Music
The Masterpiece Concert Barker’s major concert this year saw its senior ensembles make a triumphant return to the wonderful Concert Hall in The Concourse at Chatswood. The College’s resurgent choirs, splendid wind symphony and awesome orchestras dazzled and delighted. It was barely months ago. But from the twodimensional world of long lockdown, it seems like another era. For once, reality exceeded the promise for the thousand-strong crowd, and the most frequent comment from excited audience members - from parents via emails, from colleagues and members of the School Executive – was: “I could not believe it was a school concert.” This reflected not only the technical attainment of the students in the eight ensembles, but also the quality of their musicianship and their mature ensemble skills. The smooth flowing professionalism of the show was also due to the outstanding work of Barker Music’s backstage team. Another standout feature of the concert was the emotional range of the repertoire. The entire program was made up of music that was composed – with the exception of Brahms – in the 20th and 21st centuries. The Senior Percussion Ensemble was exciting, the Wind Orchestra’s performance was evocative, the Chamber Choir’s ethereal, the Chamber Orchestra was dynamic and expressive, and the first half concluded with the Symphony Orchestra’s joyous Brahms and edgy Shostakovich. The music flourished even during the interval, as the foyer crowd was treated to the angelic voices of the Junior School’s Copeland Choir.
24 • The Barker • Issue 132 • Spring 2021
The second half opened with a swinging start from the Jazz Orchestra, followed by the Senior Choir’s diverse set, which featured an Australian premiere and many student soloists. The concert concluded with two monumental works performed by the Wind Symphony. Special mention must be made of the two featured soloists; Deron Yip (Year 9) whose compelling performance of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto no 1 had won him the Barker Concerto Competition, and vocal soloist Greg Alexander (Year 5), with his solo in the Wind Symphony’s Angel in the Architecture. A delightful touch came from the two Day in the Life videos which gave us a behind-the-scenes look into the Barker music program. These clips underlined what we could already see from the students on stage - they love their music. David Saffir Director of Strings
