Farewell Concert

As our legendary Director of Music approaches his retirement at the end of the academic year, we hosted a very special farewell concert.

As Dr Collisson’s incredible 12-year tenure draws to an end this summer, he conducted his final concert with both the Symphony Orchestra and Senior Choir, who were joined by our Choral Society, alumnae musicians and members of music staff. Over 140 singers performed Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, with a soprano solo by a Sixth Form Music Scholar and a violin solo by one of our former Music Scholars who was a BBC Young Musician of the Year finalist last year.  After the interval, the Symphony Orchestra played, according to Dr Collisson, the most challenging and largest orchestral work he has ever experienced with our talented musicians: Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5.

The celebratory concert paid tribute to Dr Collisson’s ambition, commitment and contribution to South Hampstead’s outstanding musical reputation. He was once described in the Tatler Schools Guide as “a genius, absolutely inspirational” – a sentiment very much echoed by the appreciative audience.

In the words of Dr Collisson: “The existence of music is one of the most extraordinary creations of humanity. To have been part of the musical education of South Hampstead’s talented performers has been immensely rewarding… hard work and dedication, in the form of regular rehearsals and a lot of practice, yield some of the most positive, life-fulfilling benefits that they will ever experience. This belief is ultimately encapsulated in my own, much-used, philosophical mantra: This is not about me, nor about them: it’s about the music.”

We look forward to more joyful music-making with Dr Collisson next term before our current Assistant Director of Music, Miss Ellis, picks up the baton as Director of Music this September.