On Thursday 18 November we held our rescheduled Autumn Concert, one of the biggest events in the school calendar, and one of the most far reaching in terms of our musical community here at Habs. 

The concert featured the talents of over 300 students from both the Boys’ and Girls’ Schools, closing with 220 musicians on stage celebrating the 50th anniversary of the seminal Carole King album, Tapestry. 

Giving us an inspired reimagining of two of the songs on this album, expertly rearranged by our Musician in Residence Matthew Herd, and accompanied by full orchestra and Big Band, the new Year 7 pupils (in their entirety!) let us hear their marvellous singing voices, moving the audience with their enthusiasm and togetherness. 

Elsewhere in the concert we heard from the Symphony Orchestra, playing Mussorgsky’s A Night on the Bare Mountain, Big Band treating us to some classic Frank Sinatra, Concert Band taking us on a toe-tapping trip back to the 80s disco scene, and our impressively numbered Guitar Orchestra bringing together students from Year 7 to the Upper Sixth.  

Our Junior and Senior Musicians of the Year 2021, Fraser (11J1) and Leandro (U6S2), dazzled audiences with their astonishing technical skill and musicianship, performing original compositions written especially for the event. 

Composition and original writing was a theme of the event with over half of the programme written or arranged especially for the night – a great marker of the progressive and vibrant direction that music and the arts at Habs are heading. 

We have a packed calendar for the remainder of this term, the Winter Concert follows hot on the heels of the Autumn on the 30 November, we have the Carol Service on the 6 December, Romeo and Juliet features some of our finest musicians and is not to be missed, running from 8 to 11 December. Jazzmas will be on the 10 December, we have Lunchtime Live concerts every Friday lunch and last but not least we will release our Christmas Music Video on the last day of term!