played by three Year 13 pianists (Felix Patten, Oscar Pelly and Alex Hemple), accompanied by an orchestra made up of instrumental teachers and students, conducted by Mr Parés. The Concerto starts dramatically with an Allegro movement in which the solo piano doesn’t enter until bar 77, and this first entry seems different from the orchestra’s introduction. While the piece was written by Mozart, the cadenza played was written by Beethoven. The second movement starts off with the piano playing alone, a soft and careful melody which is one of the most lyrical lines Mozart ever wrote. While this movement is a Romanze, there are some contrasting ideas which are menacing and completely different from the gen- tle opening. The final movement of the Concerto is the Rondo, which starts off with a forceful main theme which returns throughout the movement. Towards the end, there is another cadenza, again written by Beethoven, which runs into a final repetition of the main theme, and the piece ends in the fitting key of D major. The concert was a completely enjoyable experience, both performing and listening, and was a real showcase of the highest quality of music the College produces. Chamber music tour to Belgium, 2023 Dulwich’s chamber musicians performed to large and appreciative audiences on their recent tour to Belgium, says Thomas Barnett (Year 12) On the last Friday of the Lent term, a large group of Dul- wich College’s highest achieving musicians, along with six members of staff from the Music Department, set off for a tour of Belgium. We departed very early in the morning, meaning we were able to miss the worst of the queues at Dover, but we were still affected by the bad weather, as we had a very bumpy ferry ride. Once off the boat we drove to our accommodation in a small town called Maldegem, and after some short rehearsals, the Year 13s had the brilliant idea to set up a karaoke night to help everyone unwind from the long journey. On Saturday, we woke up early and made our way to the beautiful city of Ghent, where we had a tour through the canals by boat. Luckily, this boat was quite a lot smoother than the boat across the Channel! After eating lunch in a
This gives pupils the opportunity to develop their mu- sicianship and performance skills working with other musicians, a skill which is fundamental to music but often overlooked. On Wednesday 29 March, nine chamber groups per- formed in the atmospheric setting of St James’s Piccadil- ly. Students from Years 7 to 13 were involved, and there was a wide range of musical styles and many different combinations of instruments. The evening started off with the first movement of Fanny Hensel’s String Quartet; this is an important piece in music history as it is one of the earliest examples of a string quartet written by a female composer. The next item was Peter Martin’s Rumba , performed by a Year 13 piano trio, who kept the con- cert flowing with the piece’s use of lively dance rhythms. One of the most anticipated pieces of the evening was a commission for the College called Waltz in C: Kody the Cat, written by Alison Doubleday for four violins, a cello, double bass and piano. We were delighted to have Alison in the audience for the concert so that the school’s appreciation could be directly shown. The mood shift- ed as the Upper School oboe trio played Max Bruch’s ‘Night Song’ from his Eight Pieces , originally written for clarinet, viola and piano. At this point in the concert, the instrumental setup changed, and two pieces were played by the percussion trio, starting with Elliot Cole’s Postlude No.1. Written for vibraphone, this piece demonstrated the versatility of percussion instruments as much of it was performed using double bass bows instead of the typical mallets. The percussionists’ second piece was Brian Slawson’s Cemetery Salsa , a fun rhythmical piece played on the marimba. The Brass Consort is the largest chamber ensemble with the largest age range of players. They played all six movements of Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite , a set of works which use all the different brass so- norities. The final piece of the first half of the concert was the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D mi- nor, played by Year 11s. This was a virtuosic performance showing clear musicianship and skill from all members of the trio, and it left a buzz of excitement for the second part of the concert. The second half of the evening started with the monu- mental first movement of Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet, played by a mix of Year 10 and 11 players. Their per- formance was incredibly strong and thoughtful, with a wide variety of colours and moods. The final piece of the evening was Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 20 in D minor,
local restaurant, we went to the church where we would have our first concert of the tour: Sint-Michielskerk. The church was one of three enormous churches in the centre of Ghent. The concert was a great success, and we had a very large turnout of people in the pews. Straight after this concert, we headed for the coach to drive to our second concert of the day, in Sint-Gilliskerk in Bruges. This con- cert had a warm and intimate feeling, and the audience were particularly engaged with the music. Afterwards we returned to our accommodation for a well-deserved night’s sleep. On Sunday, we had another early wake-up, as we re- turned to Bruges to go on a tour of an artisanal chocolate shop, followed by some free time to explore this beautiful city. Once we had had a look around Bruges, we returned to the coach to make our way to our third and final con- cert, at the Church of Our Lady in the town of De Panne. This church was a five-minute walk away from the beach, and we had another great turnout of attendees. The concert went so well that the audience asked us for an en- core! Later that evening we went to a bowling alley nearby to our accommodation and had some fun to celebrate the successes of the concerts. The next morning, we gathered our instruments and set off back to Dulwich College. In each concert, there were around 10 different musical items. These included both larger groups with a conduc- tor, and smaller chamber groups. Along with this, there were organ solos from two of our organists in Year 13, and a close harmony vocal group, which was completely student-led and organised. At the end of each concert, all the students came together to sing as a choir. It was an enjoyable tour and a wonderful experience for all the musicians to perform in so many venues to a wide variety of audiences. ◎
College of Rock The College held its annual College of Rock Concert in March, with five bands (from the Junior School to the Upper School) performing covers (spanning George Ezra, Guns ‘n’ Roses and The Beatles) and original material to a packed Edward Alleyn Theatre.
Spring Chamber Music Concert 2023 The Chamber Music Concert was thoroughly enjoyed by both performers and listeners, writes Brooke Storey (Year 13) As part of the Music Award Holders programme at the College, Music Scholars and Award Holders are given the opportunity to rehearse in chamber groups, ranging from duos and trios all the way to the larger Brass Consort.
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