The Music Department continues to develop its strong partnership with Berkshire Music Trust and this past summer saw the two organisations come together for a joint show in Reading Town Hall.
Collaborations with the local Music Hub began small with discussions of how specific instrumental faculties might work together to make a quantifiable difference to pupils from both institutions. The College hosted a number of BMT events, they benefitted from the use of our facilities, whilst our pupils benefitted through participation. This included a Berkshire Music Trust piano masterclass, at which a number of our pupils performed, and we hosted the semi-finals of their Young Musician of the Year competition. A number of Bradfield pupils made it through to this stage and the experience of competing against pupils from beyond Bradfield has a significant educational value. David Quinn, our Director of Music, joined the adjudicating panel for the singing competition, sitting alongside two choral and vocal experts from BMT, and together they began to plan for the joint concert between Berkshire Youth Choir and our Chapel Choir.
As well as singing a solo set, the show saw the choirs combine for performances of Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Rutter’s Gloria. David played the organ for the event and following the concert commented: “I cannot overstate the power of being sat at the console when the first Zadok rang out. If it was moving for me as an audience member, so too was it an enriching experience for our performers. I am delighted that all 150 young singers from across the region had the opportunity to sing in a Choral Society scale ensemble.” We look forward to what the future brings as the Music Department continue working in partnership with Berkshire Maestros to deliver more of these experiences for the young people in our community and beyond.
The generosity of the wider Bradfield community was evident as the 16th annual Jazz on a Summer’s Evening charity concert where £8,000 was raised for The Amber Trust. The charity, which provides blind and partially sighted children, including those with additional disabilities, with the best possible chance to meet their musical needs and aspirations, was chosen by Sixth Form pupil Arion (G). He has been in touch with The Amber Trust as part of his Extended Project Qualification research into visual impairment in music. During the show there was a very special performance of George Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm by the supremely talented Amber student Ashleigh, a multi- instrumentalist at Grade 8 level who was born at 23 weeks and is blind, autistic and hearing-impaired.
Hundreds gathered in the Greek Theatre for the show as the College’s musicians performed an eclectic mix of jazz, blues and soul, from Luiz Bonfá and Tower of Power to Celeste and Beyoncé and much in between. For some of our musicians this was the final opportunity for them to perform in the Greek Theatre before leaving the College and throughout the show Mark Etherington, Head of Music Events, thanked them individually for their contributions to the department during their time at Bradfield.
