Loreto’s musicians finished the academic year in spectacular fashion with appearances at two contrasting venues. The Chamber Choir took part in the annual One Education Showcase at the Royal Northern College of Music, performing a short but diverse set comprising ‘Ave Maria’, Musical Theatre classic ‘Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man’ and an innovative version of the Beatles’ ‘Come Together’, arranged by Head of Music, David Lloyd-Mostyn. A member of the One Education staff summed up the performance in one word: breathtaking. You can hear the performances on our soundcloud page.

This highly successful evening was followed by a new event on the Loreto calendar, the inaugural jazz night at the legendary Band on the Wall in Manchester, shared with our friends and colleagues from Loreto High School in Chorlton. Over forty musicians took part in the event, watched by an enthusiastic audience of two hundred. The high school Year 11 Soul Band ran through a superbly delivered set of soul classics and their Jazz Band was equally impressive, performing numbers such as,` It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing’ and Dave Brubeck’s timeless favourite `Take Five’.

A Loreto College Leavers Jazz Collective had been given complete artistic control of a thirty minute set, creating, rehearsing and performing their chosen pieces. New compositions were written especially for the evening by Jay Carroll and Sarah Spencer; there were solos from Freddie Jensen, Sara Nelson and Josey Marina, and combos curated by Pearly Azinwi and Sinead Power. The Loreto College Big Band, under the direction of composition teacher Andrew Stamatakis-Brown, further dazzled the audience, playing ‘Milestones’, ‘One Note Samba’, ‘Goodbye Porkpie Hat’, ‘Blue Train’ and ‘Caravan’.

A magnificent evening of music making culminated in LS Funk and Soul, lower sixth Loreto students, led by trombonist Ben Corbridge, delivering a varied set covering tunes from Stevie Wonder to Jessie J, a particular highlight being an Amy Winehouse tribute song, written by one of the singers, Jen Rice.

This thoroughly entertaining evening, enjoyed hugely by the audience of family and friends, drew plaudits from all directions, one member of the audience commenting that it was brilliant to see two ex Loreto Chorlton pupils, now A level students at the college, joining their old school band in several numbers, as well as performing in their own right.

In further news from the Music Department David Lloyd-Mostyn reports that four of our choristers from the Chamber Choir have been learning opera choruses in preparation for a performance with Altrincham Choral Society at an Opera Gala Night to be held at the RNCM. Works by Mozart, Verdi and Tchaikovsky will feature and our students will have to sing parts in French, Italian and Russian, as well as English.