Last Saturday’s Picnic Concert was a remarkable affair, one I will certainly never forget. In honour of the department’s abroad endeavours, this year’s theme was ‘Around the World’, which provided the perfect platform for our plethora of acts. The evening began, as is tradition, with our wonderful Newman Orchestra from the Prep School, with a great array of pieces – Star Wars, It’s A Small World and G-Force Blues. The Guitar Ensemble rocked out to a Guns ‘N’ Roses medley, after which Year 11 pianist Robert H showcased to us one of his recent Grade 8 pieces, Hiding Rainbow. The Woodwind Ensemble then took to the stage, with ‘She Moved Through The Fair’ and an unprogrammed item, ‘Thank You For The Music’ in a moving tribute to our departing woodwind teacher, Mr Henderson. Next up, it was the turn of our youngest ensemble, the String Stars, who always deliver and Saturday was no exception, with toe-tapping renditions of ‘Mango Tango’ and ‘Circus Tricks’. Following this, sister duo Vidhi and Sanvi N (plus some special guests) skilfully performed Vidhi’s own arrangement of Bollywood classic ‘Jai Ho’, before the entire cast of our recent production of ‘Matilda’ reunited to perform a medley of songs from their wonderful show. I was thrilled to inform them immediately following their performance that next year’s musical spectacle will be ‘Sister Act’, which we are all so looking forward to. Next up, our Prep School Choir performed a beautiful rendition of ‘A Whole New World’, which was followed by Mr Henderson’s final time conducting the Flute Choir with ‘Africa’ and a mash-up of ‘Shape of You’ and ‘Mad World’, as well as a duet with one of his senior flute students, Violet R. The first act concluded in style with the Swing Band, who got the audience on their feet with ‘Hawaii Five-O’, ‘Golden’ and ‘Isn’t She Lovely’, featuring some outstanding student solos.
The second act started with a medley from Holst’s ‘The Planets’ from our flagship ensemble, The Ratcliffe Orchestra, who remained on the stage to accompany Phoebe Blow and Isabelle Ryce’s outstanding renditions of ‘Die on this Hill’ and ‘7 Years’ respectively. The Gentili Ensemble then took us to Germany for a medley from Offenbach’s ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’, and the debut performance of The Ratcliffe Schola Cantorum took us to Mexico with ‘Las Amarillas’. One of the standout performances of the night was from The Ratcliffe Male Chorus, joined by the South Notts Men’s Chorus, whose rendition of ‘Calon Lan’ left hairs standing on end. Niky P then took us to Japan with her haunting rendition of the beautiful ‘Haru No Umi’, and the Brass Ensemble had our toes tapping with ‘Close Harmony’ and ‘Stepping Out’ by Chris Hazell. The Sixth Form band then took to the stage with Bill Withers’ ‘Just The Two Of Us’, who were followed by The Ratcliffe Choir’s wonderful ‘Wicked’ medley. Following the raffle draw, the evening closed with sad goodbyes to Mr Henderson, Mrs Cook and Mrs Barlow, followed by a euphoric finale featuring all performers, ‘Hold My Hand’ – the perfect illustration of our close musical community. My sincerest thanks to all pupils and staff who worked so hard to put this wonderful event together – yet again, our events keep getting better and better, and continue to show how special Ratcliffe Music truly is.
However, we’re not done yet. At a particularly unsociable hour tomorrow morning, 44 of our talented musicians will be boarding a tour bus for an unforgettable concert tour to Germany, where we will be giving three concerts in various prestigious locations around the Rhineland region, with the key focus on our Choir, Orchestra and Swing Band. Despite the heat this week, it has been wonderful rehearsing with them this week, recapping all our previous material from the year gone by and no doubt we will delight the local audiences.
The year will finish off with all of Year 7 and many students in Year 9 and above coming down to London with us to enjoy a matinée performance of Mamma Mia in the West End. How lucky our students are to have so many incredible musical opportunities!
As it is the final time I will write to you this academic year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support of Ratcliffe Music throughout the year, and wish you all a very relaxing, enjoyable and musical summer break.
Mr Harris, Director of Music.
