On Saturday the 23rd of September, we had the pleasure of enjoying a magnificent concert given by the British Council School Choir and Orchestra at the San Juan de los Caballeros Church, in Segovia. This is an old Romanesque church with marvellous acoustics, which was full of an excited, enthusiastic audience who gave a strong round of applause to all the participants.
Introduced by Mr. Marek Dabrowski, the Music21 Coordinator, the concert began with 2 Orchestral pieces by the composers Gluck and Shostakovich, directed by our teacher Elisabet Rosales. This was followed by Haydn’s Chamber Orchestra and Piano Concerto, directed by Dr. Rafael Villanueva. This included one of our 12 year old students, Juan Michel Lafarga, as soloist, who interpreted the piece with extraordinary sensitivity.
Our a capela group and the School Choir participated in the Hay Festival, for the first time. They were directed by Mr. Eric Peters, our Music and Performance Leader. Together with our Orchestra from Secondary, they interpreted a whole range of works including Bach’s cantata “Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude”, Gounod’s Misa Brevis and a piece in Swahili called Baba Yetu. The a capela group and the Choir also played, without the Orchestra, a wide variety of modern musical melodies.
The concert was closed by the School’s Headmistress Ms. Gillian Flaxman, thanking the Hay Festival for having invited us and hoping that we would participate for many years to come. Both students as well as all those attending left overjoyed at having taken part in the Festival, under the auspices of the British Council.
Marek Dabrowski. Music21 Coordinator.