On Friday the Performing Arts department presented their Music Groups on the MFH stage in the Summer Concert. In Semester 1 the focus event for the groups was the December IFOL. To balance this in Semester 2, the May Summer Concert was created to showcase the dedication and talent of student musicians who had committed to UISG performing groups.
With our Secondary Student Council Arts Captain and Vice President hosting, also both members of UISG Music Groups, they guided the auidence through the programme, putting each group into context.The Summer Concert began with the three UISG Choirs.The Senior Choir, directed by Mr Josh Natal (Secondary MYP Music) and accompanied on the piano by our versatile College Counsellor, Ms YeIn Oh, presented two songs: ‘Shenandoah’ and ‘Friend Like Me’. The MYP students in the choir provided a joyful start to a very full concert.
The Year 4, 5 and 6 students of the Intermediate Choir, directed by Ms Jana Kucerova (Primary PYP Music), performed two songs: ‘Do Re Mi’ from The Sound of Music, showcasing their skill at singing in two and three parts, and the ever popular ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry, which caused much dancing side of stage.
The Junior Choir, directed by Ms Jessie Chen (Primary Early Years Music), accompanied by ITP piano teacher, Mr Daniel Tan, rounded off the choral section of the Summer Concert. The exuberant Year 1, 2 and 3 students sang two songs: ‘The Love of a Song’ and ‘How Far I’ll Go’, which had all the Disney ‘Moana’ fans singing along.
The third a final Primary group to perform at the Summer Concert was the Primary String Orchestra, directed by ITP violin teacher, Ms Angie, with Ms Jessie accompanying on the piano. The group played ‘Yao Dance’ and the ‘Orange Blossom Special’, in which you could hear the ‘chugging’ of the famous old luxury train heading down the tracks.
The Jazz Band introduced the instrumental section of the Summer Concert. Directed by Mr Josh Natal, who also played trumpet, the five-piece band swung through two tunes: ‘C-Jam Blues’ and ‘Mr. P.C.’. The audience could not help but tap their feet and start to feel the groove!
The five members of the UISG String Quintet have taken on the challenge of developing their ensemble awareness skills by playing ‘chamber music’ – small group playing with no conductor. They performed one piece, a 300-year-old ‘Bourrée’ by G. F. Handel, showing how their collaboration skills having taken on a musical turn.
The Brass Ensemble has grown from keen beginner trumpet and trombone players who meet Mr Natal during morning break to build their playing skills. With Mr Natal on snare drum, the group performed the ‘The Bugler’s Dream (Olympic Fanfare)’, filling the MFH with their strong sound.
The final item in the Summer Concert was an impressive combined orchestra of over 30 players. The Secondary Chamber Orchestra is directed by Mr Malcolm Mawhinney and practices duringThursday and Friday lunchtimes, with Mr Natal on trumpet. The UISG Orchestra, also directed by Mr M, practices after school on Wednesdays, and is open to Secondary students and Primary students in Year 5 and 6.With violins, violas, cellos, double basses, bass guitars, keyboards, flutes, clarinets, trumpets and percussion (timpani, drum kit, conga, xylophone, triangle), the combined orchestra performed two pieces: the stirring ‘Finlandia’ by Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius, and tango inspired ‘Libertango’ by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla.
With the tango rhythms still dancing in their heads, a happy audience moved off to another Guangzhou summer weekend, hopefully inspired by their UISG Music Groups.
The Performig Arts team would like to thank you for all your support of our young musicians. Parents (UPTA), staff, classmates all help to make this UISG Arts community thrive. We would also like to thank our Administration, IT and Marketing teams for their direct support of the Summer Concert, and all the other teams in the background who are there in support.
The whole school Performing Arts department incorporates Music and Theatre – Music from Early Years, Primary PYP, Secondary MYP and Secondary DP classroom courses, along with Theatre classroom courses in Secondary MYP and Secondary DP. Although IB classroom courses are the main focus, extra-curricular opportunities are often an expected part of a Performing Arts programme. UISG is fortunate to have practitioners who are able to support and develop young artists through both curricular (classroom) and extra-curricular Music groups, despite the challenges of gathering students for weekly rehearsals.The Instrument Tuition Programme (ITP) is an independent, parallel extra-curricular programme, through which parents can sign up for instrument lessons with UISG-approved Instrument Teachers. Our violin and flute teachers also offer lunchtime Primary Music groups.
Mr Malcolm Mawhinney
Head of Performing Arts (K-12)
