A group of six music students recently performed to the congregation at Arborfield’s beautiful and quaint St. Eligius Church.  The lunchtime concert included performances of works by Roger Quilter, Francis Poulenc and Franz Schubert.

The evening began with first year students Abbey Hardy and Lou Newton who conjured images of snake charmers and pan-tonal dreams in their performance of two movements of Poulenc’s sonata for flute and oboe.  Songs by Schubert about peace, love and death were then sung with haunting beauty by first year students Joe Edwards, Maddie McClements and Rania Bouzekraoui.

Arborfield’s community were also treated to the expressive and gentle silver tones of Quilter’s ‘Love’s Philosophy’ sung by second year student, Chloe Riordan.  There was also a tear jerking excerpt from the Musical ‘The Secret Garden’ performed by Maddie, who also brought abstract new musical tones to the concert in a doctoral composition, Lucid Nightmare (2016), composed by Jean Beers, Curriculum Manager for music.

The concert culminated in a stunning vocal from Rania who performed Mozart’s infamous Queen of the Night Aria from ‘The Magic Flute’.

Jean commented, “I was so impressed with the students’ musical passion and confident performances.  St. Eligius welcomed us with tea, kind words and a return invitation to perform there on a regular basis.  The students said they were extremely happy to have been given this opportunity and enjoyed being able to share their passion for music with such an enthusiastic audience.”

Update June 2020: Congratulations to the students who performed at Arborfield who have been featured in The Wokingham News.  Please click here to read the article.