If music be the food of love and variety the spice of life, then we had one of the richest gourmet feasts enjoyed by a capacity audience at the Christmas Concert in the Assembly Hall on Tuesday 19th December 2023. This concert is always notable for its diversity of talent on display, and this year may have featured the widest range of musical items.
We enjoyed a remarkable variety of instrumental soloists: Ewan Masson played a Christmas Medley on accordion, Catherine Neill played Have yourself a merry little Christmas on clarinet and was joined also playing clarinet by Noah Morrison in Away in a manger, Anna Maguire played The Whinny Hill of Leitrim and Dublin Streets on Irish harp, Oscar McMichael played Sonata in F by Telemann on the flute, Charlotte Neill played Branchline on clarinet, Emily Riley played Valse on the piano, and Ryan McNeill played Christmas Rag also on piano, a piece which he had composed himself. All our soloists performed with great skill and admirable confidence.
Our solo singers also performed with great flair and accomplishment: Maisie Glenn sang In the bleak midwinter accompanied by Anna Maguire on harp, Sophie Black sang When will my life begin, Chloe King sang That would be enough, from the musical Hamilton, Molly Hawthorne sang It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Leo Collins sang The Vagabond by Vaughan Williams and Holly Deane sang The Christmas Song. We enjoyed a duet Do you hear what I hear? sung by Amber Devine and Amina Matiza, a Year 9 quartet Bella Kate, Sophie Black, Addison Lee and Anna Lindsay sang Merry Christmas everyone, and a Junior ensemble sang Mistletoe.
Among our regular ensembles there were highly enjoyable performances from Junior Choir of Winter Wonderland and White Christmas, Ukulele Group played and sang Santa Clause is coming to town, Languages Choir sang Un flambeau, and Minuet Chretiens with soloist Azura Rice, and Senior Choir sang Bridge over troubled water and Torches.
The school rock groups continue to go from strength to strength supported and coached by Mr Parke. This year we had five bands give excellent foot-stomping performances: the Year 9 Band performed Run Rudolph Run, Year 10 Band performed Boulevard of broken dreams and Travelin’ Soldier, Year 11 Bands performed Snow (Hey Oh) and Where is my mind, and the Senior Band performed Please come home for Christmas, and Fairytale of New York. This bodes well for the Rock Festival later in the year. All performers and audience joined in singing our traditional carols and the seasonal readings were given by Eden McGlinchey, Jamie Carmichael, Azura Rice and Matthew Donnell.
Congratulations to all the performers involved in such an impressive showcase of musical talent at LGS. Sincere thanks also to the many teaching and administrative staff involved in preparing this and our other performances during the year.
