MUSICIANS CELEBRATE ‘MAKE MUSIC DAY’ AT THE WENSLEYDALE COMMUNITY ARTS FESTIVAL
25 June 2024 | Sven Wardle | Posted in: News, Performing Arts
On Friday evening, Richmond School and Sixth Form College’s Concert Band, Orchestra and Jazz Band continued their preparations for the upcoming concert tour to Germany with a performance for Make Music Day at the Wensleydale Community Arts Festival.
It was a great opportunity for the ensembles to perform new music as well as some old favourites.
The Concert Band and Orchestra have joined forces for the tour and gave rousing renditions of Malcolm Arnold’s Little Suite as well as A Symphonic Portrait of Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The groups tackled this challenging programme with great enthusiasm and energy in their performance.
The first half was interspersed with a performance from Lara Scarr, a Year 10 GCSE musician, who accompanied herself on the acoustic guitar, singing Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T’s and Queen’s Dreamers Ball. Lara’s vocal quality shone through as the audience appreciated two wonderful performances.
The first half also saw a performance of Singing in the Rain by the brass quintet. The audience were surprised and delighted to see Tom Grigg put his trumpet down in the middle of the piece to tap dance through a soft shoe shuffle! Without any fuss, he then picked his trumpet back up to finish the piece with the group. Again the audience were forthcoming with their praise!
The second half saw the Jazz Band take the audience on a musical timeline with performances of classics from Glenn Miller’s Take Five via Dizzy Gillespie to modern pop songs. The band even performed a 70s funk version of the Star Wars theme!
The second soloist of the evening was Georgina Braidley who gave a beautiful rendition of Misty by Errol Garner and followed that up with a lively performance of Earth, Wind and Fire’s September!
All in all a terrific evening and a wonderful way to celebrate Make Music Day.