The Spring Term offered another fantastic opportunity for
the College to showcase its musical talent; this time in the form of a Spring
Concert. Staff and parents gathered in the Sports Hall to enjoy the latest
offering, which saw a large proportion of the school population joined by Mr
Paul Jones, Mr Chris Ham and Mrs Louise Rapple Moore, as well as the Shiplake
Community Choir, to impress the audience with a wide selection of musical
talents.
The Lower School Orchestra began proceedings, with an upbeat
arrangement of movie songs. This was followed by the Senior Orchestra, who,
keeping with the theme of movies, gave a toe-tapping version of Mission
Impossible and The Great Escape theme tunes. The Shiplake Community Choir took
to the stage next, singing an impressive Les Miserables medley.
Ben Drage, Adam Fletcher, Jack Parrott and Sebastian Rivett
joined forces, taking to the stage as the Guitar Group and playing a memorable rendition
of Eye of the Tiger. The Chamber Choir, lead by Mrs Louise Rapple Moore and with Lucy Walker giving an enthralling solo, took
centre stage next, wowing the audience with a mesmerising version of Pie Jesu from John
Rutter’s famous song, Requiem. The
Chamber Choir had also performed this earlier in the term, at a local church in
Henley, and it was easy to comprehend the glowing reviews from their incredible
performance. The String Ensemble followed, made up of Cameron Bell, Henry
Blois-Brooke, Charlotte Scales, Thomas Nike, Ieuan Thomas and Cello teacher Mr Tom
Hammond. The ensemble impressed audience members with an arrangement of The
Entertainer.
Rebecca Robinson took to the stage next, with Eliska
Zahorova on the piano. Rebecca performed a spine-tingling version of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s
Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, from the musical Phantom of the Opera.
Headmaster Mr Gregg Davies is a keen advocate of the musical community at
Shiplake, and the Headmaster’s Choir were testament to his dedication group,
with their crowd-pleasing version of M People’s Dreaming. The Clarinet Quartet,
who regularly participate in local music competitions, performed Leonard
Bernstein’s Somewhere.
The First Eight then gave an accomplished and hilarious
performance of Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass. The boys sang acapella,
modifying the end of the song to their own version- ‘all bout that bass / no tenor!’
The Lower School Choir followed, offering a skilled rendition of Am I Wrong,
Wake Me Up and Rude, arranged by Head of Music Mr Paul Jones. George Lucas,
Charlie Thomas, Jack Underwood and Ben Willis showed no apprehension as they
gave superb solos, accompanied by Ben Atkin on the drums, Rory Diez-Harrison on
the cahon, Will Kidd on the piano and Tom McCooke on the guitar.
The Covers Band finished proceedings, with a memorable
version of Amy Winehouse’s version of Valerie, leaving the audience in high
spirits. Refreshments were then served in the OVR for all parents, pupils and
staff members, ending a wonderful evening of musical talent.
This is not the last performance for the academic year, as
lunchtime concerts returned after the Easter break, and parents will once again
be invited to the school, this time for the Summer Concert.
Below is a video of Tom Banks, Jordan Gibson, Josh Hirst, Charles Marsden, Tom McCooke, Angus Munro, Ruaridh Sheppard and Sam Ryder-Smith, who make up The First Eight, giving a rendition of All About That Bass- a snippet of the musical delights yielded by the Spring Concert!
Please click here to view photos from the event.