The second Informal Concert of the year took place on Thursday 1st December in the Chatterton Hall. There were 16 excellent performances, some of which were for GCSE or A level coursework, and some were from pupils who simply enjoy performing to an audience. The programme (below) shows some of the diversity of musical talent at Colston’s:

Tom Carpenter - Clarinet - ‘Tattle Tale’ (Benny Goodmore)
Peter Davies - Guitar - ‘Plastic Mack’
Helen Wilson - Trombone - ‘’s wonderful’
Ciaran Adams - Bass - Lounge Act (Nirvana)
Dasos Mitsis - Piano - Lord of the Rings
Peter Woolaston - Guitar - Laid Back
David Stone - Piano - ‘Tango’ (Seiber)
Joshua Lear - Guitar - ‘Soldier Side’ (System of a Down)
Steven Lam - Guitar - Hugo Bossa
Sam Ng - Piano - ‘Fur Elise’ (Beethoven)
Briony Brockhurst / Hannah Owen - Voice - Beautiful
Gareth Campbell - Piano - Butterflies and Hurricanes
Helena Cicmil - Piano - Einsamer Wanderer (Grieg)
Grace Eccleson - Voice - On My Own (Les Miserables)
Emma Fredericks - Voice - My Favourite Things (Sound of Music)
Fred Arnot - Piano - Here’s that Rainy Day

The Autumn Concert took place on Tuesday 6th December in the Chatterton Hall to a near sell-out audience. The

concert opened with the Dies Irae and Pie Jesu from Karl Jenkins’ Requiem. The former featured two of Colston’s choirs singing together, whilst the latter was performed by the Chamber Choir and featured Helena Scott-Hardy as soloist.

The Scholars’ Group followed this with two pieces by the seventeenth century composer Anthony Holbourne for five string instruments, played with an excellent sense of ensemble and style. For their final piece they were joined by Mr Bryant on the organ for the first movement of Handel’s Organ Concerto in F (Op.4, No.4), a sparkling finish to their set.

The Orchestra presented three pieces. Fauré’s famous Pavane was played with suitable smoothness and depth, while the Toy Symphony (Leopold Mozart) raised smiles with its mini trumpets, rattle and nightingale whistle. Haydn’s Farewell symphony was played with the original ‘walking out’ of the players during the final section.

The joint choirs took the stage again to give us a small taste of Christmas. Two favourite Christmas pieces – Torches and the Sussex Carol – were separated by the Gloria from Haydn’s Little Organ Mass (which has the four vocal parts each singing different parts of the text at the same time, so as to save time!).

The Swing Band ended the concert with a bang! The Muppet Show was followed by the theme from Shaft and I feel good – all played with panache and true big band character.

Programme:
Choirs Dies Irae (Karl Jenkins)
Chamber Choir Pie Jesu (Karl Jenkins)
Scholars’ Group Pavane & Galliard (Holbourne)
Organ Concerto Op.4, No.4, 1st movement (Handel)
Orchestra Pavane (Fauré)
Toy Symphony (Leopold Mozart)
‘Farewell’ Symphony, 4th movement (Haydn)
Choirs Torches (John Joubert)
Gloria from ‘Little Organ Mass’ (Haydn)
Sussex Carol (arr. Willcocks)
Swing Band The Muppet Show Theme (Henson & Pottle)
A Foggy Day (Gershwin)
Theme from Shaft (Isaac Hayes)
I got you (I feel good) (James Brown)