St Mary's Christmas Concert hits West Road Concert Hall

On 6 December our Senior School students, staff and musical friends of the school headed to the Cambridge University Concert Hall for a spectacular Christmas Concert. This concert was the culmination of many weeks of rehearsals, taking place after school and during lunchtimes. This year, the anticipation was even higher than usual, as we have been unable to hold a live concert since ​December 2019.

At the end of one full day of rehearsals, which took place in situ, the audience was treated to a full programme of diverse pieces, from Christmas carols to jazz. The Senior Orchestra opened the concert with Tchaikovsky's Danse Russe: Trepak ​from his beloved 'Nutcracker' ballet followed by Shostavokvich's Waltz No.2. ​This performance was followed by Training Orchestra​'s lively rendition of Haydn's 'Military' Symphony (Second Movement) and a ​classic festive carol, O Come All Ye Faithful. The concert continued with Christmas songs and carols galore, including Coventry Carol and Sleigh Ride, and other pieces showcasing a range of talents by the Year 7 choir, Jazzmatazz, Cantore, Allegro, the Concert Band, and the Training Wind Band.

This year's ​Young Pianist of the Year, Sonia W., returned to the stage to give a poised performance of her winning piece, Fugue No.12 in F minor (BWV 857) by J.S. Bach, while ​our St Mary's Young Musician of the Year, Maryam G., took to the stage in the latter half of the concert to ​recapitulate her heartfelt rendition of Rodgers and Hammerstein's If I loved You. In what has become a St Mary's tradition, the concert closed with ​all the performers (approximately 100 of them!) giving an interactive performance of The 12 Days of Christmas with audience participation.

We were delighted to return to this venue in person to sing and play together once again, spread festive cheer, and showcase our students' talents. We would like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Gears, Director of Music, and Teacher of Music, Mrs Fisher, for all their work supporting our musicians at school, and to all the parents who attended the concert, and support our students' musical development outside of the classroom. We are looking forward to the next performance, the Chamber Music Concert, in the spring.

Find out more about Music at St Mary's here. You can view a gallery of pictures from the event here.