On Thursday we hosted our Gala Showcase event, combining both Musical talent from a variety of students but with a focus on our year 11 IGCSE and year 13 IBDP students, alongside our IBDP Visual Art exhibition for our year 13 students.
The evening began at 3.30pm when the Art department opened its doors to unveil the work that has been nearly a year in the making. Both HL and SL Visual Art students showcased not only their exhibition outcomes, but also the full narrative behind each piece and the curation of the exhibition. Themes spanned a number of numbers of global issues from identity, addiction, to the difference in a modern day Vietnamese society. Other exhibitions used language to play around with idioms in a visual manner, the exploration of what ‘Wonderland’ really is and a whistle-stop tour or some Greek mythology. This group of students are a particularly impressive cohort. They are committed, thoughtful, resilient and willing risk-takers. Above all, as was evident on the evening, they truly care. Not solely about their work and their own outcomes and not even just about their peers, but they care about making a difference globally and using art as a medium to illicit change and evoke discussion. For this reason alone, we couldn’t have asked for better. We are so proud of their achievements, not only during the last two weeks but over their whole time within the art department and we look forward to tracking their future achievements very closely.
Following the exhibition, visitors moved upstairs to the Auditorium where they were treated to the welcoming sounds of our Year 11 Compositions as they waited for the performance to begin. The concert itself was full of variety, featuring everything from six-hand piano showpieces to a rock band. Our youngest performer Eric Jang from Year 7 was a guest on a night usually reserved our older students in recognition of his achievements in winning his age category on piano for the Nord Anglia Young Musician of the Year.
Year 11 students featured in three ensemble performances, ranging from Quoc Nam An and Tri Bao Khang's band performance of The Beatles Come Together, a flute duet by Ye Sol and Su Min and a six-hands piano trio featuring Hanh Linh, Duc Minh and Linh Dan. This pieces have seen the students working hard both in lessons and in their own time to get together with friends and other students who have demonstrated a high level of commitment to bring these pieces together.
Our two Year 13 IB Music students Nguyen Thao and Hoang Mai have shown dedication and determination throughout the two years of their course and this culminated in two ten-minute recitals that saw them tackle a range of repertoires and styles. Nguyen Thao performed on the piano, beginning with Beethoven's challenging Piano Sonata in F Minor which contrasted beautifully with the jazziness of Mike Cornick's Film Noir and the subtleties of Mazhang's - Remote Xianggelila. Hoang Mai's vocal programme began with an emotional performance of Handel's Lascia Ch'io Pianga (‘Let Me Weep’) followed by the delicate Vietnamese Traditional - Beo Dat May Troi before ending in a commanding rendition of Fly Me to the Moon by Bart Howard.
It was a long but thoroughly rewarding day for all involved and the students were professional throughout the soundchecks and practice recordings as they were in the concert itself making such an important event a pleasure to prepare and stage. The final product is a credit to their resilience (much of this work has been prepared during social distancing) maturity and passion for music, alongside the support and encouragement that our students receive at home.
Jonathan Scott and Stephanie Miller
Music Teacher and Assistant Head- Academic
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