A hugely diverse range of music made for a lively evening when The John Lyon School and Harrow School came together for the Commemoration Concert in memory of their founder, John Lyon.

The annual concert in Harrow School’s historic Speech Room featured instrumental and choral music, with some pieces featuring joint ensembles comprising boys from both schools.

Miss Katherine Haynes, the new Head of The John Lyon School, said: “The John Lyon School and Harrow School work closely and the Commemoration Concert is an important date in both our calendars. I was most impressed at the standard of musicianship across very diverse genres and would like to congratulate the boys and their teachers on an excellent concert.”

The concert began with the schools’ Joint Orchestra conducted by Harrow’s Director of Music, Mr David Woodcock, performing Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Next came a complete musical change as the JLS Director of Music, Miss Anna Wilby, conducted the John Lyon Male Voice Choir singing her own arrangement of the hymn And Can It Be? followed by American singer-songwriter Marc Cohn’s 1991 hit, Walking in Memphis.

“Personally, I think the highlight was the playing of the combined orchestra: both the Mendelssohn overture at the beginning of the concert and, drawing the evening to a close, The Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition, which is perhaps Mussorgsky’s most famous work,” said Miss Wilby. “It was a great sound and felt very much like a successful collaboration between the two schools.”

The programme also featured:
• Benjamin Britten’s Simple Symphony – performed by the String Ensemble
• Neal Hefti’s Splanky and Cindy Walker’s You Don’t Know Me – The Joint Big Band
• Mozart’s Adagio from Grand Quintetto – New Music Ensemble
• Handel’s Coronation Anthems, Let thy hand be strengthened and Zadok the Priest – The Combined Choirs

Harrow School was officially founded in 1572 after John Lyon, a wealthy local yeoman farmer, was granted a charter by Elizabeth I. By the 19th Century, Harrow School had moved away from its founder’s original intention of providing an education for local boys, with ‘foreigners’ (boys from outside the parish) hugely outnumbering the locals. To address this issue, the ‘Lower School of John Lyon’ opened nearby in 1876 as a day school for local boys. It was later renamed The John Lyon School.

A retiring collection was taken in aid of Help for Heroes – a charity set up in 2007 to support members of the Armed Forces wounded in service.

ENDS

Issued on behalf of The John Lyon School by Edge Media

MEDIA CONTACTS: Miss Katherine Haynes, Head of The John Lyon School, on 020 8872 8400 or Paul Herbert at Edge Media on 01453 544900