Ipswich School pupils perfect performance at Snape

From composers to cowboys, and bears to big band, the Snape Maltings Concert Hall was filled with the diverse musical talents of Ipswich School pupils last Thursday.

Around 400 pupils and staff performed this year, in the tenth Ipswich School Spring Concert to have taken place at Snape, with the Music Departments of the Senior and Prep School putting together a programme to showcase performances by pupils from throughout the school.

The massed ranks of the Symphony and Intermediate Orchestras opened the event with a triumphant performance of William Walton’s Crown Imperial March, recently heard as the recessional music at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last year and played in tribute to Her Majesty the Queen in her Diamond Jubilee year.

Also on the bill was a performance of Notturno, composed by Year 11 pupil Sebastian Black, who also conducted the piece on stage, George Gershwin numbers performed by over 100 Year 7 and 8 pupils and JS Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor played by the Chamber Orchestra with Assistant Director of Music William Saunders and solo violinist Grace Burn from Year 12. Choral numbers were provided by the School Choir and Choral Society, singing Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, and the Chapel Choir who sung Rejoice to the Lamb, by Benjamin Britten, heralding next year’s Britten centenary celebrations.

The Prep School Orchestra all wore cowboy hats for their performance of traditional American Western songs, while the Prep School Chamber Choir donned bear ears to sing The Bare Necessities from Jungle Book, one of three favourites from well-known musicals performed by the young singers.

The finale of energetic funk and jazz from the Big Band provided a rousing climax to the evening’s entertainment.

Andrew Leach, Director of Music at Ipswich School, said: “It really was a magnificent concert and we had many kind words from members of the audience who had enjoyed the evening. It was a real team effort to produce such a successful event, and I know the performers enjoyed it as much as the audience did. We’re looking forward to next year’s event already!”