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St Cecilia Triumphs!

What better way to honour the Patron Saint of music than with a concert? The idea is probably a bit of a cliché, but Farleigh’s annual St Cecilia Concert cannot really be termed a concert; to think of it in this way will inevitably lead to disappointment. What is it, then? A festival? No, that’s the Summer Soirée. A performance? Well yes, but that doesn’t properly capture the spirit of the evening. A celebration? Yes, that’s the one! It’s a celebration of music in all forms, a celebration of our remarkable pupils’ talents and those of their teachers, and a celebration of the entire Farleigh community: it’s joyous!

Since 2011, the concert has been themed and we’ve managed to not repeat a theme so far. This year the music choices all revolved around the idea of ‘Sweet Treats’ and featured songs which contained references to anything sweet. Our two big choirs bookended the evening with Junior Choir opening, as is tradition, with a performance of A Marshmallow World interspersed with The Candy Man, whilst the Senior Choir closed proceedings with a stonking performance of Sweet Dreams. Other vocal contributions came from the Girls’ Close Harmony (Sugartime) and a welcome return for Boys’ Noise (Cotton Candy Land). Notable was the exceptional string playing with Highly Strung performing an arrangement of A Spoonful or Sugar whilst the ever-expanding String Sensation played You’ve Never Had Chocolate Like This. Not to be outdone, Mr Lindsey-Clark’s talented guitar quartet gave the world premiere of his Sweet and Sour, Short and Sweet with Pick Perfect contributing an ambitious and deftly performed rendition of Pure Imagination.

The wind and brass players got their acts in as well: Toot Sweet (our flute ensemble) performed Toot Sweets, the song from which their name was derived so many years ago; the SacPack tackled Robbie Williams’ Candy with aplomb; BrassWorks and Green Shoots combined for an energetic arrangement of The Oompa Loompa Song; Five Foot Six injected a bit of 1920s jazz into the evening with their performance of Sweet Georgia Brown and our small but perfectly formed group of recorder players (Recorder Revolution) made everyone swoon with a beautiful performance of Sweets for my Sweet. The biggest of all the wind ensembles is the Concert Band, who were on impressive form in both Sweet Caroline and I Feel Good.

The bands are always a highlight: Funky Fingers taking us right back to the 1980s with their version of Sweet Dreams and the Rhythm Rascals provided us with a glimpse of the Deep South with a rendition of Sweet Home Alabama. Dynamix put in a gutsy cover of Hozier’s Too Sweet with Mix’Tape and Vinyl Tap! contributing to the line-up with respective performances of Can’t Help Myself and Sugar Sugar.

Eclectic? Certainly. Electric? Despite the challenges faced with electricity of the last week, definitely!

Of course, these events do not happen without a huge team effort, and I am indebted to my colleagues across the whole school for their support. The biggest plaudits, though, must go to the wonderful music teachers who, day in day out, surmount whatever challenges are thrown their way and, each year, achieve remarkable feats to produce evenings of such quality. The children are marvellous, they lap it all up and we are indebted to all the parents who recognise the value of a music education and are so willing to invest in it. As I said at the end of the evening, these are precious occasions, they are occasions to savour, to treasure and to protect not least because they are fit for a Saint.

Marcus Reeves, Director of Music

4th December 2024