Last week Woodham Academy’s Main Hall was once again filled for the annual Summer Concert, an evening of entertainment provided by the Performing Arts department. Acts this year included a wide variety of music and dance performers, with more than 60 students taking part on stage to produce a packed programme, covering several different musical genres.
Woodham Instrumental Group and Woodham Jazz Band, led by Mr Boyd and Miss Jackson respectively, showed that instrumental playing at Woodham is going from strength to strength. Mr Boyd commented that the quality of instrumentalists is improving year on year at Woodham, leading to some impressive performances. Year 8 student Charlotte Kirton played a leading role in one of the Jazz Band performances, despite being only in her second year of learning to play the saxophone. Other members of both Instrumental Group and Jazz Band, including Liam Brown (Year 10) and James Newton (Year 11), took their talents to the streets of Durham this weekend, where they were involved in the Durham International Brass Festival.
Year 9 student Zoë Efthymiadou appeared on several occasions, playing a different instrument each time! Zoë performed one of her grade 4 exam pieces on the violin, as well as an enchanting harp solo. Zoë regularly rehearses at The Sage, Gateshead, where she receives harp lessons. A third performance from Zoë came in the form of accompanying Year 10 vocalist Keira Durham on the cello, for an acoustic version of David Guetta’s ‘Titanium’.
Other notable performances came from Year 11 band ‘Vicky and the Schnells’, who most recently performed a half-hour set at their prom; a Year 9 band consisting of Ben Alliston, Meghan Cumming, Sam Gittins, Jonathan Jarvis and Callum Smith who performed the Oasis hit ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’, which they had prepared as part of their Year 9 performance module; and solo performances from Year 10 and 11 students Francesca Porritt, Rhys Kingston, Lizzie Lovejoy and Adam Nicholas. Year 7 student Hannah Bussey also gave a moving rendition of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’, ably accompanied on acoustic guitar by her older brother and former Woodham student Tom, who was keen to return to help out once again.
New to the programme for this year was the inclusion of Woodham Dance Academy, directed by Miss Minervini. 26 Year 7 students auditioned in September for only five available places, so the standard is incredibly high. Over the year, Woodham Dance Academy has performed in Woodham’s Christmas concert, March’s production of We Will Rock You and also at the Gala Theatre in Durham. Last week they showcased one piece involving the entire company, and a smaller group performance choreographed by the five Year 8 students involved – Libbie Anderson, Sophie Banner, Courtney Fawcett, Ruby Palmer and Hana Stephen
Older students have also taken the role of leading dances or contributing to some of the choreography, which is particularly beneficial for those studying GCSE Dance. Year 9 student Victoria Archer led and choreographed her own original group composition, an innovative and edgy piece entitled ‘Psycho’.
The concert was finished off with performances from vocal group Woodham Sound, led by Mrs Taylor, featuring solo performances from several students.
As usual, the music department had the chance to say thank you and good luck to its outgoing Year 11 students, with a total of 15 individuals making their final appearance in this year’s Summer Concert. Many of them are, thankfully, going on to study music at college or sixth form, and we wish them all the success they deserve. Those that remain at Woodham from September will soon be preparing for the next event – the Christmas Concert. Please contact Woodham Academy for further details.
