On Thursday 28 November, the Sports Hall came alive to the sounds of the Winter Concert, during which pupils from Years 7 to 13 took to the stage and clearly had a great time performing to such a large and appreciative audience.
The pupils performed to a full-house including parents, staff, fellow pupils, governors, members of the local community and the Mayor of Henley. The evening was hosted by Year 13 pupils W Mandondo and E Booth, who kept proceedings moving smoothly, as well as performing a few amazing songs of their own.
There was an enormous variety of genres in the programme ranging from the Community Choir's performance of John Rutter's Star Carol and the Brass Ensemble's heart-warming performance of Silent Night, to the Camerata's performance of Ben Parry's haunting Ave Verum Corpus to the First Eight's arrangement of Coldplay's Fix You.
The Lower School were in full force and fine voice with their energetic performance of the Rugby World Cup Anthem World in Union, featuring solo contributions from E Jones, G Paish and J Lucking and Panic at the Disco's High Hopes.
We were even treated to a toe-tapping Lower School clarinet duet from S Crehan-Mills and L Slowikowski.
The College Chorus, featuring every member of Gilson House, helped us to look forward to next week's carol service with a lively performance of Joy to the World.
Mr Elliott had this to say about the evening: "The concert was a roaring success, with the students performing to a very high standard. W Mandondo and E Booth were confident hosts as well as very impressive singers. The Clarinet Duet stole the show with two fantastic pieces. Overall it was a very entertaining evening."
From all of us at Shiplake College, we would like to that everyone who attended the concert, making it a very special evening for all. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all.
