2017-2018 Junior Orchestral Weekend at St. Andrew’s School
12th January 2018
‘Unity is strength…when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.’ Mattie Stepanek
Malaika Dia (Violin) and Rose Ndeto (Flute) joined 200 young musicians from over 12 prep schools all over Kenya. Featuring for the first time were the Ghetto Classics who performed alongside the junior orchestra.
Upon arriving at St Andrew’s School on Friday night, the children were immediately engaged in intense sectional and full orchestra rehearsals that culminated in a one-hour concert on Saturday night.
Among the pieces that were played by the full orchestra were The Abduction from the Seraglio by W.A Mozart, Star Wars by John William, Radetzky March by Johann Strauss, Finlandia by Jean Sibelius and Ode to Joy by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Just like in a typical orchestral weekend, the string section and wind section battled it out to see which section would have the best pop song performance. The strings played Gangnam Style arr. By Robert Longfield and the winds did justice to Bruno Mar’s Uptown Funk arr. by Michael Story.
As the children played Finlandia, the audience joined in singing the chorus ‘We rest on Thee our Shield and our Defender.’ The concert was culminated with an encore of Bruno Mar’s Uptown Funk! We all left wanting to hear more!
