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Concert audience feels the Tercentenary spirit
Colston’s School returned to its spiritual home on Saturday evening for a rousing and passionate concert marking the start of this year’s Tercentenary celebrations.
The Colston Hall was a fitting choice for this historic event because it stands on the site occupied by the school when it was founded 300 years ago.
It was equally fitting that 300 musicians and singers were needed to perform two highly contrasting works.
Bristol Concert Orchestra and a massed choir assembled by Colston’s Director of Music John Shooter charmed their audience with ‘Feel the Spirit’, John Rutter’s arrangement of well-known spirituals.
They went on to transfix them with Mahler’s dramatic 2nd Symphony, the ‘Resurrection’, which was received rapturously.
The prolonged applause at the end of the evening was fitting reward for the orchestra and chorus including members of Colston’s School Choirs, Colston’s Choral Society including parents, staff and friends, Henbury Singers, Thornbury Choral Society and the Old Colstonian Society.
Nearly 100 guests attended a pre-concert reception in the new Colston Hall extension. They included former pupils whose school days spanned more than half a century – from George Moore who left in 1947 to David Stone who left in 2009.
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George Moore with the Old Colstonians' Vice President Ian Gunn |
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Recent Old Boy David Stone and sixth former Hannah Owen |
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Old Colstonians' President, Mr Willie Lorang, with his wife Trish |
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Headmaster Peter Fraser said: “Our ambition is to re-engage with former pupils, and the response from Old Colstonians to this first special event suggests that very many friendships will be renewed and strengthened during the Tercentenary year.
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Headmaster, Peter Fraser, welcoming everyone to the first of the tercentenary events |
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“I would like to thank all members of the Bristol Concert Orchestra and the massed choir for providing such rich entertainment, and the school’s auditors, Deloitte, for sponsoring such a memorable evening.
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Colston’s Director of Music John Shooter congratulating the contralto Joke de Vin |
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... and his orchestra and choirs |
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