QE’s Main School Hall resounded to the sounds of fine music spanning more than three centuries at the 2017 Senior Chamber Concert.
In a packed programme, giants of European culture, including J S Bach and Beethoven, rubbed shoulders with lesser-known luminaries, such as the French female composer, Cécile Chaminade and the Italian, Pergolesi, who died in 1736 aged just 26. Also among the pieces performed were several from the past 100 years, from the title track of Sonny Rollins influential Tenor Madness jazz album to the poignant strains of John Williams’ Remembrances, taken from the soundtrack to the film, Schindler’s List.
Director of Music Cheryl Horne, who accompanied several pupils on the piano, said: “The Senior Chamber Concert is a valuable opportunity for our talented older boys to gain experience in playing publicly. I am sure everyone in the audience will have enjoyed an evening of chamber music performed to a very high standard: with no fewer than 22 separate pieces of music, there should have been something for everyone!”
Highlights of the evening included:
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- Final-year A-level Music student Alfie Clarke performing two pieces for the classical guitar: Andreina by the 20th-century Venezuelan composer, Antoni o Lauro, and Gran Vals, by the Spanish Romantic composer Tarrega (now famous because a phrase from it was used as the Nokia ringtone)
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- Year 11’s Jaison Jeyaventhan, who sang Nina from Pergolesi’s opera, Lo Frate ‘nnamorato
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- Sam Burgess, another Year 11 singer, who performed Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah
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- Year 13 cellist Joshua Wong’s powerful performance of the beautiful Andante (third movement) from Rachmaninov’s Sonata in G Minor, op. 19
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- Year 11 pianist Drew Sellis, who accompanied several boys before taking centre-stage himself to conclude the concert with his rendition of the third movement, Animé, from Maurice Ravel’s Sonatine.