Music Department News Archive
March 2008
Just before half-term, a packed house hugely enjoyed this term’s celebrity recital, given by the internationally famous opera star, Willard White, accompanied by pianist Neal Thornton and member of the RGS music staff, Richard Bolton. Just a week later, our own musicians were presenting their many and various talents, in one of our longest Winter Recitals (it finished at 10.35pm!), the length of which, however, was simply a result of the huge amount of talent at RGS.
In the second half of term, although there have been no public musical events, our musicians have been involved in the regional round of the National Festival of Music for Youth, in Woking, contributed live incidental music to the school production of Macbeth, and recorded a CD which will appear later in the year.
The First Wind Band, the Big Band and the Close Harmony Group all performed in the festival, receiving favourable adjudications – we have to wait until May to find out if they have been selected for the national round in Birmingham in July. The Choir recorded a number of the carols performed in the Carol Service, and the Close Harmony Group will be recording various songs from their recent repertoire to make up the CD. A CD of Chopin’s 24 Preludes is also being recorded, with different RGS pianists past and present making up the performances.
The Wycombe Orpheus Festival of Young Musicians of March, 2008, saw RGS well represented, with Joshua Hagley and Liyang Pan taking 1st and 2nd prizes in the junior piano class, Andrew Smith taking 1st prize in the junior brass and James Duff taking 2nd prize in the junior string class. In the senior classes, Tom Lane was 2nd in the brass and Joachim Cassel took 2nd prize in the vocal class.
Meanwhile, preparations are well under way for the leavers’ concert on Wednesday, 30th April, which promises to be a very special evening indeed. The first half will feature Elgar’s Cello Concerto, with soloist Alex Aldren, and the second half will be a shortened version of Pirates of Penzance, featuring our hugely talented Year 13 musicians in the various singing roles, and half the senior prefect team as policemen! Not to be missed!
February 2008
Just a week after our much-anticipated visit from Sir Willard White, our own musicians will be back in action in the Winter Recital. Often this concert has fallen between other events and not been very well supported. This is a shame, because it is often the best concert of the year, with quality performances from many of our established musicians.
This year’s Winter Recital is promising to be as good as any, and to whet your appetite, here is a selection of the programme:
Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat (first movement)
Bach’s Brandenburg No. 4 in G (last movement)
Gounod’s “Petite Symphonie” 92nd and 4th movements)
The RGS Trebles in Fauré’s tantum Ergo, Franck’s Panis Angelicus, plus “Try to Remember” and Calicoe Pie in a version by Matthias
The Close Harmony Group in “That Lovely Weekend” and “What I did for love”
The RGS Modern Jazz Group in “My funny Valentine”
Plus a number of delightful solos, a flute duet with piano, a quality classical quartet.
January 2008
The Music Department is gearing itself up for another busy period, with the Celebrity Recital given by Sir Willard White on Thursday, 7th February and the Winter Recital on Thursday, 14th February.
The latter will have a distinctly romantic flavour to it, given the date! Meanwhile, we are also preparing to make a CD with the Choir, recording the carols sung at last December’s Carol Service, plus a substantial contribution from the present Close Harmony Group.
In March the First Wind Band, the Big Band and the Close Harmony Group will visit Christchurch, Woking, to take part in the Regional Round of the National Festival of Music for Youth.
Some musicians will be involved in the modern dress version of Hamlet being presented in the middle of March, and many of our orchestral musicians will be involved in preparing for the joint concert with the High School (date to be confirmed).
A Level musicians will be preparing for their recitals, and many of the major groups will be preparing for the Summer Concert, which gets ever earlier, due to the ever-increasing onslaught of exams!
December 2007
The month of December has been the hectic time it promised to be for the Music Department, with a performance by the choir in the Mayor’s Festival of Carols on Sunday, 2nd December (the day after many of the senior musicians and Mr. Venvell had been performing in the Swan in the Music Centre concert!), followed by a wonderful trip to Salzburg which Mr. Bolton organised for the A Level Music students, and then our own traditional carol service in All Saints’ Church in the centre of Wycombe, on Monday, 17th December.
The trip to Salzburg was an enormous success, with singing again featuring as the main ingredient. Our contact, Frau Heidi Kaaser, a teacher at the BGN near the centre of Salzburg, organised for the RGS contingent to sing at her school in a joint concert with some of her students on the Friday morning, then following a rehearsal on Friday afternoon and another on Saturday morning, we took part in the celebration of Mass at Salzburg Cathedral, with professional orchestra and soloists, singing Mozart’s mass in C major ( this is, of course, Mozart’s city – we also fitted in a quick trip round his birth place).
It was a tremendous privilege to be singing with a good choir and top class musicians in the west end gallery of the cathedral, looking down over the hundreds of people attending mass – Saturday, 8th December, is a major feast day in the catholic church – and right next door to the superb organist who improvised faultlessly for the entire service.
That was followed by a tour around the Festspielhaus, the famous concert hall/opera house of the Salzburg Festival, one of the top music festivals in the world. We were all amazed by the size of the back-stage facilities, and the complexity of the machinery that exists to move sections of the stage up and down.
Our students, most of whom form our current close harmony group, sang on the stage in this world-famous arena – an incredible opportunity! On Sunday, our students were entertained by various Austrian hosts, and we were lucky enough to be taken up the nearest mountain in the morning – “Dem Bones” was given an impromptu performance at the top of “Gaisburg” – literally, goats’ mountain.
On Monday, we went into the school, and our students gave a series of short talks on music they enjoyed to a class of sixth formers, and a final song addressed to the staff of the school, before taking a taxi to the airport. A short but wonderful trip, and an excellent start to a cultural exchange – we hope to welcome Frau Kaaser and some Austrian students to High Wycombe some time next year.
The term finished in its usual way, with our traditional carol service on 17th December, in Wycombe Parish church. As usual, it was packed, and our choir (particularly strong in the tenor and bass department this year) provided a rousing and stirring sound, which was matched by some lusty singing in the congregation.
