Musicians Excel on Speech Day

Oakhamian musicians always feature highly in our annual Speech Day celebrations, and 2023 was no exception.  As normal, the musical celebrations began on the eve of Speech Day, when the class of 2023 gave a superb Leavers’ Concert in Chapel. The talents of our leavers were very clear, impressing a packed audience with a diverse and polished sequence of instrumental and vocal performances. They will be much missed.

The following morning saw the pupils in the Chapel Choir and Chamber Choir rehearse very early in the Chapel in preparation for their Speech Day Concert, A Choral Cornucopia at 9.45am. They were on exceptional form in their one hour concert. Major works in their programme included the festive Handel Zadok the Priest, Haydn’s stormy motet, Insanae et vanae curae, and Jonathan Dove’s rhythmically exuberant Gloria. There was also brilliant unaccompanied singing in four pairs of a cappella motets, amongst which were two works by Rachmaninov to mark the anniversary of his birth, and two repeat performances of works commissioned for the School from Ēriks Ešenvalds and Will Todd. The whole concert was a great testament to the School’s exceptional standard of choral singing, and we congratulate all those involved.