On Friday 11 January, a group of boys went on a trip to Wigmore Hall along with Mr. Clarke & Miss Headd. When we got to Wigmore Hall we entered a small hall. Inside the hall, there was a layout of different instruments including the violin, viola, cello, double bass, theorbo and harpsichord.

At eleven o’clock, the instrumentalists came out and the director Richard Egarr, who also played the harpsichord, introduced the music by Arcangelo Corelli. The music was soft and delicate. The ancient instruments produced quiet music. The director informed us that today’s instruments like the violin are made for big halls, and metal strings are used; this produces a loud but clunky and hard music. However, the strings on the older violins were made from sheep’s gut. Pavlo Bezosniuk, the violinist, had a 400-year-old violin with a 600-year-old bow. He played a couple of solos which astounded the audience.

Then the AAM (Academy of Ancient Music) played a music composition compiled by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The piece played was a Serenade, which means it was intended to be performed fairly late at night to entertain a rich family, perhaps at a party or other social gathering. This is why the piece is called Eine kleine Nachtmusik, which is German for ‘a little night music’. Within the piece, the director invited the audience to join in: we were split up into three groups; A, B & C. We had to hum to different tunes separately in groups and then we hummed together. It was excellent being in Wigmore Hall with the ancient instruments.

By Sajan Khullar 9N