Roedean is extremely proud to present the opening concert of the Brighton Festival Fringe each year, continuing our 17-year association with this wonderful event series, and this year’s concert was yet again excellent.  

The concert began with two movements from Handel’s iconic Messiah, sung by the combined forces of Roedean’s singers and members of the local community.  The first soloist was Gabriella, from Year 11, who played the final movement of Weber’s challenging Clarinet Concerto in F Minor with great confidence and bravura.  The next soloist was concert’s youngest, Joyce, who is only in Year 9.  She performed the very famous Andante from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.21 in C Major. To play a concerto movement with a full orchestra at such a young age is very unusual, but Joyce clearly loved the experience and played beautifully throughout.

Having taken her bow, Joyce picked up her violin to play in the String Orchestra which accompanied Katarina’s performance of Vivaldi’s G Major Violin Concerto.  Freya, the leader of the orchestra, and Charlotte then swapped violin for flute and oboe for harp to perform Mozart’s C Major Concerto for Flute and Harp. There are very few opportunities for a harpist to play a concerto, so it was particularly lovely to hear it played so well, and Freya’s melodic playing complemented it beautifully. Martha then played the challenging Vaughan Williams Concerto for Oboe and Strings, and was in complete command throughout the performance.  Her performance was excellent.

However, it was Soprano Fran from Year 13 who stole the show with a wonderful Recitative and Aria from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. With its tragic repetition of the phrase ‘Remember Me’, when the heroine realised that she must let her lover go, Fran’s portrayal of Dido’s lament was absolutely beautiful.  The Roedean Senior Singers then gave a wonderful rendition of Brahm’s Song of Fingal, accompanied by two French horns. In three and four parts, the singers’ performance evoked with ease the bleak Scottish landscape where a young maid mourned her beloved warrior.  This led beautifully into the main choral element of the programme, Fauré’s Requiem, in which the massed choir negotiated the lovely melodies and textural harmonies very well. Despite her comparatively young age, Amelie sang the well-known Pie Jesu soprano solo with incredible control and poise.

The finale was William Walton’s orchestral Crown Imperial, and it was the perfect conclusion to a wonderful concert, in which Roedean and members of the local community came together to make music.  Congratulations to everyone involved in making this such a success, and in particular to our maestros Mr Rous, Miss Bartlette, and, of course, our Director of Music, Miss Fewkes – bravo!