Music and Drama
The musical life of the school is especially rich and varied. The Challoner’s Orchestra performs a wide and challenging programme, sometimes joining with students from Dr Challoner’s High School. Recently, the orchestra performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with one of our own Sixth Form students playing the virtuoso piano part. The school choir performs a wide repertoire of music and features prominently in our annual carol services and Founder’s Day service in St Mary’s Church. In addition to classical music, the Jazz Band and Swing Band (involving around one hundred students from both schools) provide a focus for lighter entertainment and also regularly go on tour. A whole range of smaller ensembles ensures that many boys are able to develop and display their talents. A number of peripatetic teaching staff provide weekly tuition in all the main orchestral instruments as well as piano and guitar.
A major musical is put on every two years with the most recent production being Little Shop of Horrors in March 2009.
Junior and Senior plays are staged each year with recent productions including the restoration comedy Love for Love, an adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Students can participate in weekly Drama Clubs and also have the opportunity to hone their writing skills with a weekly lunchtime Writer’s Workshop. In addition to taking leading roles on the stage, students are also encouraged to learn the skills of lighting, set and programme design, ensuring that our productions really are student-led.