The Wycombe Abbey Orchestral Concert 2025
12 March 2025 - All
This February, members of the Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia, along with our four Clarence soloists, travelled to St Mary’s Church in Marylebone for the 2025 Orchestral Concert. This event is always one of the major highlights of the year for musicians at Wycombe Abbey and this year was no exception.
The Chamber Orchestra opened the concert, conducted by Mr Acosta. This first section was a true homage to Mozart. I had the privilege of starting the concert with my solo, ‘Alleluia’ from Exultate, jubilate, followed by the orchestra playing Divertimento in B-flat. The section concluded with Astrid’s (UVI) beautiful and sophisticated rendition of ‘O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn’ from one of Mozart’s most famous operas, Die Zauberflöte.
The Chamber Orchestra then transported us forward to the 20th century with Gershwin’s Lullaby for String Orchestra, which provided a calming contrast. To conclude the first half of the concert, the Sinfonia delivered a gripping performance of the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No I, conducted by Miss McClure, leaving the audience eager to hear more from our musicians after the interval.
The second half of the concert opened dramatically with our Combined Orchestra performing Prokofiev’s famous Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet. Following this, Sophia S (UVI) began the Symphony Orchestra’s section with her solo ‘Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again’ from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Phantom of the Opera. Her highly emotional performance beautifully highlighted the close connection between musical theatre and classical music.
The Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mr Reid, continued with an orchestration of Fauré’s ‘Berceuse’ from the Dolly Suite. Next, Sophia B (UVI) captivated the audience with her poignant performance of the second movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, arguably one of the most beautiful and romantic piano concertos ever written.
To bring the Orchestral Concert to an exuberant end, the Symphony Orchestra performed Smetana’s ‘Dance of the Comedians’ from The Bartered Bride. Having watched the violinists work diligently on the fast, scalic passages in rehearsals, I am pleased to say their efforts paid off, the piece provided a triumphant finale to a fantastic concert!
On behalf of this year’s Clarence soloists, I would like to say a huge thank you to the Music Department for providing us with such a unique and exciting opportunity, not only to perform a solo with an extremely talented orchestra but also with some of our closest friends. It has truly been a highlight of our time at Wycombe Abbey, and we can’t wait to return next year to hear the concert as Seniors.
Francesca
UVI
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