The Senior School Spring Concert was a glorious showcase of choral and orchestral music, filling a packed chapel with the thrilling sound of massed vocal and instrumental forces. The performance of Fauré Requiem given by Taunton School Chorus involved nearly one hundred singers and instrumentalists, drawn from the Senior School, Prep School, staff, parents and Old Tauntonians, and including our wonderful visiting music teachers, supported by further professional musicians.

In the first half of the concert, student soloists Anthony (Year 12, Marshall) and Rufus (Year 13, Fairwater) both performed repertoire that would happily grace any professional stage. Anthony’s Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, first movement was a virtuosic tour-de-force, handled with immense confidence and poise. This performance took the audience on a journey of musical discovery, and the whole chapel was equally enraptured during the famous and exquisite cadenza, and at the peak of the musical discourse between solo and ensemble, as Anthony’s violin soared over the orchestral sound. Rufus created a magical atmosphere in his performance of Rêverie by Glazunov, with the warmth of the horn sound making full use of the chapel’s acoustic. This rendition captured the serenity of the piece, and was delivered with impressive technical control and an assured sense of calm. Both of these young musicians held the audience in the palm of their hands, and wowed the visiting professionals with their skill, as well as everyone who was there to witness the performances.

The concert opened with the Brass Ensemble performing Fanfare and Flourishes, based on a theme from Charpentier’s Te Deum, and providing an exhilarating start to the evening, supported by powerful percussion. The brass also came to the fore at the opening of Sibelius Finlandia, performed by the school orchestra, to bring the first half to a close. An exciting account encapsulated the different moods of this Romantic showpiece, as Taunton School’s top instrumental musicians managed the different characters and approaches needed in the music. The triumphant ending was appropriately powerful and reverberated around the space in an uplifting finale.

The Fauré Requiem was a big undertaking in the busy Spring Term, and the musicians rose to the occasion in spectacular style at the concert. The music’s overwhelming message is one of peace and of hope, and seems absolutely relevant to our current times. The audience were led through the seven movements by the combined Taunton School Chorus, who created long lyrical lines with excellent intonation, and also demonstrated passion and strength at significant moments in the piece. Visiting baritone soloist Andrew Davies performed the Hostias and the Libera Me with a majestic sound and with total musical conviction. Student soloist, Lily (Year 11, Jenkin) also brought an impressive sense of composure to her performance of the celebrated Pie Jesu, which was sung with a real beauty of tone and a very musical sense of phrasing. The whole chapel was carried along in the choruses, with the choir supported by adept and sympathetic accompaniment from the orchestra, brought together by Director of Music, Toby Carden. The sublime In Paradisum was an appropriately uplifting way to bring the evening to a conclusion, as a warmly appreciative audience were left with a note of optimism and inspiration to help draw the Spring Term to a close.