Music that might be encountered during an evening out formed the backbone of the School concert entitled A Night on the Town!
QE Director of Music Kieron Howe explained that the repertoire chosen featured music to dance to, as well as that which might simply be heard.
The concert opened with a performance by the Junior Indian Ensemble, rehearsed by two Year 12 boys, Praveen Prathapan and Janan Sathiendran. “Praveen and Janan have worked extremely hard with the ensemble to prepare for this concert. The ensemble is the largest it has ever been and this is testament to the commitment and manner of Praveen and Janan,” said Mr Howe.
The first half of the programme featured The Training Band who performed part of John Williams’ score for Raiders of the Lost Ark as well as music featured in the television programme Glee, whilst the Choir sang an arrangement of Nina Simone’s Sinnerman from the film The Thomas Crown Affair. The Junior Strings performed a medley of hits from Lady Gaga, and the first half ended with a rousing performance, by the Choir, of the perennial favourite New York, New York.
In the second half, the Big Band performed a wide variety of music, from Ricky Martin’s Livin’ La Vida Loca and Sway to numbers by Robbie Williams, Phil Collins and Van Morrison, together with themes from the films Mission Impossible and Rocky. The concert ended with the Big Band’s performance of Brooklyn, a piece from the Youngblood Brass Band from the village of Oregon, Wisconsin.
Mr Howe paid tribute to the directors of the ensembles for their dedication. He added: “Ajay Patel and Alex Brown worked the sound and lights, contributing to the success of the concert, while Arjun Paliwal, Zac Howlett-Davis and Matthew Chew, fronted the marketing team and did a brilliant job in designing the tickets and posters.”