The School’s Big Band performed with professional female vocal group, The Polka Dot Dolls, at the London Festival at Hendon St Mary’s.
The Dolls, who specialise in 1940s & 50s songs in the style of the Andrews Sisters, performed 15 songs including Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, with the Big Band providing the accompaniment. The School’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe, joined in a rendition of Don’t Fence Me In – singing the Bing Crosby vocal line. The boys also played some items on their own including Chattanooga Choo Choo and American Patrol. The evening, entitled From Byrd to the Blitz, also featured the choir of Hendon St Mary’s singing sacred and secular choral music by London composers.
“The concert was very well attended and the audience was enthralled by the boys’ professionalism and how they captured exactly the right sound and balance of this genre, which was unknown to them before,” said Mr Howe.
Other musical highlights of the term included the Brass Fanfare Group’s performance of Processional No. 1 and Recessional No. 2 at the Junior Awards. Both pieces were composed, rehearsed and directed by Year 12 student Chris Wong. And 42 boys took part in a Concert Tour to Durham, where they performed at venues including Beamish, the ‘living museum of the north’, and Durham Cathedral.