This year’s Winter Concert at Trinity College School was the culmination of a day-long celebration of music at the School on Thursday, November 30th, that included some very special guests from the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Thanks to support from the D. Miles Price ’56 Guest Musician Fund, the Senior School music department welcomed a trio of students from the Glenn Gould School of Music, each of whom is an accomplished professional musician who has toured and competed internationally. Chelsea Ahn (piano), David Liam Roberts (cello) and Anna Štube (violin) performed for students in the Grade 10 Travel History-English course, and then played and led a workshop for our Senior School student-musicians. It was a wonderful, enriching experience for our students.
We were honoured to have the trio stay on to perform as part of the evening’s Winter Concert. Audiences in the Dick and Jane LeVan Theatre and watching the event via livestream were treated to a delightful night of music, led off by the trio. Then it was time for TCS students to take the stage for the first time this academic year. First up were students in the vocal masterclass, which is taught by TCS music teacher Mr. David Ioannou as well as singer-songwriter and voice coach Ms. Anna Mastin. Bolu Adefemi and Alicia Wang performed the heartbreaking Dear Theodosia from the musical Hamilton, with Bolu on guitar. This was followed by Taylor Swift’s wintry Evermore sung by Ailsa Huang and Oliver Gu. Then, soloist Sarah Inglis performed beautifully on violin, accompanied by Eric Jin on piano.
The vibe was sent soaring as the TCS Drumline, which is instructed by Mr. Michael Beauclerc, took the stage. They played a quartet of high-energy pieces, including Rock ‘n’ Roll with solos by Greyson Rankin, Finn Pollett, Charlotte Chan and Joon Kim. And the energy stayed up as Jazz@4, the School’s senior jazz band, offered up a trio of pieces, leading with music from A Charlie Brown Christmas featuring Beau Lee and Matthew Lambert, moving through Van Morrison’s hit Moondance, featuring Beau and Sichun Zhao, and closing with Duke Ellington’s rollicking jazz standard Caravan featuring Sadeel Omar and Eric Jin.
Following a short break, TCS Strings warmed everyone back up with selections from seasonal favourite The Nutcracker ballet by Tchaikovsky. The group was in fine form under the baton of conductor Mr. Chip Mihailescu. Then the two rock bands strutted their stuff. These co-curricular groups are led by members of the School’s information services team who are musicians in their own right: Mr. Joel Wesley and Mr. Christian McFadden. The younger musicians kicked things off with Radiohead’s Creep while the Bigside band played Where the Streets Have No Name by U2.
The six-member Jazz Choir is a new group this year, led by Ms. Mastin. The group paired two holiday pieces – Once Upon a December from the animated film Anastasia, and the theme from Elf – with a performance by members of the TCS Dance Team, led by Ms. Katie Traugott.
The evening closed out with the Trinity Winds, conducted by Mr. Ioannou and Ms. Rachel Pearson, starting off with the fun medley Merry Christmas and All That Jazz, moving through Hazo’s Rest (inspired by God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen) and concluding with cymbal-crashing fanfare of Robert W. Smith’s Kronos.
Mr. Ioannou says he is very proud of the students, who did a phenomenal job, and gave his thanks to the co-curricular leaders who have helped to make the music program such a success. This year, Mr. Ioannou’s first at TCS, has seen the establishment of the first jazz choir in about a decade and significant growth in the size of the Trinity Winds ensemble.
He extended gratitude to emcees Riley McKernan and Bolu Adefemi, the stage crew of Sarah Egan, Alexis Stewart, Laura Wiesler and June Kim, as well as the many staff members who contributed to the evening with their time and support. Special thanks to the audience for its enthusiastic support of our student-musicians as well as its donor support of our selected charity for the evening, Cramahe Food Share, a group of local volunteers who every week feed dozens of families in need.
Click on the links below for multimedia from the event:
