Fantastic festive performance by Junior Trinity students
The stunning venue of LSO St Luke’s welcomed over 400 students from Junior Trinity to perform in a series of festive concerts on Saturday 23rd November, with two Dartford Grammar School music scholars performing in a variety of their premier ensembles and vocal groups.
The afternoon concert, mainly featuring Junior Trinity’s younger students, included repertoire ranging from Jean Sibelius’s Andante Festivo played by the Intermediate Strings, Do It The Hard Way performed by our Jazz Ensemble, with a rousing, decibel-busting performance of Dvořák’s Czech Suite and Mozart’s Overture to Don Giovanni, performed by the flagship Junior Trinity Sinfonia conducted by Andrew Morley. As the leader of the flutes of the Junior Trinity Sinfonia for the first time, I can say that I had a superb time performing with such a terrific orchestra.
The evening concert most notably featured our Four Part Choir, Big Band, Composers Ensemble, Wind Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra. Concert highlights included Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 performed by the Wind Orchestra, a festive arrangement of Mark Lowry’s Mary, Did You Know sung by the Four Part Choir, with the concert concluding with the Symphony Orchestra performing Le Corsaire by Berlioz and Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saëns.
First opened in 1906, Junior Trinity (from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance) was the first Junior Department to open its doors to music students in the country. Their flagship music programmes invite students nationwide for quality music tuition, with the opportunity to perform in some of the world’s leading concert venues such as Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cadogan Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.
Having joined Junior Trinity this year as a scholarship student, Dartford Grammar student Liam Bannister performed with their vocal ensembles Barbershop and Four Part Choir. He commented: “I think my general musicianship has improved since I’ve started my studies at Junior Trinity, and the development of performance skills shown were demonstrated by all of the performers at the winter concert. It was a great opportunity for young people to perform together.”
We must give thanks to the conductors, the administration team, the students, and the team at LSO St Luke’s for producing such a fabulous concert.
Image by © Nevit Dilmen [CC BY-SA 3.0]