MUSIC
1 .
1 . AMBERLEY BREMNER WITH THE TOUZEAU STRINGS . 2 . DEREK PHILLIPS PLAYING THE HORN 3 . LEON FEI , FIRST PRIZE WINNER OF THE LISMA . 4 . INTERMEDIATE BAND WITH MEGAN PHILIP
2 .
3 . 4 .
concluding their bracket with a spirited and lively performance of Ain ’ t Misbehavin ’.
The Cardinals , our close harmony vocal sextet comprising Year 12 boys Victor Jiang , Thomas Law , Kianan Lim Joon , Charlie Lines-Perrier , Justin Sheng and Eddy Yang , wowed the audience with Londonderry Air and Home . The concert concluded with the Chamber Choir performing four items : Swansea Town , And Can It Be , Fogarty ’ s Cave and The Seal Lullaby .
The Chamber Choir performs at a very high level . Competition for places is fierce , and all boys in this choir have individual singing lessons . Our voice teachers deserve much credit for the quality of sound from
the individual voices , melded together by Andrew Hunter ’ s expert touch .
The Autumn Season commenced with a restricted audience , but regulations were relaxed for concerts 2 , 3 and 4 . However , for the final concert of the season , on 25 May , there was a tightening of restrictions ahead of lockdown four , which commenced on 27 May . Fortunately , the concert could proceed , but with no audience .
Our Year 7 concert band , the Ted Joyner Band , under Chris Farrands , played remarkably well , despite the lack of audience stimulation . The Cambiata Choir , under Jo Blankfield , sang a bracket of three songs with a fine quality of tone . The Cambiata
Choir is for boys whose voices are going through the ‘ change ’ ( what we used to call ‘ breaking voices ’). It is designed to nurture the voices through this delicate stage , and as such , requires expert direction .
We were then treated to a performance of one of Scotch ’ s rising stars , clarinettist Wells Duan ( Year 7 ) who played a demanding set of variations on Il Carnivale di Venezia brilliantly , sensitively accompanied by our Head of Keyboard Studies , Elaine Chin . The Morrison Street Big Band under David Musk concluded the ‘ concert ’, and indeed the season , to the enthusiastic applause of the handful of staff in the audience
JOHN FERGUSON – DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
IN BREAKING NEWS AS WE GO TO PRESS , LEON FEI HAS JUST WON THE FIRST PRIZE IN THE UNDER 18 YEARS OLD SECTION OF THE 15TH LISMA ( LONG ISLAND CONSERVATORY INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPETITION ) , A MOST IMPRESSIVE ACHIEVEMENT .
36 Great Scot Issue 163 – September 2021