King's Ely's concert at Ely Cathedral on March 23 was a must see for those in search of tremendous talent, says reviewer Rosemary Westwell.

Musicians from King’s Ely, under the perceptive directorship of Neil Porter-Thaw, gave a magnificent concert in Ely Cathedral on Saturday March 23.

The performers at this event showed tremendous talent and the works were performed with the maturity and the proficiency of many an adult performer.

The programme, filled with interesting information about the pieces by the performers, featured movements from concertos by Haydn, Gliere, Mozart and Mendelssohn and culminated with a glorious performance of the Mozart Requiem Mass in D minor.

Besides the Requiem Mass, highlights of the evening were the movements from Haydn’s cello concert 1 in C major, and the Romance from Mozart’s piano concerto number 20 in D minor.

These were played by highly accomplished students: Ian Mak and Sayuri Okunushi respectively. Ian’s performance was noticeably polished, varying the tone effectively and keeping in the spirit of the piece.

Very much in command of the work she was playing, Sayuri Okunushi exhibited appealing sensitivity and delicacy, making light of rapid passages, and incorporating them cohesively into her fine performance.

This is not to decry the impressive performance by Polly Casey (horn) and Samuel Trueman (piano). Polly mastered the Allegro from Gliere’s more modern Horn Concerto in B flat major admirably, and Samuel demonstrated an extraordinary technique in the many challenging passages of the movement from Mendelssohn’s piano concerto no 1 in G minor.

The mass of singers in the choir and the sizable orchestra with excellent soloists astounded us with a wonderful performance of the Mozart Requiem.

From the opening Domine Jesu to the final emphatic lines of the Communio, the audience was transfixed and rightly so, too. When the King’s School Ely offer a free concert again, you would find it very worthwhile to attend!