3:00pm Friday 3rd July 2009
By Lucie Richards
Basingstoke Primary Schools’ Festival
A Walk On The Wild Side
The Anvil
SAD Jaguars, lonely puffins, dangerous tigers and cheeky monkeys – they were all on the bill for an impressive show by budding Basingstoke musicians.
After a year of rehearsals, the choir and orchestra of Basingstoke Primary Schools’ Music (BPSM), consisting of children from 17 schools, joined together for a triumphant concert showcasing the talents of the next generation of performers.
The concert began with a spirited rendition of Wim-o-weh, which got the singers, orchestra and audience warmed up and ready for an evening of music on an animal theme.
The show was well programmed, with different pieces to show off the talents of the whole orchestra, individual sections, the choir, soloists and the enthusiastic and colourfully dressed dancers who accompanied some of the pieces.
Other numbers brought the hundreds of children together – a credit to all their conductors.
Special mention must be made of Hannah Lowther, from Oakley Junior School, for her stunning solo performance of Jaguar. I look forward to seeing her on a West End stage in a few years.
Standing alone in a spotlight in front of a packed Anvil with only a piano as accompaniment, the young singer was unfazed, hitting every note without a shadow of nerves and enunciating her words perfectly.
A performance of Nanuma was also delivered with precision by a group of soloists.
The choir, comprising 300 singers who spilled into the audience, was very professional, with members sitting absolutely still when they were not singing and pronouncing their words well, particularly in Mud and Puffin Song – no mean feat for so many voices.
Certain pieces were brought to life by young dancers from various schools, swinging their tales in Tyger Tyger and dancing around Simba in I Just Can’t Wait to be King.
Finally, the orchestra, consisting of more than 100 young musicians, played sweeping pieces such as the Jurassic Park theme, and from the strings at the front, the wind instruments in the middle and the triangles, drums and tambourines at the back, all pulled together beautifully for their conductors.
A remarkable concert, especially given that choir and orchestra rehearsed together for the first time on the day.
The evening came to a ceremonial close with a speech by Mark Halls, BPSM chairman, who made everyone – including the audience – feel special, before a final rendition of Wim-o-weh.
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