A small but appreciative audience was promised ‘good tunes’ and ‘beautiful music’ on arrival at the attractive surroundings of Monkton Coombe School - and this was clearly evident from the off, as the Jonathan Corry Band got off to a flying start with the rhythmic writing of ‘Gone My Care’ by Ray Steadman-Allen.

The Girls Chorus (Sue Blyth) presented three numbers accompanied by the chorus’ pianist Andrew Wicker on ‘It is to You’ and ‘Praise the Lord’, alongside the deliberately programmed vocal reprise of the opening band item.

Back in time

Stepping back in time, the Corry Band demonstrated a fine reading of ‘Arise, My Soul Arise’ (Goffin), before the Girls Chorus returned with ‘Fill Me With Your Love’ before displaying the suave hip-shaking choreography the ladies of ‘Sister Act’ would have been proud of in the up-tempo ‘Swinging with the Saints’.

The Andrew Blyth Band then took to the stage with the exciting writing of Steven Ponsford’s ‘Servants of God’ - a particular highlight being the playing of flugel player Hannah Robson and Chris Shanks on euphonium. This high quality was further in evidence on ‘Psalm 23’ inspired ‘My Comfort and Strength’ (Bowen).

Flurry of moves

Following a short interval the Timbrel Brigade arrived with a flurry of moves that wouldn’t have looked out of place as part of a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ routine. 

With head teacher authority, ISS leader Dorothy Nancekievill coerced the audience into the action by insisting on full crowd participation in ‘Boundless in Love’, before the A-Chorus mesmerised everyone with the beautiful acapella ‘Steal Away’ preceding their final contribution of ‘You Are Mine’.

Well handled

It would be easy to overlook the demands asked of students with the amount of music required for a week such as this, so perhaps it was no surprise that tiredness crept in towards the end of the evening. 

The A-Band under the familiar direction of Dr Steven Cobb closed the concert with Andrew Makereth’s ‘Besides the Sea’, followed by ‘Music of a Legacy’ (Ponsford). This testing piece, with snippets and quotes of famous SA music woven throughout and particularly testing cadenzas was well handled.

The final flourishes meant that despite the odd glitch, it did not detract from an interesting evening of diverse and challenging music brought together by young musicians with only a few days rehearsal. 

James Case