2022 Welcome Concert

2022 WELCOME CONCERT a concert presented and performed by the students of St John Rigby College, Gathurst Road, Orrell on Tuesday 18th October, 2022.

St John Rigby College ‘Welcome Concert’ is always their first concert of the year… it allows the college to welcome their first-year students (Y12) and to give them an opportunity to perform and show off their talents.  It also allows the college to welcome back their second-year student (Y13) and give them the opportunity to further their skills and to meet those new students with similar aspirations, skills and passions … a great way to start the year!

Whenever I attend anything music/theatre related here at the College, I always find the ever so talented and dedicated David Wall, Head of Performing Arts and Music to the fore.  I don’t know of anyone more dedicated to music than David and you can just tell from the rapport with his students, that there is a great bond, a trust and a commitment which works both ways.  Loved this concert… I just love seeing young people using their talents.

Anyone who as read my reviews before will know that this is where I ‘stick my neck out’ and start identifying MY favourites… but that seems a little unfair because there was little or no doubt that everyone who performed that evening gave of their best and what more can you ask! 
The concert was performed in two acts…
Act 1
i) What a way to open a concert… St John Rigby’s College Concert Band…playing ‘Chameleon’. Possibly eighteen ever so talented musicians aged between 16/18 years old making their instruments talk!  We had brass, woodwind, percussion, guitars, piano… the sound was amazing, the musicians amazing!  Be ever so proud folk!  ii) 1st year student Zach Nolan introduced us to the rock guitar solo ‘Eruption’ by ‘Van Halen’- ‘considered one of the greatest guitar solos of all time’!  Well done Zach good job!   iii) 1st year student Anna Meredith sang ‘There are worse things that I could do’ made famous by Alison Moyet. Anna sang it really well, great tone, well done Anna! iv) Eve Rosler sang and played piano to ‘Lovely’ by Billie Eilish. Great song, great lyrics. Eve has a ‘distinctive voice’, great tone, and can make that piano talk… well done be proud!  v) 2nd Year Emily Wallis was next up singing ‘Writing on the Wall’ by Sam Smith, great rendition.  Emily has it all, but possibly lacks a little confidence… stick with it Emily… it’s all there!  vi) Millie Jarnell (loved the nails) is another with a great voice, but again nerves I think are a problem!  Sang ‘Atlantis’ by ‘Seafret’ really well, like Emily, it’s all there, you just need to believe!  vii) Lewis Murphy (accompanied by Lewis Barton on piano) sang ‘That’s Life’ the Frank Sinatra classic! … NO nerves here… a ‘Showman’ without doubt!  Confident, good voice, sold this song from first note till last… be proud Lewis!  viii) Next up Riv Chantelle (again…loved the nails) singing ‘I’m Not the Only One’ by Sam Smith. Powerful voice, great tone, great range… be proud Riv.  ix) Bethany Hocknull sang ‘When we were Young’ by Adele.  Great Voice, great tone, honestly, I could have listened to this voice all night, be ever so proud Bethany!  X) Millie Jarnell and Chelsea Bradley dueted ‘Jar of Hearts’ by Christina Perri.  Good vocals, good harmonies… well done girls!  xi) Rebekah Blakeledge chose one of my ‘favourite songs’ - ‘New Wine’ by Hillsong Worship and made a real good job of it. Clear vocals, I didn’t miss one word, be proud Rebekah!  xii) Last and certainly not least… we had Jess Hollingsworth’s rendition of ‘Songbird’ by Eva Cassidy… OMG what a vocal!  Confident, great tone, great range… they say save the best till last!   

Act 2…
i) The College Concert Band opened up Act 2 with their rendition of ‘Valerie’ accompanied by Caitlin Haselden, Jess Hollingsworth, Emily Wallis and Lewis Murphy on vocals.  Again, a great way to open any Act! Played and sung to perfection… be proud one and all!   ii) Not only did we have great singers and musicians, but we also had songwriters within the College and Jack Elder, sang an original song ‘Heavy Rain’ written by himself and played by himself on acoustic guitar… well done Jack be proud!  iii) A ‘Trio of Clarinets’ were next to perform a piece called ‘Tango’ played amazing well by Charlotte Mulhearn, Robert Morris and Lucy Edwards… well done folks!  iv) Fraya Anders sang and played guitar to ‘Part of Me’ by Katie Perry. Confident, great vocals, sang and played well, be proud.  v) Chelsea Bradley came into her own with this rendition of Lana Del Ray’s ‘Young and Beautiful’. Chelsea’s voice was clear and distinctive, I heard every lyric… be ever so proud, great job!  vi) ‘Unscheduled’… students and teachers merge (St John Rigby’s Chamber Choir) to sing ‘acapela’ a ‘special song’…Caitlin Haselden, Jess Hollingsworth, David Wall and Mark Lane.  Great vocals, wonderful voices coming together, well done folks!  vii) From ‘special’ to ‘amazing’… Grace Butcher (Saxophonist) was up next with an absolutely outstanding performance of ‘Czardas’ a Hungarian folkloric piece by Vittorio Monti.  Can Grace play the saxophone, I think the ‘applause’ and the ‘hoots and hollers’ from audience and fellow students said it all…OH YES, SHE CAN!  viii) Sky Maloney sang ‘Get out and Stay Out’ by Dolly Parton.  Good song, good vocals, well done Sky!  x) You can never keep ‘Les Mis’ out of any concert… so Erin Monaghan (Piano) and Caitlin Haselden (Vocals) knocked ‘I Dreamed a Dream’… ‘out the park’! Loved the piano accompaniment well done girls!  xi) Where to start… ‘Moon River’ a classic song played superbly well on what I think I can rightly describe as a ‘flugel’ by the ever so talented Lewis Barton… be proud Lewis this was an amazing performance from an obviously very talented musician!  xii) The final piece of the night was performed by Harvey Rowe, Jake Brown, Joel Ratcliffe and James Ackers who together call themselves ‘Parkes’. Three guitars, one set of drums and a lead vocalist played and sang an original piece ‘Day of Our Lives’…  well done guys, good job!

Annually on TV we see “Britain’s Got Talent” … those privileged to witness this concert saw “St John Rigby’s Got Talent”.  Anyone who knows me will know that I ‘love’ anything youth related… I just love seeing young people being given the opportunity to perform.  Sometimes you can’t or don’t need to teach these skills… people are born with them… so all we can do is ‘support’, ‘encourage’, ‘nurture’ and ‘provide opportunities’ that will allow these young people to use those God given skills/talents and there is little or no doubt that St John Rigby have that high on their list of priorities!  I said, a couple of weeks ago in another youth review, that the next Hugh Jackman, the next Angela Lansbury, the next Stephen Sondheim, the next Lang Lang has to come from somewhere… why not from St John Rigby College!!

David as always suggested that if I have any ‘constructive advice’ (I never have ‘constructive criticism’) that I should bring it to the fore… so if I may make these two general comments… and I have mentioned them before I know….

‘Eye Contact’    -   Vital!   The saying ‘The eyes are the window to the soul’ – is so true!  When you look into someone’s eyes you should be able to tell what
                             a person is thinking or what they are feeling... so if you can’t see them, if the singer, actor has his or her eyes closed, or they are looking
                             down, or their eyes are hidden - you lose so much!  The ‘eye’s definitely have it’ … make eye contact with your audience, ‘let us in’… it
                             can enhance your performance so much!

‘Nerves’            -   It’s more than normal to feel nervous when you go on stage, in fact it can be a good thing… it keeps you on your toes!  But, don’t let it (Confidence)                                                 overwhelm you or let it show in your performance!  Tips that can help and we’ll all have our own… just before you step on stage… find a quiet corner -                                             ‘Breathe it Out’ - slow deep breathes help…’positive thoughts’… tell yourself that you can do this, I am prepared… ‘Shake it Out’ - QUIETLY flap your                                             arms, shrug your shoulders, loosen up, think silly thoughts it does help!  Bottom line… YOU wouldn’t be up there if you weren’t good enough!                

Thank you so much for inviting my wife and I we thoroughly enjoyed the concert!  It really is always a privilege and a pleasure to invited to see and listen to the amazingly talented students here at St John Rigby College… already looking forward to Little Shop of Horrors!

Stay well… keep safe
‘Stronger Together’

Jim Briscoe
NODA NW
District 6 Rep

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