MUSIC DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES NEVER SEEN BEFORE SHREWSBURY CONCERT SERIES

Shrewsbury’s Music department has launched an ambitious and varied 12-concert series that will bring together the school’s best musicians from all age groups and disciplines to perform in either an online capacity - should school closure continue, or on-site. Beginning with a Kickstarter event where students have been asked to send in their favourite video of themselves performing, the concert series aims to bring some musical joy into homes and some valuable performance skills for students.

The school is lucky to have Head of Woodwind and Brass, Mr Paul Archibald and Head of Strings, Ms Rowena Calvert curating the concert series - each bringing a wealth of experience in virtual performances. Both maestros are world-renowned musicians who will ensure the arrangements are of the highest order. Engaging audiences is infinitely more difficult when they are not present, so both are busy engaging their respective students to bring their A-game in a virtual recital format.

“Shrewsbury’s musicians participate in 850-plus lessons per week, and this concert series will be a celebration of all their hard work and success. Performing Arts at Shrewsbury, and indeed around the world has taken a massive hit, and this is our way of taking back the space usually occupied by musicians. We are excited to show our community the breadth of talent Shrewsbury has - this concert series is going to do just that,” Ms Calvert explained.

Mr Archibald is equally delighted to be persevering with performances instead of waiting for things to reopen.

“As far as I am aware, this concert series is the first of its kind at Shrewsbury, and I am confident that viewers will be hugely impressed with the performances planned over the next 12 weeks. All ensembles will be taking part, from Brass and strings through to choral; so there is something for everyone,” he enthused.

Both music teachers are determined to make the series a triumph and a lot of planning is going into the organisation and curation of the event. Both Junior and Senior students will be involved from the Kickstarter event onwards so be sure to keep an eye (and ear) out for developments on social media and internal channels.

The anticipated concert series will show every Wednesday at 4 pm with the Kickstarter kicking off proceedings on the 27th of January.