Musicians dazzle in charity concert

December 2, 2019

Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools Symphonic Winds.

Musicians at Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools lit up The Blake Theatre in a beautiful charity concert.

Monmouth School for Boys hosted the eclectic evening in support of the Royal Forest of Dean Herbert Howells Society Bursary Fund and Rowing Together for Healthy Minds.

Lovely performances were given by Symphonic Winds, Junior Winds, Monmouth School for Boys’ Jazz Orchestra (MOJO), Senior Strings and Tobias Napleton.

MOJO, under the direction of Mr Alun Hathaway, opened the concert with The Chicken (James arr. Berg), Dirty Dozen (Clark), Coconut Champagne (DiBlasio) and The Jazz Police (Goodwin).

The senior strings, conducted by Mrs Ruth Friend, followed with Air (Purcell), Adagio; Allegro (Pleyel) and Plink Plank Plunk (Anderson).

Tobias Napleton, a talented pianist and former Royal Forest of Dean Herbert Howells Society Bursary Fund recipient, shone with Gadabout (Howells).

After the interval, the junior winds, under the baton of Miss Sarah Fowler, played La Caracola (Henson and Pottle), Russian Dance (Watkin), The Avengers Theme (Silvestri) and The Banana Boat Song (Kernan).

The Symphonic Winds, with Miss Fowler at the helm, continued the musical feast with Cartoon Express (Arr. Taylor), The Avengers: Endgame (Silvestri), The Lion King (John Arr. Bocock), Jitterbug (Buckley), and Pirates of the Caribbean (Bedelt).

And, the assembled company, directed by Miss Fowler, rounded off a memorable evening of music-making with James Bond (Norman Arr. Bulla).

Monmouth School for Boys’ Jazz Orchestra (MOJO).

Junior winds, under the baton of Miss Sarah Fowler.

Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools Senior Strings.

Tobias Napleton, a former Royal Forest of Dean Herbert Howells Society Bursary Fund recipient.