On Thursday 24 November, the Sports Hall was alive with the sound of music, singing and festivity as the College’s talented musicians took to the stage for the first major concert of the academic year – The Winter Concert.
Like the festive season itself, Shiplake College’s annual Winter Concert was packed full of seasonal treats in addition to a selection of pop, classical, rock, and soul that had the audience bouncing along and tapping their toes to.
With a packed out Sports Hall, our hosts on the evening were Year 12 and Year 13 pupils, Leo Guo and Esme Young, who both did a fantastic job of introducing each act and keeping the audience entertained throughout the concert.
Kicking off the concert was Rare Groove, who performed Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, before every boy in Years 7 and 8 performed in the Lower School Choir, much to the audience's delight and appreciation, serenaded everyone with a 'space' medley, comprised of Rocketman, Spaceman, and Starman. This was followed by Leo Slowikowski and Henry Johnston's performance of Just The Two Of Us.
There were a variety of performances on display from soloists and duets, to bands and groups. Leo Guo performed a song in his mother tongue, singing Han Hong’s arrangement of Tian Lu much to the audience’s awe and, taking to the piano like last year, Nikita Saitov performed the theme from Interstellar, which garnered a second round of applause. The final solo performance saw Jack Dag take to the stage with his moving rendition of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Bringing the sound of rock 'n roll to the concert, Red Gecko debuted with their rendition of R U Mine by The Arctic Monkeys and Muse's Supermassive Blackhole, and later on in the concert, Idle Thoughts performed The Clash’s Rock the Casbah.
For those who missed it at the Remembrance Service, the Camerata performed Benedictus from The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins, showing great poise and skill with what was a challenging and intricate piece. Another group to perform was the College Chorus who sang Sound of Silence, before finishing with a Disco Fever medley.
The penultimate act of the concert was B13 who performed Merry Christmas Everyone and Mary Jane's Last Dance. The latter included Richard Wang alternating between singing and playing the harmonica - no easy feat but executed with perfection. Closing the concert was Big Band who performed Miles Davis’ Nardis, before finishing with It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year, bringing a truly wonderful concert to a close.
For many, it was their first time performing on stage in front of such a large audience but from the impeccable performances that were on display, it would’ve been difficult to tell.
Speaking in his programme notes, Mr Richard Curran, the College’s Director of Music, thanked everyone for coming to the concert and on the night of the concert, Headmaster Tyrone Howe praised those who performed, before issuing a challenge to the Lower School performers to aspire to be like the senior performers. Off the back of these performances across the College, it must be said that College’s music future is bright!
A massive well done must be said to the following acts for their hard work in putting on such outstanding performances:
- Rare Groove
- Lower School Choir
- Leo Slowikowski and Henry Johnston
- Red Gecko
- Leo Guo
- Camerata
- Nikita Saitov
- Idle Thoughts
- Jack Dag
- Shiplake Chorus
- B13
- Big Band
If you missed the concert (or if you want to watch it again!), a highlights video is now available and can be watched below:
