On Monday, an unexpectedly mild evening greeted the 56 performers and 90 audience members of the Chamber Music Spotlight in the Concert Hall.
The evening began with two great grooves from the Jazz Band; Mercy, Mercy, Mercy and Jump With My Baby, featuring Seb on vocals and tight accompaniment and solos from the band. New members Patrick, Ed, Tom, Tom and Rafferty seemed at ease in their first performance with the group.
The Saxophone Ensemble followed, firstly hinting at next week’s school musical with We Are The Champions and secondly with Pirates of the Caribbean. The balance of two sopranos, five altos, two tenors and one baritone created a beautifully blended sound which came across crisply in this intimate venue.
The Clarinet Quartet gave new life to a composition for strings by Tchaikovsky; Andante Cantabile from String Quartet No. 1. The beautiful legato lines suited the clarinets brilliantly and the group brought out some wonderful colours across the whole register of the instrument.
Holly took to the stage with a piece for solo harp, providing a tranquil contrast to the ensemble items in the programme. Featuring some exquisite harmonics and slickly executed scales, Holly’s confidence set us at ease during this very enjoyable performance.
The Barbershop Boys began with S Club 7’s Never Had a Dream Come True, featuring some very crunchy six-part chords with a fantastic first performance from new members Jack, Tom, Luke and Will Mason. The next number, Call Me Maybe, a web of heartbreak, reconciliation and confusion, featured solos from George, Ed and Patrick.
The final item was the first performance of the Bradfield Bellas, 33 girls from across all year groups, whose ingenious rendition of Cups from Pitch Perfect 2 featured a slow start, with a massive tempo change halfway through. Their ‘choreography’ in Pharrel Williams’ Happy was a spectacle in itself and provided a dazzling finish to the evening.
Many thanks to Mark Etherington, Hayley Lambert and Liz Croft for directing ensembles and to Will Mason, Harry Williams, Rachel Taylor and Abby Hatch for performing with and supporting the vocal groups. Thanks also to Oliver Schreiber and Mark Price for their expertise with sound and light.
John Mountford
