A Level Music Recitals at St Michael’s

Our five Music A Level students had the wonderful opportunity to perform their A Level recital programmes in full at the St Michael’s ‘Saturdays at Six’ series of concerts last weekend. First to perform was Hannah D, who played two pieces on the piano: a sonata by Haydn, which was played with a great sense of style and accuracy, contrasting with ‘New Kid’ by Chris Norton, a very upbeat and exciting jazz-style piece performed with real flair. Hannah finished with the haunting song ‘Still Hurting’ from ‘The Last 5 Years’. Hannah was able to capture the mood of this song beautifully, giving a moving rendition.

Natalia B then took to the stage with a violin recital that started with Stravinsky’s Introduction to his Suite Italienne—a crisp and exciting start, which was followed by the ethereal and enigmatic ‘Piece en Forme de Habanera’ by Ravel. Natalia mesmerised the audience with her complete control of the violin in this beautifully poised performance. Then fireworks followed in a dazzling display of virtuosity in Brahms’ ‘Scherzo’.

Georgie G started her recital with the charming Prelude to Paul Reade’s ‘Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite’, played with immense detail and superb tonal quality. Next came another song from ‘The Last Five Years’—‘A Part of That’, sung with real feeling. Georgie finished with the well-known ‘Adelaide’s Lament’ from ‘Guys and Dolls’, giving an absolutely fabulous characterisation of this comic song—a real showstopper!

Eliza C also started her recital on the piano, bringing a Spanish flavour with ‘Rumores de Caleta’ by Albeniz. Eliza encapsulated the essence of the piece beautifully in this well-controlled performance. She then went on to give two absolutely stunning performances of two great showstoppers: ‘Gimme Gimme’ from ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ and ‘When It All Falls Down’ from ‘Chaplin’. There were real shades of Roxie Hart in these performances, which wowed the audience.

Finally, Evie M gave her recital of four songs, starting with the powerful song ‘At Last’, delivered superbly. She then provided a complete contrast with the warm and heartfelt song ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ by the Carpenters, which led into a mesmerising performance of ‘Feeling Good’—certainly, we all felt good after that! Evie’s final number also looked back to last year’s production, with a dazzling, sparkling, and sensational rendition of ‘All That Jazz’.

While the audience was not huge, they were greatly appreciative, and our students received well-deserved rapturous applause. Our thanks go to Mr Paul Dean, Director of Music at St Michael’s, for inviting our students to perform and for making us feel so welcome. Do Listen here: