Welcome from the Headmaster
Thank you for being with us this evening at Oakham School’s annual Gala Concert, for what promises to be a wonderful celebration of music at Oakham School. Each year, Oakhamians take their vibrant music to some of the finest venues in England and I am delighted to welcome you to Cambridge’s West Road Concert Hall for today’s concert in our first visit here since 2007.
Our Gala Concert today will showcase a plethora of repertoire and musical talent, involving nearly 150 of Oakham School’s musicians as instrumentalists and singers. Their diverse programme particularly celebrates works by acclaimed Black composers. Our concert opens with the School’s Concert Band, who pay a musical tribute to anniversary composer and jazz legend Duke Ellington. The Symphony Orchestra will accompany one of our Form 7 Music Scholars in Kabalevsky’s virtuosic first concerto for ‘cello, and then performs some of Margaret Bonds’ remarkable variations on the spiritual, I want Jesus to walk with me.
The second half of today’s concert celebrates Oakham’s strong tradition of choral singing. The Chamber Choir will sing short works by Reginal Wright and Margaret Bonds before the full Chapel Choir performs our headline workFeel the Spirit! – surveying seven spirituals (from contemplative to exuberant) in wonderful arrangements for soloist, choir and a professional instrumental ensemble.
I would especially like to express my enormous gratitude to the talented and committed music staff who have all had a part in the preparations for today’s concert.
I wish you a most enjoyable concert.
Henry Price HeadmasterPROGRAMME
Please note that personal recording or photography is not permitted during the concert.
CONCERT BAND
Steve Foster conductor
Mazama
Come Sunday (Black, Brown and Beige)
Jay Chattaway (b. 1964)
Duke Ellington, arr. Murtha George Marshall alto saxophone (1899-1974)
Duke Ellington in Concert arr. Paul Murtha
Our Gala Concert opens with a celebration of the music of Duke Ellington, the acclaimed American pianist, composer, and bandleader. A leading figure in jazz and one of America’s greatest composers, the Concert Band marks the 50th anniversary of his death with two works adapted by versatile American composer-arranger, Paul Murtha (b. 1960). The first - Duke Ellington in Concert - is a tribute to Ellington’s contribution to the swing era, featuring some of his most famous jazz compositions: Take the ‘A’ Train, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Caravan, Mood Indigo and It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).
The band’s second Ellington work is taken from his 1943 extended suite, Black, Brown and Beige. This musical narrative of black history in the United States perplexed the critics at its first performance, but the spiritual Come Sunday that was originally heard as part of the opening movement, Black, has outlived the suite, becoming a jazz standard in its own right. Murtha’s arrangement features a solo alto saxophone, lush scoring and beautiful harmonies.
Music by the American film and TV composer, Jay Chattaway, completes the band’s performance this evening, with a work subtitled ‘Legend of the Pacific Northwest’. This popular contemporary tone poem pays tribute to the rich culture of the Mazama Indians of the Pacific Northwest, successfully evoking the moods and spirit of a dramatic saga. Sit back and let your imagination run wild! Peter Davis
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Ethan Taylor ‘cello, Keith Slade conductor
Cello Concerto No. 1 in G minor, op. 49
Dmitri Kabalevsky
i. Allegro (1904-1987)
ii. Largo, molto espressivo
iii. Allegretto
Kabalevsky’s first ‘cello concerto was composed between 1948-49 as the central work in a trilogy of concertos dedicated to students and young performers, falling between his Violin Concerto and Piano Concerto No. 3. The ‘cello concerto was premiered in 1949 by Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, a Russian ‘cellist who was a student at the time. The concerto features Kabalevsky’s adherence to the 20th Century style of neo-classicism as he embraced the ideas of socialist realism developed in the Soviet Union.
The first movement, Allegro, opens with march-like pizzicato chords in the orchestral strings, which contrast with the energetic flowing theme introduced by the ‘cellist.
One feature of this theme is the flutter of semiquavers, adding to the lively feel. The second theme brings further contrast with a song-like quality, though sprightly semiquavers still recur between the lyrical phrases. There is a short ‘cello cadenza near the end of the movement, culminating in a scale of octave double stops.
The second movement, Largo, was dedicated to fallen Russian soldiers in the First and Second World Wars. The melodic line in the solo ‘cello begins with a rising arpeggiated line, and whilst is it in the major key, there is a sense of pain and longing in the melody, with Kabalevsky taking inspiration from melancholic Russian folk music. Each recurrence of this theme follows the same pattern, rising higher in pitch until the climax, which is mirrored by the striking duo between the solo ‘cello and the principal horn. The music is then brought back down to the calm of the opening by the orchestra, before a longer cadenza for the soloist alone. I enjoy the freedom of time in the cadenza, which allows me to be more expressive. The movement ends with more of the arpeggiated melodic line in the solo part, finally dying away in sound in the concluding bars.
The third movement, Allegretto, unusually begins with a lyrical clarinet solo before the ‘cello enters with an emphatic theme. The melody in the ‘cello switches back and forth from lyrical to playful, and is accompanied by syncopated chords in the orchestra. This theme appears throughout the movement in the form of different variations, each bringing unique technical challenges with fast passage work for the soloist. The ‘cello then introduces a new expressive melody, with features of tenuto quavers which are used to build the sound and intensity of the melody. This theme is played at the climax of the piece by the full orchestra, introduced by the solo ‘cello’s scale of octave double stops and succeeded by a short cadenza. The original theme returns before the ‘cello races off with a flurry of passage work, finishing the piece with a short melodic statement and a final spread chord. Ethan Taylor
Montgomery Variations
Margaret Bonds
i. Decision (1913-1972)
ii. Prayer Meeting
iii. March
vii. Benediction
The orchestra concludes the first half of our concert with an extraordinary and littleknown work by composer, pianist and civil rights activist, Margaret Bonds. Her compositional output is known for reflecting her strong sense of ethnic identity. Her Montgomery Variations is a set of freestyle variations based on the spiritual I want Jesus to walk with me which was composed after the composer’s visit to Montgomery, Alabama in 1963. The different variations are inspired by key episodes relating to the infamous Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-56, which protested against segregated seating after the arrest of Rosa Parks. The composer writes:
Decision Under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr, African Americans in Montgomery decided to boycott the bus company and to fight for their rights as citizens.
Prayer Meeting
Prayer meetings precede their action, starting quietly with humble petitions to God. During the course of the meeting, members are seized with religious fervour, shout and dance. Oblivious to their fellow worshippers, they exhibit their love of God and their faith in deliverance by gesticulation, clapping and beating their feet.
March
The Spirit of the Nazarene marching with them, African Americans in Montgomery walked to their work rather than be segregated on the buses. The entire world, symbolically with them, marches.
Benediction A benign God, Father and Mother to all people, pours forth love to his children, the good and the bad alike.
Peter DavisINTERVAL (15 minutes)
CHAMBER CHOIR & ENSEMBLE
Keith Slade conductor, Anne Bolt piano
We are the Music Makers
I believe in the Prince of Peace (Credo)
Reginal Wright (b. 1976)
Margaret Bonds
The Chamber Choir opens the second half of our programme with an uplifting setting of lines taken from a famous poem by Arthur O'Shaughnessy, We are the Music Makers. Reginal Wright sets its powerful words to be sung with growing insistence over a piano accompaniment of rippling broken chords, with the choir’s memorable melodic material ultimately building to a final choral climax.
Our second work this evening by Margaret Bonds is taken from her late choral work, Credo, composed in 1967 to a libretto by W E B Du Bois which is an uncompromising affirmation of Black identity. The composer believed that the work preached a universal message of racial equality, and its score bears her standard hallmark of clear, evocative vocal writing. The work’s fifth movement, I believe in the Prince of Peace, is a beautiful pastoral episode at the heart of the work, reminiscent of Psalm 23, with the movement’s peaceful outer sections surrounding a stormy central section condemning war and racial suppression.
CHAPEL CHOIR & ENSEMBLE
Sofia Nico mezzo-soprano, Keith Slade conductor
Feel the Spirit!
Peter Davis
John Rutter
i. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho (b. 1945)
ii. Steal away
iii. I got a robe
iv. Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
v. Ev'ry time I feel the spirit
vi. Deep river
vii. When the saints go marching in
“The great heritage of the African American spiritual has fired the imagination of composers, performers, and audiences for more than 100 years. Each generation has produced interpretations of many kinds, yet, curiously, few composers have combined the resources of soloist, choir, and chamber ensemble.” So writes local composer, John Rutter, in his own programme note for Feel the Spirit!, a work which has proved hugely popular since its Carnegie Hall premiere in 2001 thanks to his vivid arrangements and emotionally-expressive settings.
This cycle presents fresh and expert arrangements of seven familiar spirituals, opening with an upbeat version of Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, demonstrating
Peter DavisRutter’s deft instrumental scoring to support the choir. Steal away is the first of the slower, expressive settings which feature our mezzo-soprano soloist in dialogue with the choir as well as some beautiful instrumental counter-melodies. A lively arrangement of I got a robe features a charming central episode for soloist and harp, only for a funereal setting of Sometimes I feel like a motherless child to present some of the most deeply emotive music of the cycle. After a slow introduction, exuberance returns in Ev’ry time I feel the spirit, playfully shifting mood between gentler episodes and vigorous swing passages. Deep river offers time for contemplation once again in both the solo and choral writing, only for Rutter to unleash a rip-roaring final arrangement of When the saints go marching in to complete the cycle. Sit back and enjoy the ride!
BIOGRAPHIES
Ethan Taylor ‘cello is in his final year as a Music Scholar at Oakham School, where he has been a pupil since the age of 11. He has studied the ‘cello with Dr Richard Jenkinson, Mrs Rebecca Leyton-Smith and, for his final year, with Mr Toby White. He plays an active role in the School’s Music Department, playing principal ‘cello in both the Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, as well as singing with the Chapel Choir. Ethan achieved his ARSM ‘cello diploma with distinction in December 2022, and has regularly appeared as a soloist in the School’s Wednesday lunchtime recital series in All Saints’ Church, Oakham. He performed Vivaldi’s Cello Concerto in G minor with a professional orchestra in March 2022, and has also played solo ‘cello parts in choral works by Arensky and Duruflé. Ethan is planning on studying medicine and hopes to continue to play music at university.
Sofia Nico mezzo-soprano is in her final year at Oakham School, having joined as a Music Scholar in the Upper School in 2022. She studies singing with Mrs Yvonne Sandison, as well as being a talented pianist and bass guitar/double bass player. She is a leading member of the School’s Chapel Choir and auditioned Chamber Choir, with whom she toured to Paris in July 2023 as a featured soloist in Philip Moore’s Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. She passed her Grade 8 singing with distinction in June 2023, and has performed in the School’s Wednesday lunchtime recital series in All Saints’ Church, Oakham as both a solo singer and pianist. She hopes to pursue a future career in music and study sound recording at university.
Keith Slade conductor began his musical journey learning the clarinet from the age of 10. After reaching the final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Woodwind Category, Keith was a graduate from the Royal Northern College of Music and a post -graduate of the Royal Academy of Music winning multiple awards including the award for most outstanding Postgraduate.
As a conductor he has directed Sinfonia of Birmingham, Chandos Symphony Orchestra, The National Schools’ Symphony Orchestra, The British Police Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra and the WorldCon Philharmonic Orchestra at London’s ExCeL Arena. Keith has worked with artists including James MacMillan, Mark Padmore, Roderick Williams, Sarah Fox, Mark Bebbington and Rob Buckland.
Keith is currently Music Director of the Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra and Kimichi Symphony Orchestra, Keith received 5 star reviews for productions of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in Birmingham and Prague. In recognition of his services to music, Keith was honoured to be invited by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to a private gathering to celebrate HRH’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and in December 2022 Keith was invited to the Princess of Wales ‘Christmas carol concert’.
We are the Music Makers
Words: Arthur O'Shaughnessy
We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams, wandering by lone sea-breakers, sitting by desolate streams; world-losers and forsakers, on whom the pale moon gleams: we are the movers, we are the shakers, we are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams.
I believe in the Prince of Peace
Words: W E B Du Bois
I believe in the Prince of Peace, I believe that War is Murder.
I believe that armies and navies are at bottom the tinsel and braggadocio of oppression and wrong, and I believe that the wicked conquest of weaker and darker nations by nations whiter and stronger but foreshadows the death of that strength.
I believe in the Prince of Peace.
Feel the Spirit!
i. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho
Reginal Wright
Margaret Bonds
John Rutter
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, and the walls come tumblin’ down. You may talk about your king of Gideon, you may talk about your man of Saul; there’s none like good old Joshua at the battle of Jericho.
Well, up to the walls of Jericho he marched with spear in hand: ‘Go blow those ram horns’ Joshua cried, ‘’cos the battle is in my hand.’ Joshua fought that battle, so the Bible say; And the walls come tumblin’ down: great day!
Then the lam’ ram sheep horns ’gin to blow, trumpets begin to soun’. Joshua commanded the children to shout, and the walls come tumblin’ down.
ii. Steal away
Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus. Oh steal away, steal away home, I ain’t got long to stay here. My Lord, he calls me, he calls me by the thunder: the trumpet sounds within my soul, I ain’t got long to stay here. Green trees are bendin’, poor sinner stands a-tremblin’: the trumpet sounds within my soul, I ain’t got long to stay here.
iii. I got a robe
I got a robe, you got a robe, all of God’s children got a robe; when I get to heaven gonna put on my robe, gonna shout all over God’s heaven. Everybody talking ’bout heaven ain’t going there, heaven, heaven, gonna shout all over God’s heaven.
SUNG TEXTS
I gotta shoes, you gotta shoes, all of God’s children gotta shoes; when I get to heaven gonna put on my shoes, gonna walk all over God’s heaven. I got a harp, you got a harp, all of God’s children got a harp; when I get to heaven gonna play on my harp, gonna play all over God’s heaven.
I got a crown, you got a crown, all of God’s children got a crown; when I get to heaven gonna put on my crown, gonna shine all over God’s heaven.
iv. Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child a long ways from home.
True believer, true believer, a long ways from home. Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone, a long ways from home.
v. Ev’ry time I feel the spirit
Ev’ry time I feel the spirit, moving in my heart, I pray; oh, ev’ry time I feel the spirit, moving in my heart, I pray. Oh, up on the mountain my Lord spoke; out of his mouth came fire and smoke.
Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me, way beyond the blue in glory:
I got a home in glory land that outshines the sun, way beyond the blue.
The River Jordan is chilly and col’, chills the body but not the soul. And all around me looks so shine, I ask my Lord if it all was mine.
I’m on the road to heaven now, you must take it too, take it way beyond the blue in glory.
vi. Deep river
Deep river, my home is over Jordan; deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into camp ground. Oh don’t you want to go to that Gospel feast, that promised land where all is peace.
vii. When the saints go marching in Glory, glory hallelujah! The saints go marching in.
Oh, when the saints go marching in, oh, when the saints go marching in: oh, Lord, I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in. And when the revelation comes...
Oh, when the new world is revealed…
Oh, when they gather round the throne...
Hallelujah, brothers, hallelujah, sisters! Hear the music going round and around, while the saints go marching up into glory, oh, hear those angel trumpets sound.
And when they crown him King of Kings
And when the sun no more will shine...
And when the moon has turned to blood...
And on that hallelujah day...
PERFORMERS
CONCERT BAND
Flute Clara Altermann, Shonali Banerjee, Ibti Al Sayigh, Marni Lennard, Emma Breag, Poppy Lovelace
Oboe Alvina Kowk
Clarinet Harry Kinnear, Hattie Jackson, Henry Botham, Jacob Littlewood, Jytte Lam, Elodie Warke
Saxophones Jason He, George Marshall, Rebecca Cao, Prince Bharaj, Isabella Kluger, Charlie Piper, Clara Morgan, Hester Milne, Emily Kinnear, Samantha Read
Trumpet Eddie Nicholson, Monty Price, Iona Simpson, Minnie Henson, Toby Wilson, Oliver Reynolds
Horn Joshua Davis, Joshua Lai, Jessica Kutscher
Trombone Fergus Simpson, Will Fearn, Alexa Berkin-Evans, Harry Sutterby, Archie Foster, Ottó Stone
Bass Guitar Zoe Wardell
Percussion Ryan Hou, Holly Prothero, James Ainsworth
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Flute Felix Morgan, Shonali Banerjee, Ibti Al Sayigh
Oboe Matthew Rose, Zadie Berkin-Evans
Clarinet Harry Kinnear, Jason He, David Rix
Bassoon Danté Scott-Horne, Alison Brierley
Horn Joshua Davis, Zoe Wardell
Trumpet Eddie Nicholson, Steve Foster
Trombone Will Fearn, Ottó Stone, Archie Foster
Percussion Ryan Hou
Harp Rowena Bass
Violin 1
Maya Mbogo, Lizzie Wyer, Elsa Marsh, Nicola Chotrani, Millie Headley, Joshua Lai, Daisy Griffiths, Emily Holland
Violin 2 Evie Holder, Faith Taylor, Ash Stephenson, Ethan Chan, Harriet Devenyi, Maxim El-Sheikh, Beth Miles, Katherine Collison
Viola Tomas Dickinson, Alexa Berkin-Evans, Emma Gant
‘Cello Ethan Taylor, Isabelle White, Emma Chotrani, Grace Lai, Lauren Taylor
Double Bass Sofia Nico, Andy Maycock
CHAMBER CHOIR
Soprano Shonali Banerjee, Evelyn Brammer, Penelope Brammer, Bea Cole, Evie Holder, Rosie Johnson, Eloise Snape, Lizzie Wyer
Alto Zadie Berkin-Evans, Sofia Nico, Ffion Reading, Lizzie Roytberg, Phebe Smith, Halle Stone
Tenor Ewan Stockwell
Bass Joshua Davis, Tomas Dickinson, Maxim El-Sheikh, Will Fearn, Ottó Stone
CHAPEL CHOIR
Soprano Ruby Abbott, Eloise Baines, Shonali Banerjee, Mia Birke, Evelyn Brammer, Penelope Brammer, Emma Breag, Grace Bride Mayor, Bea Cole, Lucy Carr, Sophia Cure, Isla Debenham, Sophie Doyle, Serafina Griffin, Millie Headley, Evie Holder, Rosie Johnson, Madelaine Kluger, Alvina Kwok, Poppy Lovelace, Alice Mackaness, Annabella Marcham, Olivia Melville, Sophie Mertens, Elsa Milne, Eloise Snape, Molly Sutterby, Faith Taylor, Isla Treadwell, Isabelle White, Cressie Whitehead, Lizzie Wyer
Alto Ibti Al Sayigh, Audrey Beevers, Alexa Berkin-Evans, Zadie Berkin-Evans, Georgina Cameron, Annie-May Cannings, Maddie Cartwright, Sophie Cartwright, Jessica Day, Tilly Golland, Lauren Hewett, Grace Hornsby, Samantha Hughes, Isabel Hurst, Mesi Johnson, Isabella Kluger, Grace Lai, Elsa Marsh, Esther Morse, Sofia Nico, Holly Prothero, Rena Qiu, Ffion Reading, Elizabeth Roytberg, Leonie Russell, Lilly Seeberger, Emilia Sharipova, Chloe Shaw, Elodie Shenton, Phebe Smith, Halle Stone, Tessa Von Stritzky, Ava Walker, Sophie West-Sadler, Heidi Yeung
Tenor
Bass
Henry Fearn, Alex Forshaw, William Griffiths, William Hallam, David Harrison, Toby James, Harry Kinnear, Finlay Mitchell, Charlie Piper, Joshua Richardson, Ewan Stockwell, Harry Sutterby, Ottó Stone, Campbell Tierney
Henry Bluff, Joshua Davis, Tomas Dickinson, Maxim El-Sheikh, Will Fearn, Charles Hopkinson, Ryan Hou, Joshua Lai, Theo Moore, Alex Morrison, Eddie Nicholson, Dozie Osuji, Oliver Smith, Ethan Taylor
ENSEMBLE
Flute Samantha Read
Oboe Rachel Broadbent
Clarinet David Rix
Bassoon Alison Brierley
Horn Nick Wolmark
Trumpet Steve Foster
Trombone Archie Foster
Violins
Viola
Emily Holland, Katherine Collison
Emma Gant
‘Cello Rebecca Leyton Smith
Double Bass Andy Maycock
Harp Rowena Bass
Percussion Christina Slominska, Ryan Hou
