SENIOR MUSIC
W
e started the year with the Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE concerts in which students delivered a variety of instrumental and vocal pieces. Phoebe Emburey began with a famous rock ‘n’ roll number Rock Around The Clock. Putting down her trumpet she then performed Choc-Ice Blues on the cello. Hannah Faja sung I Could Have Danced All Nght with a lilting rhythm. Every Year 11 performance brought out the style and sensitivity of the music, ranging from Mozart’s aria Voi Che Sapete, sung by Rachel Nicholson, to Ed Sheeran’s Photograph, sung by Amber Morris, who accompanied herself on the piano. Music for guitar resonates particularly well in the Recital Hall so Evie Richards’s Maseline Harbour (Lindsay-Clark) and Gabrielle Carberry’s Gardens In the Rain (Cottam) drew the audience into a sound world that is both intimate and programmatic. Rebecca Kent’s flawless piano interpretation of Granados’s Spanish Dance No.5 (Andaluza) on the piano surprised and delighted with its charm and musicality. Highlights from the Music Scholars’ Concert highlights included Jade Lucas’s Viola Concerto by Telemann and Flamenco (VIzzutti) performed by Marie-Abelle Hoare on the trumpet. The Autumn Concert delivered fantastic performances from the newly established Concert Band, made up of 28 wind and brass players, and the Strings Sinfonia which played three beautifully crafted arrangements of Chitty Chitty Bang, Bang, Alan Menken’s Beauty & the Beast and Tchaikovsky’s Sleeeping Beauty waltz. Jazz Collective’s arrangement of Herbie Hancock’s Chameleon wrapped up a sensational evening of music. A combined school choir took part in the Lewisham Festival Concert at St Mary’s Church for the second year running and there were notable performances from guitar and trumpet players in the ‘Sound the trumpet, strum the guitar’ concert in the Recital Hall. Junior pupils joined Seniors for this concert. (See left for Junior report.)
House Music Competition produced astonishing performances and congratulations to Gurney House, who by the closest of margins took the overall House Music cup, one point ahead of Stanley. Stanley took the House Choral trophy with a performance of Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. Gurney’s overall success lay in its strong performance in the Upper School ensemble category with a great rendition of Whitney Houston’s I Want to Dance with Somebody. Once again, Sydenham High voices raised the roof at the Royal Albert Hall for the Singing with the Stars Christmas concert, in aid of Leukemia and Lymphoma Research. The girls performed Gaudeamus Hodie By Rentz and All for a Baby by Schramm, while the massed voices of students, staff, parents and supporters led the carols, sang the African Alleluia by Althouse and accompanied London quartet Cantabile in a version of Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King. The Junior Choir were also in the spotlight, taking part in the annual carols by candlelight concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields in aid of Ronald McDonald House at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital. In between record numbers of girls performing in school there were trips to hear the London School Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican and an evening at the English National Opera to enjoy Puccini’s the Girl of the Golden West.
Mr Baars Director of Music
ALL THAT JAZZ
F
orty aspiring Sydenham High jazz musicians got a money-can’t-buy master class from some of the top names on the London jazz scene in an inspiring workshop. Award winning jazz musician and musical educator Phil Meadows, who directs the Sydenham High Jazz Collective, brought a contingent of his pioneering Engines Orchestra to the school to run the workshop. The girls, whose ages ranged from 11 to 16, joined Mr Meadows in writing a new piece of music without a manuscript in sight! This culminated in an ensemble performance in the school’s Recital Hall. The instruments involved ranged from saxophones and trumpets to violins, trombones and a bass guitar. The workshop is one of a series being funded by the Arts Council and coincides with the launch of Phil Meadow’s latest compositions, which was premiered by the Engines Orchestra at the London Jazz Festival.
SYDENHAM HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE 2015
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