A Night of Jazz and Pop at the Annual Cabaret Concert
Another year, another Cabaret! Yet again, our annual Cabaret Concert was a sensational evening of jazz and popular music presented by our Senior students.
The Big Band, under Mr Adlington’s excellent leadership once again, opened the Concert with ‘Georgia On My Mind’ before the Sixth Form singers began, one by one, to join the band for a fabulous selection of well-known tunes. Helena Stockford Parsons was first up with ‘Big Spender’, followed by Edith Wise’s ‘Dream A Little Dream of Me’ and then Callum Lockett’s comical classic ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’. Ollie Tibbett sang ‘L-O-V-E’ and Sophie Jackson gave us ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’, both accompanied by Senior Jazz. Our Sixth Form band, Halcyon, closed the first half in their third, and final, consecutive Cabaret Evening, this year fronted by Abi Crabbe and Izzy Hadley who sang ‘Feel it Still’ and ‘Heart of Glass’ respectively. Under Mr Cedar’s passionate leadership, Halcyon has paved the way for more and more student-led rock and pop bands here at RGS and we thank them for this for the many performances they have given us over the last three years.
The second half of the Concert opened with a last-minute addition to the programme in the form of ‘Johnny Be Good’ performed excellently by our Year Eleven and Lower Sixth Rock Band AKT-II. The Upper Voices Vocal Ensemble then came to the stage to perform their WCAF-award-winning ‘Java Jive’ before more soloists joined Senior Jazz: Daniel Foster sang ‘The Lady is a Tramp’, Martha Burdon performed ‘Over the Rainbow’ and Charlie Raven clearly had a great time singing ‘My Life’.
A new choir, going by the name of RAVE (RGS A Cappella Vocal Ensemble), were up next, performing a very effective unaccompanied version of the classic ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’. Student-led, and masterminded by Music Captain Will Hulbert, the ten members of RAVE blended their voices excellently and we look forward to hearing more of them at future Cabarets. The evening closed with four more singers and the Big Band: Charlie Lord sang ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)’, Will Hulbert performed ‘Beyond the Sea’ and Anna Jobes brought a beautiful delicacy and purity to ‘Time After Time’. The Concert closed with Catherine Broadbent’s stylish rendition of ‘It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)’, getting some of the audience to their feet in applause to close the evening.
Arun Mungur, who plays guitar in Big Band, Senior Jazz and AKT-II, said “The Cabaret concert was exhilarating with its variety of songs and all the excellent singing. My favourite song was ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing’ and I particularly enjoyed playing with AKT-II but found it a bit scary too as the audience were so close to us!”.
The Headmaster commented, “This was another exceptional event at RGS with so many extremely able performers in our Big Band, Senior Jazz Ensemble and bands, as well as wonderful soloist and group singers. The confidence of the pupils, their teamwork, enthusiasm and enjoyment were very evident to everyone watching. It was an absolute triumph and the pupils and Music teachers should be extremely proud of such a high quality and wonderful event. Well done to everyone!”
We would like to congratulate all the performers and thank them for such an enjoyable evening of music.
Mr Jonathan Soman, Director of Music
