Christmas Concert 2025
King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys made a triumphant return to a packed audience at the Parish church of St. Mary’s for their annual Christmas Concert on Thursday the 11th of December 2025. The evening featured accomplished and well-prepared pupils in a variety of ensembles and many stunning solo performances too.
Our amazing staff of peripatetic music teachers have supported their pupils and aided in preparing them to deliver such an excellent concert. We are grateful for the extra time they have worked with students one to one, but also in ensemble settings to make such a wonderful concert possible.
The evening kicked off with Mr. Kinsella’s debut at the helm of our senior guitar ensemble bringing a bit of a South American samba beat to the December air. As the first half of the concert progressed we heard ragtime from Enzo Lee (piano), the cheery Christmas tones of Arjun Sond on the tenor sax. Our HGS String ensemble was next and was followed by rousing rhythms from two dhol drum ensembles, then some Funk from Sebastian Fernando on the trumpet and even more Christmas cheer from the HGS Brass Ensemble. Next, we were swept away by Pariyansha who played a flute solo composed by Gabriel Faure. Our HGS Lower Woodwind Ensemble gave several new students their HGS concert debut. The subsequent item was a wonderful rendition of the Theme from ‘The Great Escape’ as played by Sukhmandeep on the trombone. Later in the first half we heard a funky piano duet by Billy and Oscar, Abel Shaine on the violin with an accomplished rendition of Dvorak’s Humoresque No. 7, and finally our resident Y11 band ABAA gave a convincing rendition of the Stone Roses’ ‘Made of Stone’ then they finished off the first half with their version of the Queen of Christmas ‘s ‘All I want for Christmas is You”.
The second half of the evening started off with our HGS School Choir singing a traditional Christmas carol followed by the less traditional Neil Diamond Classic, Sweet Caroline. Then we were treated to a piano duet by Adam and Angus performing a piece from the Nutcracker. Next, our 3 most advanced brass players (Sebastian, Guang and Sukhmandeep) played us some well-known Handel. Jinjie Lin, in a duet with Mr. Kinsella on the guitars, brought back the Latin flare to the night and was followed by our HGS Upper Woodwind ensemble in impressive form, with a performance of H. Manicini’s ‘Pink Panther’ theme then an item by John Williams. The rest of the programme included Jeren Okyere-Darko, who played a convincing rendition of ‘Hit the road Jack’, the HGS Jazz Band with some Christmas classics; The Christmas Song and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (where the whole audience joined in singing along to the stylings of this jazzy ensemble). Sticking with Christmas theme, Guang gave us a ‘Merry Little Christmas’ in ‘tuba style’. Then, in complete contrast, we enjoyed a stirring piano solo from Hardev Manku who will complete his studies at HGS in 2026. Finally, our large HGS orchestra brought us Holst’s ‘The Planets’ Medley and then finished the night off with the audience joining in with Merry Christmas Everybody.
As always, we are grateful to the rector Lizzy Longhurst at St. Mary’s, all the staff from HGS, students and parents, and others who supported making this concert possible. We look forward to seeing many of you again in March for our Instrumental Progress evening in Big School.
