King Edward's Music

This trip was organised by one of our visiting music teachers and chamber group coaches, Lucy Akehurst, who organised a music tour to Germany for her pupils at KES/KEHS. Zechariah in UMs, has written about the experience.

This wonderful trip to Germany has been a treat which has been both exhilarating and exciting. The hostel was amazing and I enjoyed staying there with my friends and playing table-tennis in the evenings; the food was good, but that was not the only thing that was good on this trip. I enjoyed going round the Beethoven house – I especially liked the music room, where we listened to the Moonlight Sonata. I really liked the last movement, marked ‘Presto agitato’ ; I learned many facts about Beethoven’s life and I learned about what Beethoven used to help him to hear when he started to go deaf. I admired Robert Schumann’s grave – also in Bonn – the detail was immaculate and elaborate, the statues of the three people symbolic and the lyre stood out greatly. It was an honourable grave for the prodigious composer, whose wife was also buried there. An amazing concert followed this visit – a truly great performance in a beautiful church.

The next day, we went to the chocolate museum in Köln – it was great, and I loved the tasting session where they showed us the core ingredients of chocolate and what it tastes like.

Then we went in cable cars over the Rhine and Moselle rivers, with an amazing view, to a fortress. The walls definitely looked strong enough to withstand several attacks.

It is a pity that we must leave, but this has been a very memorable journey and I loved playing in the concerts as an orchestra with all these amazing musicians. Thank you to Lucy for organising this trip.

At the end of last term, our music ensembles from both schools performed at Symphony Hall as part of their Spring Concert.

We were also thrilled to have artist James Mayhew join us to illustrate a scene inspired by The Rite Of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. He painted live, while the KES/KEHS Symphony Orchestra performed the work.

Well done to all the performers, thank you to the staff who helped out during the day, and thank you to all who came to watch.