A visit to the opera and other updates from the Music department
It has been a busy few weeks in the music department. Just before half term, in addition to the highly successful house music competition, a group of music scholars went to Christ’s Hospital school to take part in a jazz workshop run by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. This world-class ensemble of young jazz musicians delivered an inspiring experience to our young musicians who learned to improvise and played alongside members of the orchestra.
The music department has also offered pupils a full programme of performing opportunities. We ran our second Richardson Recital of 2019 with another full and varied programme of solo performances and this week we began the half term with an amazing charity concert at which Old Androvians Daisy Noton, Juliet Zeilmaker and Sophie Nicholls joined forces with 50 of our pupils to perform an outstanding programme of music ranging from Van Halen to Vivaldi.
This week we took a large group of music and drama scholars from St Andrew’s Prep along with GCSE and A-level music pupils from Eastbourne College to Glyndebourne to watch Agreed, a new opera by Howard Moody. Amongst the performers on stage was our very own Mrs Shouksmith. It was an outstanding day at the opera, with high-quality performances that were truly inspiring to the children of all ages. The opera itself was an interesting and beautifully written new piece of music with elements of jazz, folk and classical music. It was performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, alongside a cast of 80 on stage which included the excellent Glyndebourne Youth Opera. All in all, it was a truly memorable event.
The music provision is one of the strengths at St Andrew’s Prep and pupils thrive in this area, with plenty of opportunities available for them to get involved in productions and trips. We look forward to a busy and exciting month ahead which will see the Spring Serenade, the Little Mermaid, an orchestral day at Eastbourne College and ABRSM, Trinity, and Trinity Rock and Pop public exams on the horizon. Watch this space.
