Music Festival 2019-20

Music Festival 2020

The annual Music Festival was a wonderful opportunity for young musicians in the Girls’ Division to showcase their talents and share their love of making music. Across two days, pupils filled the Arts Centre with pieces from a wide range of genres and styles, from the classical to the contemporary. The difficult task of choosing a winner in each of the eighteen classes fell to adjudicator Philip Dewhurst, former Director of Music at Cheadle Hulme School. He and Mr Lovatt, the Girls’ Division Director of Music, were both impressed with all of the musicians’ efforts. The winners were invited to play at a Celebration Concert in the Arts Centre.

The evening began with a performance of Bach’s ‘Herzlich Tut Mich Verlangen BWV.727’ from Marie Poon (Year 11, Organ). With a total of five piano classes, the rest of the programme was interspersed with pianists playing a variety of pieces: Catherine Xi (Year 8, Novice Piano) played ‘The Enchanted Garden’ by Strecke; Madeleine Hornby (Year 7, Year 7 Piano Grade 1-3) played ‘Lesson in C’ by Diabelli; Sofia Riaz (Year 7, Middle School Piano) played ‘A Walk at Strumble Head’ by Balch; Gabriella Ferris-Koussa (Year 8, Year 8/9 Piano Grade 1-3) played ‘The Clown and The Ballerina’ by Crosland; and Lucy Stiles (Year 13, Senior School Piano) played ‘Xianggelila’ by Zhang Nan. There were two clarinet performances: Hannah McKee (Year 10, Senior Woodwind) played ‘Romanza’ by Poulenc while Emily Bowden (Year 7, Middle School Woodwind Grade 5+) played ‘In Rhythm No.3’ by Templeton. Flautist Lydia Simpson (Year 7, Middle School Woodwind Grade 1-4) played Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance of the Mirlitons’, cellist Sally Cowling (Year 13, Senior School Strings) performed ‘Julie-O’ by Summer and violinist Alice Edwards (Year 9, Middle School Strings) played Mozart’s 5th Violin Concerto, 1st Mvt, Theme. Eve Birtwhistle (Year 12, Senior School Vocal) sang ‘Amore and Moret’ by Donzetti. The concert also featured a number of familiar hits from films, musicals and the charts. Lola Rigby (Year 9, Middle School Vocal) sang ‘Part of Your World’ from The Little Mermaid and Mia Slater (Year 9, Middle School Vocal) sang ‘Make You Feel My Love’ by Dylan. Grace Northcott (Year 9, Middle School Brass) played ‘Tightrope’ from The Greatest Showman on the cornet. Roxy Asumu (Year 12, Open Mic) performed Childish Gambino’s ‘Redbone’ while double act Grace Collins and Taya Panter (Year 11, Ensemble) sang ‘What is This Feeling’ from Wicked. The concert was brought to a spectacular close by drummer Millie Ashton (Year 11, Percussion) playing ‘Heathens’ by Twenty One Pilots. Emily Rajbhandari in Year 13 was the Senior School Brass winner. The wonderful and varied performances at the Celebration Concert made this event the perfect end to the school’s celebration of its musical talent.