Scotch College

May Concert entertains

This year's May Concert involved some 600 musicians, who performed to an audience of around 13,000.

The Pipes and Drums welcomed the audience to the Robert Blackwood Hall, and the concert opened with Borodin's 'Steppes Of Central Asia' followed by Sibelius' wonderful tone poem 'Finlandia'.

The May Concert profiles all the large groups in the Senior School, plus the Junior School Choir and it was quite thrilling to see such commitment from so many boys.

The Massed Voices of the Year 7's delighted the audience with 'Flying Free' followed by a wonderful arrangement of 'Jamaica Farewell', all under the superb guidance of Choral Director Mr Andrew Hunter.

The Strings were seen to be in very good shape, with Henri Touzeau String Orchestra performing a selection form 'Les Miserables' under Mr John Officer, followed by the Senior Strings' delightful performance of Grieg's 'Holberg Suite' directed by Mr Bob Wakely.

The Junior School Choir, under Ms Jenni Allen, performed Mozart's 'Floating Zoo' and Britten's 'Oliver Cromwell', while the Senior Choir, freshly back from Choir Camp, delighted everyone with Kurt Bestor's 'Prayer of the Children', John Rutters' 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' and a fabulous accompanied rendition of 'Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho'.

The Monday Big Band had its first 'on stage' performance at the May Concert (it generally performed during the interval in previous years) and played two tuneful standards: 'Fly Me To The Moon' and the immortal 'In The Mood'.

Notable with the Show Band's rendition was vocal soloist Adam Braithwaite in a memorable performance of 'Bad Habits'.

The three senior school symphonic wind ensembles - the Ted Joyner Concert Band, George Dreyfus Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Wind, all with some 60 musicians made for a powerful second half.

The George Dreyfus Wind Ensemble's performance of music from 'Braveheart' - complete with appropriate war sticks - under Peter Rickard was one of the evenings highlights, and Symphonic Wind's performance of 'The Light Eternal' by James Swearingen demonstrated Symphonic Wind (under Mr Roger Schmidli) to be in fabulous shape. The lively night finished on a lively note with Symphonic Wind performing 'Caribbean Hideaway' by James Barnes.