Our brass players played in the first concert of the Schools’ Gala 
Concerts at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Monday 
23rd March. They have been invited to perform for the past 
few years, and they never fail to disappoint! Naomi Stevenson, 
their conductor and teacher, led them in the performance of 
two pieces one of which was the magnificent fanfare from 
Twentieth Century Fox. Guang and Sukhmandeep were also 
invited to perform with St. Francis C.E. Primary school. They 
boys performed wonderfully and were a credit to the school. The 
performers were: Ajai Singh, Ali Rahaman, Gurvir Singh, Luke 
McKinnon, Derick Simon Okongwu, Ekam Singh, William Kane, 
Sebastian Fernando, Guanghui Li and Sukhmandeep Sanghera. 
Mr Ward
Prizegiving
On 3rd October 2025, Angus Huang 
had the great privilege to perform at our 
annual Prize Giving, delivering a stunning 
performance of ‘Toccata’ by Aram 
Khachaturian. During the same event 
Daniel Alloh was the inaugural recipient 
of the Chenaniah Music Scholarship. The 
scholarship is funded by a former student 
of Handsworth Grammar School. This year, 
the scholarship enabled Daniel to buy a 
saxophone allowing to continue his passion 
for music for many more years to come. 
SYMPHONY 
HALL
Then, on the 11th February, we were 
at Birmingham Symphony Hall for 
our annual KS3 concert. Despite the 
rainy conditions our entire cohort of 
year 7 students enjoyed a fantastic 
morning out to see the City of 
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra 
play in Birmingham Symphony Hall. 
Year 7 has been studying all about 
the modern orchestra this half 
term, including instrument families, 
instruments, and the important role 
of the conductor in this musical 
ensemble. The concert was an 
intergalactic travel through space 
introducing us to the instruments 
and the sound they could make. 
We started off with John William’s 
famous theme from Star Wars and 
the journey continued with excepts 
from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, 
music from Plants vs. Zombies, Dr. 
Who, E.T., and others. The final piece 
was the finale from Stravinsky’s The 
Firebird and it literally raised the roof of 
the hall. It was a fantastic introduction 
to the orchestra and we hope that 
students will take advantage of a 
world class orchestra and concert hall 
in their home city in the future!
We look forward to many more 
musical performances and visits next 
academic year!
Martin Ward
Turandot
February proved to be a very busy month 
for the music department with three trips in 
the space of seven days. The first was to 
the Royal Ballet and Opera House on the 
4th February 2026. We gathered at New 
Street Station at around 8:15 am to take 
the train down to London Euston, arriving 
about 10 am. We walked the 1.5 miles to 
the Opera House in Covent Garden. We 
were one of several schools there that day 
who came to enjoy matinée performance of 
Pucinni’s Turandot. 
Set in Peking, China, the opera describes 
the tale of an unnamed Prince (later we 
learn his name is Calaf) who desires to win 
the hand of Turandot in marriage. To do 
this, he is required to correctly answer three 
riddles. Failing to guess correctly leads to 
death! The opera includes the very famous 
song Nessun Dorma. Those of a certain 
age will remember it was used by the BBC 
during the 1990 World Cup. The whole 
performance was amazing; fabulous singing, 
amazing dancing and incredible sets.
This trip was only possible because of a 
grant we were awarded which covered most 
of the cost of the day (including travel). The 
individual price for a ticket in our seats for 
an evening performance was £322.00 so 
we were thankful to receive this grant. And 
particularly grateful to Mrs Ward who applied 
for the grant and arranged the trip.
A few days later, on the 6th February, we 
were in the Bramhall Hall at the University of 
Birmingham for a piano recital by Kenneth 
Hamilton. The programme included Meine 
Freuden by Chopin but transcribed by 
Liszt, Hebridean Seascape by Merrick 
and transcribed by Stevenson and finally 
Lyapunov’s Piano Sonata in F minor. The 
performances were engaging which was 
greatly helped by the projection of the piano 
keyboard onto a large screen so we could 
see Hamilton’s dextrous playing. 
SCHOOLS’ GALA CONCERTS
47

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