In place of our annual Winter Arts Festival, the Music, Drama, Dance and Art departments have been busy designing a week of exciting and engaging resources and interactive workshops which have two key themes as their focus: ‘Working in the Creative Arts Industry’ and ‘Women in the Creative Arts.’
We were seeking to promote the intrinsic value and joy that a career in the Arts can bring, and show the many wonderful opportunities that are open to our girls when they leave Norwich High School. This celebration of the Arts is certainly fitting during these challenging times: despite the difficulties faced by many in the Creative Industries, we have all come to realise just how important and valuable to the richness of our lives, the Arts, in all their forms, are. To this end, we have invited girls, parents and the wider community to browse and engage with our online platform of resources throughout the week which consisted of recorded talks, pupil led interviews and performances from a range of artists representing different disciplines in the Creative Arts.
We were pleased to welcome some very special guests who have contributed to our programme. Apollo Five are an international award-winning British vocal ensemble who have wowed and delighted audiences across the globe. They shared a selection of performances from their recent album release ‘Where all Roses go,’ specially selected by a panel of Upper 5 musicians who interviewed them on their careers and experiences in the performance industry. We were thrilled to welcome back Sue Moore, Artistic Director of the W11 Children’s Opera Trust, who ran some bespoke online Opera workshops with our singers. Nicholas Daniel, OBE, also discussed his amazing career as a freelance oboist, conductor and Professor of Music at the Trossinghen Musikhochschule in Germany and the Guildhall School of Music in London.
The Drama Department welcomed Amie Howes, who has performed extensively in film and theatre, to direct a series of online workshops focusing on Music Theatre, Creativity and Expression. The Art Department worked with Julia Groves, who guided pupils through her work as an illustrator and discussed her work with character development and storyboards to artwork and design. We were also delighted to welcome Amelia Bowman, who specialises in intaglio collagraph prints and hand-drawn digitally coloured pattern designs. Amelia’s work has extensively featured the Norfolk and Suffolk coastline and it was wonderful to hear about the processes and inspiration that goes into her work.
We were thrilled to partner with Into Opera for the festival, who programmed a broad selection of recorded and live events, including two student-led panel interviews: ‘Building a Career in the Arts and What it Means to be a Freelancer – A Portfolio Career’ and ‘Female Founders: Creativity, Initiative and Enterprise in the Arts.’ These panels featured a variety of highly successful professionals from the world of Arts including professional Choreographer Natasha Khamjani, Lighting Designer Ben Ormerod, former Norwich High pupil and Opera Director, Genevieve Raghu and renowned sopranos Kitty Whately and Lizzie Holmes. Pre-recorded sessions included Get Dancing with Choreographer Natasha Khamjani, Music sessions with pianist and vocal coach Libby Burgess, and Get Singing with vocal coach Charles MacDougall.
A huge thank you to Mr Barlow and to everyone who has contributed to this year’s Festival. Many of the resources are available to view on our YouTube channel.
Read some highlights from each day below.
Monday
Monday’s headline act was internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble Apollo5 who have wowed and delighted audiences across the globe. They shared a selection of performances from their recent album release ‘Where all Roses go,’ specially selected by a panel of Upper 5 musicians who interviewed them on their careers and experiences in the performance industry.
Students could also hear from some of our alumnae: Eleanor Harrison talked about her career as a violinist and gave a music recital with her partner (and cellist) Romain; Martha Bealey and Maddie Denman also gave talks on ‘The Making and Creative Process’ and ‘Christian Dior – Designer of Dreams.’ Girls also enjoyed a presentation of GCSE and A Level Art work from 2020.
Students could also join in with our Folk Fusion Solo Ceilidh led by Natasha Khamjani who runs a company called Folk Dance Remixed which fuses folk and hip-hop dance with different styles of music. Natasha produced a dance warm up (22 minutes) which pupils could do in their own homes at a time to suit!
On Monday evening, we screened our European Art Song Evening online. This was a celebration of the rich cultural heritage of France, Italy, Germany and Spain through a selection of readings and Classical Art Song repertoire performed by pupils in Lower 5 through to Upper 6.
Tuesday
In addition to the panel interview with Norwich High alumna Genevieve Raghu, Sophie Gilpin, Natasha Khamjani and Lizzie Holmes, students were also able to enjoy a singing warm-up by vocal coach Charles MacDougall (a musical version of the body coach Joe Wicks!) and performances by soprano duo Fair Oriana (Penelope Appleyard and Angela Hicks) who worked with some sixth formers later in the afternoon.
Concert pianist, Libby Burgess gave a short piano recital of pieces by Clara Schumann and Amy Beach. This leads perfectly into Tuesday afternoon’s talk and Q&A by Sophie Gilpin on Women Composers: Forgotten Voices.There was also a fantastic talk by Norwich High alumna Hannah Dye on Art and Textiles and a fascinating interview with former Head Girls Jane Prinsley, led by Caitlin Sydney (L6) from the Drama Department.
Wednesday
Day 3 of the Arts Festival featured our second panel interview called ‘Building a Career in the Arts and What is means to be a Freelancer – A Portfolio Career’ and featured Libby Burgess (Pianist and Vocal Coach), Charles MacDougall (Tenor, Choral Animateur and Vocal Coach), Ben Ormerod (Lighting Designer), Genevieve Raghu (Director, Producer and Librettist) and Kitty Whately (Mezzo Soprano). The questions were led by our Lower 5 GCSE Music class.
Wednesday also featured former pupil Eleonora Consta, a professional violinist who has set up her own female orchestra – ‘Her Ensemble’ specialising in playing compositions by female artists. Students enjoyed some selected performances and watched an interview with Ellie, given by our Senior String Quartet.
Charles MacDougall, one of Wednesday’s panellists, produced another exciting vocal warm-up and at lunchtime, a talk on ‘Directing for the Stage – Five Top Tips’ was given live by Genevieve Raghu.
Students also enjoyed a fantastic talk by Evie O’Neill on ‘Where to Find Inspiration’ in Art. The Sixth Form Singers also had an after school ‘Phantom of the Opera’ Vocal Workshop with Lizzie Holmes
Thursday
As is customary, the week culminated with ‘Finale’ which returned, in a bold new online format, for its fifth year running on Thursday evening. Whilst we sadly could not perform to an audience in the Playhouse this year, we were delighted to present a pupil-directed and produced Finale which again showcases the best of Dance, Drama and Music.
This year’s performance is a celebration of the amazing creative work the girls have been able to achieve during the period of Guided Home Learning this term. It is also a special collaboration between current pupils and alumnae, reinforcing the bonds of friendships past and present, and I am sure you will delight in seeing some familiar faces from our recent leavers.
Girls also enjoyed a podcast from Norwich High alumna Thordis Fridriksson who talked about her career in Music Journalism, BBC Radio and, more recently, Podcasting. There was also a brilliant interview led by Dione Camderman (L6) and Adhvika Rajesh (L6) with freelance Arts Coordinator and Producer Milly Kirby. As an artist she is incredibly diverse, having played Glastonbury, and now works in community Arts projects. One of Wednesday’s panellists, Libby Burgess, also recorded a short talk called ‘Music and the Brain’ where she will discuss what happens in the brain when we hear or create music and the effect it can have on mental health and treating dementia.
It was lovely to hear from two recent leavers on Thursday: Laura Sillitoe gave a talk on ‘Design / Colour Theory’ and Becca James (L6) interviewed former Head Girl Chloe Lansley on ‘All the world’s a stage: creating pandemic-tested immersive theatre.’
There was also a second dance warm-up led by Natasha Khamjani available on Thursday. In this brief workshop, Natasha explored how to tell a story through dance, inspired by the operas of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and ‘The Cunning Little Vixen.’
Thursday’s lunchtime talk was on ‘Lighting Design: an Art, a Craft and a Science,’ given by Lighting Designer Ben Ormerod. Ben has an international reputation as one of the leading authorities on lighting design in theatre and he offered an insight into the role and work of this incredibly important part of theatre productions.
Friday
Friday’s headline act was Professor Nicholas Daniel OBE, widely acknowledged to be one of the world’s finest oboe players. Nicholas records and broadcasts widely and is a Professor of Music at the Trossingen Musikhochschule in Germany and at the Guildhall School of Music. Students could watch an interview with Nicholas led by Fredi Davies (L6) and our school oboists.
Also available on Friday was ‘When Lucy Met Liz’ – a recorded discussion between alumnae Lucy Thalange, who is studying singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and Liz Watts, one of the country’s leading sopranos who has forged a hugely successful career in opera. In the recordings they discussed their musical journeys and the pitfalls and highs of working in the performance industry as a singer.
Charles MacDougall also led another fun singing warm-up, that some of Upper 3 and Lower 4 were able to enjoy and Genevieve Raghu presented a podcast ‘How Did You Get Into Opera’ where she talked to professionals from the opera industry about their journeys into opera and the impact of Covid-19 on their working lives.
Alumna Rosie Russell gave a talk on ‘Working in the Design Industry’ and students could watch a brilliant monologue by Connie Harris (U5) – ‘The Book Club’ as well as another chance to see the two brilliant drama productions from the Autumn Term – ‘The Magdalen Whitewash’ and ‘100’.