The elegant surroundings and excellent acoustics of the Edwardian dining hall, with its new glass orangery extension, were the perfect setting for the senior school’s Summer’s concert with its mixture of old and new pieces to serenade the capacity audience on a warm June evening.

The Year 7 Sydenham High voices began the programme with a beautiful rendition of traditional Polish song. They were followed by the String Sinfonia who delighted the audience with three very different pieces, including a concertino by Küchler in the style of Vivaldi.  Year 7 music scholar Esme Burke then astounded everyone with a memorable performance of In a Sentimental Mood by Duke Ellington on the alto sax – an instrument that she only added to her range 6 months ago!

More great jazz followed with a blues medley (Rollins), more Ellington (C Jam Blues) and some Herbie Hancock (Watermelon Man) from the Jazz Collective, accompanied by their director Phil Meadows.  The programme then returned to classical with a wonderful solo performance of Handel’s Allegro by Alisa Gini on the violin.

The Sydenham High singers then took to the stage for the uplifting I will sing with the Spirit by John Rutter.  They followed this with a spoken performance of Do You Feel the Rhythm, conducted superbly by one of the youngest members of the choir – Tyla-Rae Fatoyinbo. The Concert Band provided a fantastic finale to the concert by playing the Beatles classic Hey Jude and Let It Go from Disney’s Frozen, both of which had everyone tapping along and humming the tunes as they left.