaining and extremely accomplished performance.  To everyone's amusement the orchestra and strings opened the concert with the theme to Coronation Street, followed by Ode to Joy and Tallis Canon.

Solo performances were given by Olivia Smailes, On My Own; Laura Burnett, I Feel Pretty; Alice Engbers, The Rose; Hettie Wheeler, Dalmation Cradle Song and Lydia Marshall with When Daisies Pied.  Alicia Laing and Harriet Foster sang Angel of Music and Jess De Mulder and Lara Sharrock sang A Whole New World, from Aladdin.

Instrumentalists, Lydia Marshall, Jessica De Mulder and Anna Price, played the clarinet.  Sophie McAlpine and Harriette Wimble played the flute and Anna Price and Lara Sharrock played piano. 

Other solo performances included Harriet Foster, who played the very technically demanding Vocalise by Rachmaninov for cello, Issy Sasada on the saxophone with Festival Sax and Jemima Pennant, who played Gigue from Bach's Orchestral Suite Number 3 on the trumpet.

Gabby Woodward and Ally Stewart Ashley gave fine performances on the oboe, despite only having taken up the instrument at the beginning of term, Emily Reeve played Moto Perpetuo on the violin, and Georgina Blumsom and Millie Lenton performed a Concerto for 2 Violins by Telemann.

The concert concluded with the Lower Four Choir singing Dona Nobis Pacem, followed by a rousing medley from the musical, Annie.

Congratulations to all the girls and to Mark Bushby for their hard work and commitment in putting together such an excellent performance in just a few short weeks.

Thanks also to Tania Pratt and Tania Ognjenovic for their contribution to the concert.

John Padley, Director of Music, said: ‘This was a remarkable evening of tremendous talent and potential.  A year ago, this concert may not have been possible but now the sky's the limit for the up and coming musicians at Queen Anne's'.

13.11.09