A Musical Start to the Autumn Term

What a start to the year! On the first day of term, the Music department welcomed a raft of new musicians into Year 7. With its numbers bolstered, our INTER-KES orchestra is already making great progress with its new repertoire, under the direction of our new Music Specialist, Mr Riordan. 

At the other end of the scale, the Baroque Group hit the ground running with some first-class performances at Prizegiving and Open Morning, as well as helping to launch Mrs Hutchings’ Junior School ‘Music Week’ in a wonderful assembly. What a week that was; with several performances from Senior School Ensembles, it was a joy to watch our younger pupils being so inspired by their older peers.  A particular highlight was watching our Senior Orchestra rehearse and perform side-by-side with their Junior School counterparts. 

This term also marked what we hope will become a regular fixture in the KES Music diary, with a selection of our most accomplished musicians taking part in the St Mary’s Church, Bathwick lunchtime recital series. In the beautiful surroundings of our nearest place of worship, our piano, woodwind, string and percussion players moved the audience with an eclectic programme of music from Mozart through to The Black Crowes! 

At the time of writing, we still have the Music Marathon to look forward to - aiming for 100, one-minute performances from pupils and staff across our Senior School.  It certainly promises to be a fantastic evening, all in aid of one of this year's School charities, Dorothy House Hospice.

And it doesn’t stop there!  After half-term, look out for news of Masterclasses with Bath Philharmonia, the Autumn Colours Concert, ABRSM exams, a trip to Symphony Hall, Birmingham for all our GCSE and A Level pupils, KES Wind at the Christmas Fair and, of course, the pinnacle of our calendar year, the Carol Service making a welcome return to the stunning surroundings of Bath Abbey. 

Rupert Drury, Director of Music