Musicians raise the roof for 125th anniversary concert

March 27, 2017

Beautiful music filled St David’s Hall in Cardiff yesterday as over 400 children performed in a momentous concert to mark Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls’ 125th anniversary.

Pupils were joined on stage by Old Girls, current staff and professional musicians as they played a series of stunning pieces to more than 800 audience members on Mothering Sunday.

The concert was a truly collaborative event, as pupils and staff from The Grange, Inglefield House, Monmouth School, HMSG and the Monmouth Male Voice Choir sang, strummed and plucked their hearts out.

Challenging music by Khachaturian, Stravinsky and Bernstein was executed perfectly by the Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools Symphony Orchestra, directed by David Lawson of Monmouth School.

And the Senior Strings gave an outstanding performance of Dag Wirén’s Serenade for Strings, conducted by HMSG’s Ruth Friend.

In a glorious finale, everyone on stage wowed the crowd with a stirring rendition of In These Stones Horizons Sing by Karl Jenkins, directed by HMSG’s Mario Conway.

The beloved teacher, who is retiring this summer after 35 years of loyal service to the school, was given a standing ovation at the end of the show.

Dr Caroline Pascoe, Headmistress of HMSG, said: “I’m so very proud of all the hard work by our pupils and staff. It was a fabulous way to celebrate the school’s milestone anniversary.

“It was particularly wonderful to welcome Old Girl, Professor Jane Glover CBE, to the stage. The world-renowned Mozart conductor shows our current musicians just what is possible with hard work and passion for music.”

Professor Glover has agreed to be a patron as HMSG launches its appeal for a new performing arts centre.

Pictures from the evening are available in our Flickr album