Live Audiences Return to Owen’s Music Performances
Chamber Concert no. 1. Thursday 21st October
On Thursday 21st October we excitedly welcomed our first live audience back into the Edward Guinness Hall since March 2020 to enjoy an evening of chamber music and solos.
Congratulations to members of the DAOS Chamber Music Programme: the Year 12 String Quintet, the Year 10 Octet and the Year 8 Piano Trio, for their excellent performances of pieces by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Frank Bridge.
An array of soloists from Years 8-13 also delighted and excited us all with their performances of a range of repertoire, from Haydn to Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky to Rae. Congratulations to Zev Sebastian (piano), Clio Proffitt (viola), Harmone Akins (saxophone), Henry Rugg (marimba), Isaac Scheer (trombone), Zoe Gunasekera (voice), Kayla Nicol (violin) and Manav Paul (piano).
The Close Harmony Group sent us all off to the interval refreshments with our toes tapping with their performance of Dolly Parton’s Nine To Five.
Our thanks to ensembles’ tutors, Head of Singing, Katrina Makepeace-Lott and Head of Strings, James Widden for their work preparing the ensembles’ performances, and also to Visiting Music Teacher, Robert Thompson and Year 13 student, Sohan Kalirai, for their expert piano accompaniments.
Y11 GCSE Ensembles Concert – Wednesday 10th November
On Wednesday 10th November there was an excited buzz in the EGH as all 42 of the Year 11 Music students performed their GCSE ensemble pieces, to each other and to an assembled audience of family and friends.
With repertoire ranging from Dvorak’s String Quintet, to Dire Straits, to Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, to James Brown, Shostakovich and Dave, to mention but a few, the evening really showcased the breadth and depth of the GCSE Music students’ talents and musical interests. We were treated to a variety of items, such as vocal duets, brass quartets, a wind trio, a cello duet, jazz band, rock band performances as well as Mr Southorn’s bespoke jazzy arrangement of Bach’s Toccata for saxophone, tenor horn and 2 pianos.
In the words of a very long-standing DAOS Visiting Music Teacher, “it was an excellent evening of top quality performances” and was thoroughly enjoyed by all present.
Congratulations to Year 11 GCSE students, and their friends, for giving us such an inspiring set of performances!