A 'Fabulous' Autumn Concert at St. Monica's

Our Autumn Concert was held this year in the Chapel of St Monica’s Retirement Village, just across the road from school, on Tuesday 25 November. Built in the 1920s, the Chapel is a magnificent venue with a fine acoustic and pipe organ. Seventy musicians performed a concert of instrumental and choral music for the elderly residents and then joined them afterwards for tea and a chat. It was a wonderful occasion, valued by both young and old alike: the residents were very impressed by the talent and professionalism of our musicians, and thoroughly enjoyed their company at the tea, while the Badminton girls greatly enjoyed performing for such an appreciative audience in the beautiful Chapel and meeting some of the residents informally afterwards.

The concert began with a spirited performance of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance in G minor by the Badminton Symphony Orchestra directed by Mr Ransom, followed by two movements from the Christmas Concerto by Corelli, featuring Stephanie and Heidi (violins) and Steffi  (cello) as soloists who performed with style and confidence. Chamber items were given by the Senior Cello Group playing Mozart and Clarinet Trio playing Tchaikovsky in a jazzy arrangement. Emily and Olivia  were soloists and both played beautifully, with great sensitivity and control – Emily performed Bach on the piano and Olivia Saint-Saëns on the clarinet. The choirs sang Mendelssohn’s Laudate Pueri Dominum which was followed by Schola Cantorum singing Wir eilen from JS Bach’s Cantata 78, and concluding with two movements from Philip Lane’s Four Shakespeare Lyrics.

I am very grateful to Mr Nash for accompanying on both organ and piano, to Mr Ransom for his direction of the Symphony Orchestra, and to Miss Latham, Mrs Francis, Ms Taylor and Miss Nicholsby for their help with the rehearsal and concert.

The standard of musicianship at Badminton is consistently extremely high and it is both a privilege and a pleasure to be able to work with the students to put on concerts and, through music, to foster links with our local community.

Mrs Lee