Towards the end of the Autumn Term, on Thursday 28 November, the Sports Hall came alive with the sound of music with the Music Department's highly anticipated Winter Concert.
The Big Band opened the evening with a joyful rendition of Forget You by Bruno Mars and CeeLo Green, before quickly moving into Here Comes Santa Clause which included an impressive solo from Year 12’s Seb Crehan-Mills.
Year 11 pupil George Watson and Inki returned to the stage following their impressive performance of A-Ha's Take on Me at last summer’s Shiplake Rocks. Their performance once again took the roof off with their skill. Following this, the Lower School Choir took to the stage with two very familiar songs – Boom Clap and A Million Dreams. A special well done to those who had solo parts.
+1 were next to perform with their rendition of another Christmas classic in Bon Jovi’s Please Come Home for Christmas and they were then followed by a another beautiful Camerata performance. This year, the group sang the famous Christmas song, Winter Wonderland, by Bernard and Smith.
Charles Peng in Year 9 then demonstrated his phenomenal piano skills with a fantastic soloist performance of G Lange’s Blumenlied, which was then followed by an equally impressive solo performance in Arabella May. The Year 8 pupil showed no signs of nerves as she performed Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. The Vocal Ensemble were next to perform with their Remembrance Service song – After the War, Gross and Keele – before Amelie Holden and her band, Highliners, took to the stage to perform Bruno Mars’ Locked Out of Heaven.
The Chorus continued the fine tunes with James Bay’s Hold Back the River before ramping up the energy further with a fantastic rendition of Shallow. Closing a wonderful evening of talent and music was Rare Groove who took to the stage with three excellent performances. First to sing was Year 11 pupil Jack Dag with What Christmas Means To Me, before Bethan Thompson and Amelie Holden performed an energetic rendition of Rose Royce’s Car Wash. And to bring down the curtain, back by popular demand, was their rendition of This Christmas by Donny Hathaway.
Well done to all involved and a big thank you to G Knight, George Watson, and Felix Collar who hosted the evening and introduced each performance. Please enjoy the highlights below.