An Evening of Cabaret
Perrins Hall once again became a jazz club for the evening on Monday as the annual and much-loved ‘Cabaret’ concert took place. Fronted as usual by the Big Band led so ably by Mr Adlington, the evening began with an instrumental number, ‘In The Midnight Hour’, before the sequence of superb Sixth Form singing soloists began.
First up was Catherine Broadbent with a punchy and confident performance of ‘Valerie’, before Charlie Raven channelled his inner Frank Sinatra with ‘That’s Life’ and Aoife Smith gave Liza Minelli a run for her money with ‘Maybe This Time’ from ‘Cabaret’. Lilia Young impressed the 200-strong audience with ‘Walk on By’ with the Senior Jazz Ensemble before Ben Sears, who earlier that day found out he has been offered a choral scholarship at Cambridge University, was the king of cool with the jazz classic ‘All of Me’. The first half closed with the Sixth Form band, Halcyon, and their rendition of ‘Use Somebody’.
The concert’s second half opened with the all-male acapella group ‘MSDB’ who, after weeks of excellent self-led breaktime rehearsals, sang ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ with real panache. Their female counterparts in the acappella Upper Voices Vocal Ensemble performed their Worcester Competitive Arts Festival award-winning version of ‘Royals’ earlier in the concert, whilst sensitive solo songs from Callum Lockett and Anna Jobes, who accompanied herself in ‘Jar of Hearts’ on the piano with an amazing serenity, added some wonderful quieter moments to the concert.
Anna Jobes, who joined the Sixth Form at RGS Worcester from RGS Dodderhill this academic year, said: “The Cabaret evening at RGS Worcester was one of the most uplifting, exciting and glamorous events I have experienced at RGS so far, and it really highlighted the sense of community within our incredible Music department, whilst brilliantly showcasing the exceptional talent of the students. Performing amongst such talented musicians and singers at this entertaining, yet elegant, event was an amazing experience that will be hard to forget. Having spoken to my fellow students, Cabaret is most certainly a highlight of the School year for many and really is a remarkably enjoyable evening for everyone involved”.
Senior Jazz enjoyed backing Will Hulbert in ‘My Cherie Amour’, Ollie Tibbetts in ‘Feeling Good’ and Isla Tallon in ‘All That Jazz’ in the second half of the concert before Big Band closed out with three tunes: ‘Blame It On The Boogie’, sung (and danced) by George Jasper; ‘Respect’, belted out by the amazingly soulful Saffron Crump, and ‘Stormy Monday’ in which Luke Melaard played electric guitar and sang an impassioned vocal line. The audience were on their feet at the end of the concert, all having enjoyed a fabulous evening of jazz and modern music.
Will Hulbert, a Lower Sixth Music Scholar, said: “Cabaret has always been the highlight of my year and this year did not disappoint. Every group, soloist and performer, after months of hard work, came together for a really memorable evening of brilliant music. The most enjoyable part of the evening was singing in the lower voices a cappella group, MSDB, with the Queen song that I have been involved in leading in rehearsals for the last month. It came together so perfectly and had a perfect balance of being both musical and entertaining, and the fact that this group is run entirely by students makes it even more rewarding”.
Further success at the WCAF
Monday evening was particularly busy for RGS musicians with two pupils performing in the Worcester Competitive Arts Festival Winners Concert. Eloise Austin Ginger sang ‘It’s a Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll’)’ having won the Rock/ Pop Solo Vocal Artist (12-14 Years) category last month, whilst Nicole Penlington performed Monti’s ‘Csardas’ on the violin. This followed successes at the Festival from several of our music groups and ensembles reported in the RGS Times last week.
Congratulations to all performers and to the Music department for a very successful term. Thank you also to our parents and visitors for joining us for our concerts and performances. It has been an extremely successful term.