18 minute read
Performing Arts
PerformingArts
Music
Oakham has enjoyed another memorable year of music-making, but who could have guessed back in September 2019 that the vitality of live performance would give way to a new performance genre - the virtual concert – by the end of the year? The commitment and adaptability of pupils and staff in recent months has been quite remarkable.
Winter Term
The Winter Term always contrasts smaller scale performances and professional concerts before half-term with a raft of major Chapel concerts as we head into November and December. Tim Garland’s remarkable Weather Walker Trio visited to give the first professional concert of the year, with the group also leading an energetic workshop on improvisational skills that afternoon. Three inspiring music staff – Anne Bolt (Head of Piano), Martin Cropper (Head of Strings) & Richard Jenkinson (Teacher of Cello) – also returned to give another of their wonderful piano trio recitals, performing music by Haydn, Shostakovich, and Brahms, for which they were joined by OO and viola teacher James Douglas (11). In between these events, an Informal Chamber Music Recital in Old Hall offered a platform for collaborative music-making by our pupils. The Autumn Concert (Friday 8 November) always sees the Chapel pews packed for the first major performance of the year. It is apt that the whole of Form 1 made their debut vocal performance on this occasion, ably led by our energetic new Assistant Director of Music, Mr David Williams. The Concert Band set the scene with Ravel’s Boléro before performing an enjoyable medley of music from The Greatest Showman. The Chamber Choir was in fine voice as they contrasted English music by Purcell and Britten (the challenging Hymn to St Cecilia) before their entertaining performance of ‘Sit down, you’re rocking the boat’ from Guys & Dolls featuring the solo singing of Will Jacklin. The Symphony Orchestra took over the concert platform in the second half, offering talented Form 7 Music Scholar Emilia Hubbard a solo platform in Bellini’s Oboe Concerto, as well as entertaining the audience with vivacious music by Rossini and Malcolm Arnold. Emilia is to be congratulated on winning a scholarship to study at RWCMD from September 2020. Later that month, audiences enjoyed a wide range of music at Ensembles in Concert (Friday 15 November) and Lower School Live in Concert (Friday 29 November). In the former, we enjoyed film music from the Wind Band and modern pop hits sung by Polyphonix, as well as stylish concerto performances by the Chamber Orchestra, featuring Findlay Marsh in a movement of J C Bach’s Cello Concerto in C minor and J S Bach’s complete Concerto for two violins, featuring pupil violinists Lucy Collison, Natasha Erdmann, Maya Mbogo and Emily Yoo. Our popular Big Band offered an entertaining sequence of music to complete the programme. The Lower School musicians excelled in their first concert of the academic year, with seven different ensembles/choirs and 10 promising piano, string and woodwind soloists demonstrating the high standard of ambitious music-making achieved by our youngest musicians. Just before our carol service season commenced in the final days of term, two senior Music Scholars – Freddie Buchanan trumpet and Bethany Davis soprano – gave excellent solo Vivaldi performances of the Double Trumpet Concerto and Nulla in mundo pax sincera in the Oakham Choral Society Concert (Saturday 7 December). Our lunchtime recital series is a constant through the year, with our annual series in All Saints’ Church inaugurated by the Director of Music every September. We enjoyed a host of exceptional solo and ensemble performances, with leading brass, drum, organ, piano, string, vocal and woodwind soloists. Smaller ensembles featured at regular intervals too, including the Dring Trio (flute, oboe and piano), the Form 3 Music Award Holders’ Ensemble, the première of a piano trio by OO composer Danny Saleeb (04), and the Guitar Ensemble, and the Chamber Choir gave a moving performance of Lenten music in March.
3
5 4
7
1Concert Band
2Symphony Orchestra
3Brandenburg Choral Festival
4Symphony Orchestra
5Virtual Leavers’ Concert
6Concert Band
7Virtual Brass Ensemble
Autumn Concert 2019
Some of the many pupils from across the School who performed in the Autumn Concert.
Spring and Summer Terms
The Spring Term is regularly one of the busiest in the music calendar. As always, two major competitions for our singers and pianists took place. On Sunday 2 February, the annual Singing Competition trialled a new theme (songs from theatrical productions), with distinguished visiting adjudicators Rosie Ashe and Martin Ball enjoying wide-ranging music from opera to musical theatre. Particular congratulations to our three major prize winners:
Overall Winner – Grace Muris Overall Runner-Up – Zsolti Johnson Most Promising Young Singer – Evie Holder
We were also privileged to welcome renowned pianist, Charles Owen, to Oakham on Thursday 27 February to give both a solo piano masterclass and adjudicate at our annual Piano Duet Competition. This was once again a wonderful celebration of musical partnership, and congratulations go to all the participants and the class winners:
Lower Grades – Charlotte Byron & Emily Hall Intermediate Grades – Findlay Marsh & Will McEuen Higher Grades – Bethany Davis & Samantha Hughes
The Chamber Choir made their annual musical pilgrimage to London to perform by invitation at the Brandenburg Choral Festival in January. In front of a packed audience in St Stephen Walbrook, Bank, they performed an ambitious programme of music by Purcell and Britten, alongside Kodály’s wonderful Missa Brevis. Back in Oakham, another three major Chapel concerts offered a concert platform to many of our major ensembles. ‘Orchestral ABC’ (Friday 7 February) featured Albinoni’s Adagio (organ soloist, Ben Kelly), Britten’s Simple Symphony (performed by the Chamber Orchestra), and two wonderful works by Copland from the Symphony Orchestra: the popular ‘Hoe-Down’ from Rodeo, and the wonderful ballet score Appalachian Spring. The Chamber Orchestra also squeezed in some bonus Vivaldi, with their second double violin concerto of the year featuring soloists Natasha Erdmann, Daisy Griffiths, Evie Holder and Carson Wong. Our Lower School musicians raised the roof of the Chapel just before the start of half-term on Friday 14 February with a concert packed full of variety – ranging from all Form 2 pupils performing in percussion ensembles (West African drumming and Samba), six soloists (guitar, piano, trumpet, violin and voice), and eight different ensembles, including the debut of our new Cambiata Voices group for boys with changing voices. Further musical variety came in ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ (Friday 6 March), when the programme opened with a new selection of film and TV music from the Wind Band, and pop covers from Polyphonix. Our singing and piano duet competition winners had a further opportunity to perform, before the Concert Band offered us a celebration of music from Bernstein’s West Side Story as well as van der Roost’s showpiece, Flashing Winds. The Big Band was on fine form in the second half, with tight ensemble playing and a number of featured soloists – singers Greg Brunt, Fabia McAlindon, Grace Muris and Issy Wass, and saxophonist Grace Britten-Knaggs. The final musical chapter of the Spring Term was sadly not to be due to growing social restrictions and the onset of lockdown. The Oakham Choral Society’s Beethoven celebration concert, a professional concert by vocal group SANSARA, and most notably, the Gala Concert in Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre were all unable to go ahead. Our thanks must go to the hard-working Chapel Choir and soloists William Collison and Grace Muris who were due to perform Mozart’s Requiem in Oxford, and to concerto soloists Jessica Carr and Rupert Fell who missed out on performing major concertos with the orchestra. Many singers in the Chapel Choir contributed to a virtual recording of You raise me up for the final online Chapel Service of term, which was a sign of things to come… Informal concert experiences are some of the most valuable that we can offer our developing pupil musicians, and 12 of these occurred at regular intervals throughout the past year. They took on a new guise in the Summer Term, switching online to Teams, when it was a particular treat to share in performances from the pupils’ own homes at a time when live music-making in front of any sort of audience was quite uncommon. And so to a Summer Term of virtual music-making, distance learning, online concerts – and lots of video editing! Our weekly virtual Chapel Services kept music at their heart, featuring choral recordings from the past months and the opportunity to sing along with hymns at home. Our lunchtime recital series moved online, and particular thanks go to the 16 performers who filmed new performances to go online (including some original compositions), all of which can still be viewed at: https://bit.ly/oakhammusic Despite the restrictions, we did manage to maintain two significant musical showcases in June. On Friday 5 June, we premiered a Virtual Leavers’ Concert, with hundreds of viewers enjoying excellent and moving performances from Form 7 pupils Freddie Buchanan, William Collison, Laura Crowley, Holly Frostwick, Becky Han, Emilia Hubbard, Will Jacklin, Clare Maitland, Grace Muris, Phoebe Ryder and Gabe Tufail Smith, all recorded in their own homes. For our End of Year Virtual Concert on Friday 19 June, we celebrated recorded highlights from live performances from the first two terms, featuring the Big Band, Chamber Choir, Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra. Pupils in the Lower School Choir and Chapel Choir recorded themselves in their own homes, allowing us to put together new virtual recordings of pieces for this concert which also featured in the Lower School Prize Giving and the Virtual Leavers’ Service. Most uniquely, four pupil compositions received world premières in brand new virtual recordings: Matthew Everall’s self-performed song; Emilia Hubbard’s woodwind quartet recorded by her fellow orchestral principals; Becky Han’s piano variations on the Wusuli Boat Song; and Freddie Buchanan’s pictorial brass composition depicting the voyage of the Mayflower. A remarkable way to end a remarkable term. Congratulations to all our musicians and staff for an unforgettable year of Oakham music! Written by Peter Davis (Director of Music)
Drama
Head to Head The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter
Imagine that you are entering the hallowed hall that hosted the School’s first lessons and plays. You then move further in through a narrow and possibly forbidding opening between two walls and find yourself in a chamber – a bedroom - well call it that because it houses two beds, in parallel with a space between and it is decorated in spartan fashion. On the far wall a Dumb Waiter and speaking tube. Audiences are seated on single rows facing each other more or less in the midst of the action and the actors are already in place. So the evening’s performance began – a cool chill to the almost gloomy lighting and Tom's Gus began the proceedings with antics that surely echoed the boot-play of Beckett’s Estragon in that other Absurdist landmark, Waiting for Godot. We are next introduced to Ben and such is his preoccupation with a newspaper that we, along with Gus, feel uncomfortable about disturbing him. Indeed Zsolti’s portrayal of the “senior partner” in this unholy alliance of work colleagues who are linked by their mysterious and nefarious purpose – an assassination – but of whom and for why which is accepted by them (and presumably must be by us) as being irrelevant – is truly disturbing. Gus seems almost “normal” in comparison until, that is, we stop to consider why he keeps a box of matches and a packet of cigarettes in his shoes – both empty of course – otherwise they would not have fitted… and so it goes… We sit back – more or less comfortably – not knowing whether to laugh out loud at the naturalistic-sounding knockabout dialogue which is almost – but not quite – what one might expect to hear in “real life” but which incongruities somehow manage to unnerve and amuse us – but best not to look closely into why. We are never sitting comfortably as an audience especially when our two “heroes” are joined by the third character in the title role – the dumb waiter itself – which assumes the role of a diabolus ex Machina. The sound effects are becoming unnerving – we have already had to cope with toilets not flushing and then flushing by themselves and by the time Ben gives Gus his final instructions we are literally unprepared for anything. Great performances from actors mature beyond their years – and of Pinter’s mysterious and satisfying little gem of a play; long may it find an audience. Written by Roland de Vil Star Turns Oakham’s Drama Scholars shine in The Cripple of Inishmaan
Once again, the Drama Scholars were challenged to perform another exciting piece of contemporary Irish Theatre that recalls the triumph ofBy the Bog of Cats. Author Martin McDonagh has forged his own take on the placing of a small community under the microscope and whilst few, if any, characters escape unscathed, we are treated to that absurd humour that the Irish specialise in, to name Flan O’Brian and even Samuel Beckett as practitioners. The players more than met the challenge to play older characters with their alien natures and with a consistent accent. Everyone performed with integrity and created their various characters with a mature degree of dramatic truth. Highlights included the Johnnypateenmike of Kitty – who pulled off this eccentric oldish biddy who, despite an array of physical ticks and rambling ramblings, gave some kind of sense to her inexplicable utterances – what a shift from her Queen of last year and I doubt a seasoned professional could have done better in either role. The “Cripple” of Sam was pathetic in the very best of ways, and Mammy (an even older biddy) was wonderfully created by Charlotte and again in such contrast to her previous role of Maggie Thatcher. Alas, these starring performances sound the swan-song for these three practitioners who have graced this stage for their entire School career and shall be sorely missed. Yet, hot on their heels come our new season of Thespians and sharing alternate roles Lizzy and Clarissa bore the burden with skill and aplomb of the main protagonists Kate/Helen. Sofia was quietly effective as Eileen, Callum portrayed the dark and smouldering and eventually explosive Babbybobby, and Caleb effectively reinvented both Bartley and the Doctor each with distinct idiosyncrasies and voice. Director Gilly Norell is a dab hand at conjuring remarkable performances from our “best of the best” and as last year in Handbagged, we were witness to performances that youngsters had no right to be able to perform. This run was disappointingly foreshortened, as the last night had to be cancelled due to lockdown, but I am sure that the delighted audience look forward to the time when the QET wakes from the dark to once again produce the wonderful theatre – and laughter and tears – that we have become used to – it can’t come soon enough. Written by Roland de Vil
Elementary, my dear Watson! The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tantalising masterpiece, adapted by Steven Canny and John Nicholson for Peepolykus, was retold with more than a little comic spin by this small cast of Middle School actors. Whether it was Zsolti’s outstanding portrayal of the clumsiness and staggering stupidity that is John Watson or the mastermind himself, Sherlock Holmes – expertly performed with more than a modicum of drôle humour by Monty – we were bound to go on a crazy adventure, but also to have a good laugh. The story took us to Holmes and Watson’s humble abode where Mortimer (the Baskervilles’ country Doctor) – skilfully presented by Annalise (who also later appeared as a Yokel) – recounted the ghastly legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles. Upon hearing that Sir Charles Baskerville – masterfully played by Sidonie – was wanting to return to his family home, Watson and Holmes sprang into action to aid him. Along the way, we met spectacularly comical characters like a Cabbie, a Yokel, Barrymore and Mrs Barrymore (Baskervilles’ retainers) – all flawlessly, and humorously, depicted by Hannah. Deserted by Holmes, Watson tries painstakingly to wrap his head around the mystery, whilst Sir Charles finds himself falling deeply in love with Cecile – played effectively by Rosie (who also plays Cecile’s ‘brother’ Stapleton). The narrative starts to unfold and increasing suspicion is (correctly) placed on Stapleton. And just when it seems the plot is about to be resolved, the whole first act is performed again, in a whirlwind of lost props and wrong cues. Act Two reaches its inevitable climax – the Hound gets Sir Charles, Sir Charles gets Cecile, and Stapleton gets his comeup-pance – and Holmes and Watson get each other. This play was simply entertainment at its highest and teaches everyone a valuable lesson: never go wandering about on the moor (or into Old School) alone at night… unless armed with a sense of humour. Written by Simon H. Jones
Chicago the Musical based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins
It’s a proper, full-blown media circus. Set in jazz-era Chicago, chorus girl Roxie Hart (the entertaining Kitty) murders her pointless lover Fred Casely (Will) and in the ensuing court case, she is defended by slick lawyer Billy Flynn (the excellent Theo) who juggles her case with the defence of nightclub personality Velma Kelly (the incredible Lizzie). It becomes a cat fight for crime-celebrity status revolving around – as the silky-voiced MC (Caleb) put it – “adultery, treachery and violence”. From his very first lines, I knew I was going to like it, even though I knew I didn’t like musicals. Beginning with ‘All That Jazz’ through to a finale sung to the mass release of glittery paper falling from the ceiling, this production of the classic musical of musicals was wall-to-wall fun. The interjections in German by Hunyak (Lisa) were a clever touch, as was the delightful cameo performance of Mary Sunshine by Lara, and Sam’s portrayal of the abused husband Amos was both highly charged and genuinely tear-jerking. It was also wall-to-wall quality. An entire thesaurus of theatre critic-cliché superlatives would be needed to describe Lizzie’s performance as Velma Kelly: ‘a five star performance’, ‘a must see theatre event’, ‘masterful and unflinching’. Lizzie never faltered in her impossibly demanding role despite occasionally panting for air in the minuscule gaps between songs, the roaring twenties costumes entirely encompassed by her persona. In fact, all the sparkling costumes were magnificent, as were the non-sparkling gentlemen’s outfits of the actors which looked like they had
been purloined from the wardrobes of longstanding male teaching staff. The exquisitely executed choreography (by Kim Robinson) of both the boy chorus and female ensemble matched the perfect timing of the band under the watchful eye of the MD David Williams, whose joyful miming and understated baton waving were projected from the pit onto the back wall of the QET for the actors to see and the audience to admire. It really was an incredible show, and I was converted on the spot. Apart from the spectacle, the indulgence, and the fascination of this Oakham School production of Chicago, there was the emotion, and the pride evoked from watching and listening to these pupils-by-day and actors-by-night – just how do these young people do it? And last, but by no mean least, I must acknowledge the role of the Director, the animateur par excellence - thank you to Director Gilly Norell who put this magnificent production together, and for a wonderful evening’s entertainment.
Written by the Hon. Rupert ‘Squiffy’ (and Roland de Vil)
To see more photographs of our productions, please visit our drama gallery on our website
