From Christmas classics to Riots at the BGS Christmas Concerts

This has been an extraordinary term of showcasing the myriad musical talent of our students across BGS and the Christmas Concerts are the joyous climax of the Musical offering in the Autumn Term. On Monday night the stage set was set for the Senior School concert which began with beautiful excerpts from Handel’s Messiah delivered by our symphony Strings, with Rosie Freear’s dazzling performance of ‘But who may abide’. This section of the concert was completed by a rousing performance of the Hallelujah Chorus arranged for higher voices which saw Bel Canto joining Symphony Strings. The first half of the concert saw exquisite solos and duets performed alongside our flute choir, wind band and guitar group who delighted us with Christmas classics and movie magic. The First half of the concert was completed in emphatic style with all 86 students of the Symphony Orchestra and choirs combined with 200 audience members raising the roof with Hark the Herald Angels Sing. 

After being suitably refreshed with mulled wine and mince pies Eva Ng delighted with an incredibly challenging Dumka by Tchaikovsky. We also saw a gear change into more popular genres and Musicals with Genesis performing songs by Keane and Lady Gaga. Bella Pringle enchanted us with a gorgeous performance of Two Oruguitas from Encanto and the Musical theme continued with Meg Miles delivering I dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables. Our Year 10, 11 and Upper Sixth rock groups drove the pace of the second half with superb performances including a rebellious performance of Kaiser Chiefs I Predict a Riot before rounding the evening off with the Christmas Classic I wish It Could Be Christmas by Wizzard.

The Junior School’s Christmas concert took place on Wednesday, with the emphasis firmly on fun and a range of more popular repertoire alongside traditional festive tunes. Our super talented students turned in a series of top-notch performances, with soloists including pianist Daisy Rees performing Picnic by the Seine; Nyah Wooding singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Lizzie Guri playing Angelfish at the piano, amongst many others.  There were also fantastic performances from Festive Flutes, Junior Strings and Junior Rockstars. The concert ended in a truly epic finale, with choir, orchestra and rock band all coming together for This Is Me from The Greatest Showman, complete with confetti cannons. The audience were delighted by the students’ obvious enthusiasm and skill. A wonderful end to a musical term!

Mr Keating- Roberts reflected: “There is an incredible abundance of musical diversity at BGS and the concerts this week were no exception to the range of talent and passion. The students should be rightly proud of their performances and I cannot wait to continue our musical journey next term.

You can read reflection on a term full of Music by Mr Keating-Roberts here.