On Monday 26 June, the marquee on the front field was packed with College pupils, staff, members of the public and many proud parents preparing themselves for a magical night of music at Shiplake College’s Summer Concert. Pupils took to the stage singing a wide range of songs and playing a great variety of instruments.
The concert got underway with a fearless performance from the Lower School pupils. All the boys were playing the instrument they have been learning in the College’s Symphonic Challenge. Not only did the Pupils take the stage, but they were joined by no less than 4 teachers who took the opportunity to join the Lower School boys in learning a new instrument from scratch. It was then over to Opus, the College Orchestra. With Tayla Caldeira and Emma Renwick on vocals they were taking the audience back to the soulful seventies, performing chart toppers such as ‘Lost in Music’ by Sister Sledge. It was then time for the Shiplake Community Choir to take to the stage, bringing the audience a showtunes medley that included songs from Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific and The Sound of Music. Next up were Stranded who took on the smash hit ‘Use Somebody’ by Kings of Leon, leaving many audience members unable to resist singing along. Stranded were followed by the Saxophone Quartet, performing a TV and movies medley with five notable themes for the audience to guess as they were performed. The smiles and toe tapping increased amongst the audience as they began to recognise each theme played flawlessly by the Quartet.
It was now time for the debut performance from the Girls’ Choir. They were taking on the beautiful song, ‘The Rose’ - a forty-year-old song written by Amanda McBroom in just 45 minutes. The simplicity of the song is what makes it so beautiful and everyone agreed that it suited the choir perfectly. From the choir, to a rock band: Restriction are a brand new band that only formed in the Easter term this year. They were taking on ‘Dark Necessities’ from the brilliant American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. This song contained a solo for each instrument giving each musician in the band a chance to shine.
The Lower School boys took to the stage for the second time of the evening ready to take on the timeless classic from the 80s, ‘Africa’, by Toto. It was the responsibility of the Lower School Ukulele Orchestra to close the first half of the concert. The boys took on two songs from completely different eras. ‘Iko Iko’ is a much-covered New Orleans song first released in 1953 by Sugar Boy and The Cane Cutters and ‘Price Tag’, a Jessie J hit released in 2011. It was a brilliant performance from the boys and a great way to close the first half of the concert leaving the audience wanting more.
After enjoying a short interval with canapés and refreshments the audience took their seats and were ready for the second half of the concert. Rare Groove kick started the second half, performing ‘Morning Sunrise’ by Weldon Irvine. It was then over to Unit 24 for their fourth major performance. Their experience showed during the captivating performance of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by Joy Division. It was then time for the First Eight to take to the stage and this performance saw a change in style from the boys as they took on ‘The Impossible Dream’, taken from the musical Man of La Mancha.
Following this, Covers Band performed the second Red Hot Chilli Peppers song of the evening, the Grammy award winning ‘Scar Tissue’. With Emily Wilkinson, Head of College, unable to perform due to having an exam the following morning, it left Henry Blois-Brooke, Deputy Head of College, with no excuse. Both Henry and the Headmaster demonstrated great singing voices and great ability on the violin.
It was then time for the Juan Elkington Collective. Juan Elkington has had the chance to explore a wealth of music across many different genres. He formed a temporary band that took on the classic Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell duet ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, sung by the College’s very own Will Mandondo and Emma Renwick. The performance had the whole audience clapping along and even some on their feet dancing.
The penultimate performance saw Quin Wagner-Piggot and Marcus Bagshawe take to the stage in their final term at Shiplake. They performed two songs – firstly, ‘Run for Cover’, an 80s instrumental funk classic released by David Sanborn, and secondly, Quin took to the mic for the first time to sing a blues piece originally sung by Ray Charles. The audience would never have been able to guess that Quin has only ever had one singing lesson!
The Chamber Choir are arguably the hardest working of the Shiplake ensembles having performed at a total of ten events this year. The choir closed the show with a stunning showtunes medley, which was the perfect way to round off another great musical year at Shiplake College.
A few words from Mr Richard Curran, Director of Music: Despite an intricate web of internal and external exams, study leave and the term being fairly short, our young musicians succeeded in pulling off yet another spectacular concert, with more items than any concert over the last two years. With a growing number of bands providing a selection of pop, rock and indie tracks from across the decades and no less than four choirs, the evening also included every single Lower School boy playing orchestral instruments, singing and performing tutti as an ukulele orchestra. The evening was packed with energy and good cheer; what an audience! We are already looking forward to the concert series next year, which should prove to be be equally exciting.’