College Easter Concert
Posted on Thursday 1 April 2010
College Orchestra and Big Band delight packed audience.
The Spring Term ended on a wonderfully high note for the Music department with an extraordinarily varied programme performed by College music students. The first half of the evening in the Prospect Theatre enabled the New Concertante Ensemble, under the direction of Harry White, to demonstrate the breadth of the growing repertoire. The NCE opened the evening with a short piece by Schoenberg – the first time the work of this 20th century Austrian composer has featured in a College concert. Katy Ovens and Sam Cleeve gave a succinct, illustrated introduction to the piece which many in the audience found insightful and helpful. Schubert’s March in G minor was taken at a canter by the NCE, before the outstanding talents of two soloists were showcased. Emily Dobbing played the 1st movement of Bellini’s Oboe Concerto in E flat minor beautifully, before Stephen Mills (tenor) gave an assured, confident interpretation of two songs by the same composer. Before the interval, there was time for the NCE to treat the audience to some Mozart and the Salzburg Symphony.
After the interval, an intriguing, eclectic mix of the familiar and the new was laid before us by director, Ben Dowsett. Guy Murgatroyd gave a bravura performance of his own arrangement of Misty: controlled and delivered with daring and panache, this was a magnificent highlight of the evening. The Jazz Band romped through two spirited pieces before giving way to Tom Kelsey at the piano, who gave a sensitive reading of Gershwin’s The man I love. More jazz from Sixth Sense followed, mining an extensive back catalogue of the curious combined with old favourites typical of the group, and featuring the vocal talents of Jessica Mabin, who delivered a sparkling rendition of Jerome Kern’s The way you look tonight . A gorgeous multi-textured, colourful evening reached was brought to a close by Izzy and The Eskimos and an energetic, funky version of the Stevie Wonder classic, Superstition, before the Big Band returned with their special brew of Sound of Silence and Flight to Augusta, featuring the solo talents of many in the band.
