Leavers’ Concert provides perfect musical finale for departing Upper Sixth
This year’s wonderful Leavers’ Concert brilliantly rounded off the Upper Sixth musicians’ time at SGS.
The Senior Percussion Ensemble got proceedings underway with ‘In Line’ by percussionist and composer Jan Bradley before the Brass Quartet performed James Power’s arrangement of George Gershwin’s ‘Fascinating Rhythm’.
The Junior Jazz Band then played a trio of entrancing pieces: ‘Autumn Leaves’ by Joseph Kosma and Johnny Mercer, ‘Summertime’ by George Gershwin and David Paich’s ‘Rosanna’.
The Intermediate Percussion Ensemble were up next and, when introducing them, Director of Music Mr Michael Dow thanked Upper Sixth Formers Daniel Vincent and Oscar Williams for conducting and working with the younger pupils during the final few days of rehearsal. The group delivered Bastille’s mega-hit ‘Pompeii’ and ‘Thriller’ by Rod Temperton.
Upper Sixth student Oscar Williams was given the honour of performing a concerto with the First Orchestra to close the first half of the concert. Mr Dow thanked Oscar for his exceptional contribution to music during his time at the school. Oscar performed a percussion solo in the ‘Microconcerto for Rhythm Section and Orchestra’ that he had composed himself.
After the interval, the Wind Orchestra got the audience back into the swing of things with performances of ‘Anything Goes’ by Cole Porter (arrangement Paul Jennings) and a selection of songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical ‘Cats’ (arrangement by John Edmondson).
Another Andrew Lloyd Webber musical was covered by the Chorus as they delivered a medley from ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ (arrangement by Ed Lojeski).
The Senior Jazz Band impressed the crowd with their versions of ‘Long Tall Sally’ by Robert Blackwell, Enotris Johnson and Richard Penniman (otherwise known as Little Richard), Steve Swallow’s ‘Ladies in Mercedes’ and ‘Theme From New York, New York’, a song by John Kander and Fred Ebb that appeared in Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film.
The Leavers’ Ensemble is the traditional thank you to staff by Upper Sixth musicians, complete with entertaining lyrics and anecdotes prepared by the students themselves. Gabriel Keeble, Torin Mills and Oscar Williams led the ensemble and they kept the audience laughing and guessing about what was coming next!
We thank the Leavers of 2022 for their considerable contributions to the musical life of the school and wish them all the best for the future.
