Promotional Feature
King's Junior pupils won a quintet of top awards in the prestigious Alderley Edge Music Festival.
The Year 6 Choir and the Junior Orchestra both won their highly prized categories. The 33-piece Year 6 Choir sang a contrasting programme of pieces - the beautiful 'Hushabye Mountain' followed by the lively and musically demanding 'Banana Papaya' – with the adjudicator praising the choir's control, expressive harmony singing and clear diction.
The 35-piece Junior Orchestra competed in the Large Ensemble class for children in Years 3 to 6, playing a variety of instruments from the strings, woodwind, brass and percussion families. The pieces chosen for the festival programme were 'Russian Dance' and 'Waltz of the flowers' from Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker' ballet followed by the calypso tunes 'Banana Boat Song' and 'Mango Walk'. King's Junior Department Music Director Alison Lea said: "The children were simply stunning, singing and playing intricate melodies and complex rhythms and displaying a wonderful sense of balance and ensemble."
The choir and orchestra's performances were rewarded with cheers from the audience and they were declared the winners of their classes and awarded with a trophy and certificate.
In the individual categories Marianne Knuckey, age 11, won the cello class. It was a family affair with her younger sister Corinna, age 10, winning for both her classical and musical theatre vocal performances. While Harriet Bright, 8, won the Grade 3 piano class, with another enchanting and dexterous solo. Fellow pianist Oliver Pinches, age 9, won silver in the Grade 1 piano class. Senior pupil Fraser Day, age 12, also won the woodwind/brass Grade 4/5 class and the Grade 5 piano class at the festival.
