Music
Extra Curricular Music at the RGS
There is a School Choir and a Chamber Choir that joins with girls from the High School. They give regular performances both at all the school’s important ceremonies such as Commemoration Day and perform in concerts throughout the year. They join with the Parents’ Choir for major performances in Guildford Cathedral
The School’s Symphony Orchestra tackles major works from the orchestral repertoire and also accompanies concerto performances. They also perform at the major Cathedral Concerts. Recent repertoire has included Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5, The Planets and the accompaniments for the Poulenc Gloria and Haydn’s Nelson Mass.
The Second Orchestra is the training orchestra for the Symphony Orchestra.
The Concerto Consort is a chamber orchestra based on our leading string players. They recently gave a complete performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in the Guildford Spring Festival with 9 boys performing as soloists. This year they are playing Piazzolla’s Four Seasons.
The Big Band is a large wind concert band of nearly 60 players that performs mostly light music. They give annual charity concerts and have often toured abroad.
The Concert Band is the training band for the Big Band and also has a busy schedule of concerts.
Many boys enjoy performing jazz and rock music and in addition to the four standard music competitions within the school year there is a Contemporary Music Prize.
There is a huge range of smaller ensembles playing every week and over thirty concerts a year presented by the school each year.
Every other year the music combines with the drama department to present a musical.