Music Highlights

Music surrounded the start to exam season!

Kicking on from a jam-packed Spring Term with so many highlights including Mill Hill Education Group & Chapel Choir singing Fauré’s Requiem and the exciting Pizza Express Jazz Evening Live at Holborn. The term began with a week of live performances celebrating Sir David Attenborough’s centenary. Our orchestra put together what was a Mill Hill live première of Old Millhillian Alexander Hill’s Flight of the Osprey to accompany a short film in BBC Concert Orchestra-style throughout the week’s Chapel services. The theme for our upcoming Summer Soirée just after half term is Film Music, and pupils have been busy rehearsing.

This term we also had the annual farewell ceremony and presentations for the Valedictory Service and Leavers’ Assembly. This year we bid goodbye to two seminal musicians, Josh G (McClure),our outgoing Head Chorister and Seb J (Collinson), outgoing leader of the orchestra. Both pupils have contributed an explementary role to music and both have been awarded Choral Scholarships at Oxford. The Valedictory Service was an emotive event, featuring Stanford’s rousing Victorian anthem Te Deum and Rutter’s The Lord Bless You & Keep You. This gave way to showcase other depth of talent in a musical year group – solo performances in the Assembly by McClure Finalist Cherry X (Burton Bank) and Yuanting W (Macgregor) showed real finesse and dexterity at their advanced level of musicianship. The whole event then featured the school’s Sixth Form A Cappella singers, the Madrigal Society, in an unaccompanied performance of Bruckner’s Locus Iste. We will miss these incredible musicians but look forward to welcoming them back to sing as Old Millhillians in the Mill Hill Education Group Parent Choir.

In amongst this we had news of two current Fifth Form pupils ,Nepheli K (McClure) and Uzo E (Winfield), being awarded places at the prestigious Junior Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Following their audition success, Sophie S (Priestley)s then given a casting spot as part of the National Youth Music Theatre Programme. Richly deserved national-level recognition for some of our best singers and orchestral players.

The penultimate week culminated in our Summer Scholars’ Concert, featuring some amazing performances from 18 Music Scholars. They represented their cohorts outstandingly, with performances ranging from jazz to funk, classical art song to TV themes. Special shout-outs to those trying something innovative on a second instrument or even self-accompanying at the keys and singing!

During the last week of term we were glad to host the Scholars’ Evening, featuring solos, duets and live piano performances by all our Fourth Form Music Scholars. Featured music included Frank Sinatra, George Gershwin and original compositions that highlighted the high-performance level and academic mastery of Music that it takes to be a Music Scholar at Mill Hill School. We are hugely proud of each of them – well done!