Rave Reviews for our 2024 Christmas Concert

Our Christmas Concert was a resounding success, wowing the packed audience at The Playhouse. The students brought energy, humour and their high level of musicianship for all to share and kick start our Christmas preparations.

Orchestra grabbed our attention immediately as they opened the concert with Tchaikovsky’s Trepak from The Nutcracker and a Christmas Medley, superbly arranged by Toby.  

Concert Band enthralled us with their energetic playing throughout The Incredibles (Giacchino), and clearly also enjoyed the Guns ‘n’ Roses classic Welcome to the Jungle.

This year’s Junior Young Musician winner and runner-up, Joey and Senuli, showed off their musical prowess, captivating the audience with their huge musical talent.

The KS3 Choir performed ABBA’s I Have a Dream before introducing us to an unknown but enticing song written by Britain’s most successful singer/songwriter, Gary Barlow, entitled Don’t Know What I’m Looking For. The Senior Choir were exquisite in their performance of What I Was Made For, from the movie Barbie, by Billie Eilish and Happy Together. 

Brass Group, String Group and our Woodwind Group both delighted us with some classic film scores, pop songs, show songs and Christmas tunes before we were treated to a sneak preview of the forthcoming production of We Will Rock You.

The second half of the programme opened with some classic songs performed by our brilliant Soul Band, including Mr Big Stuff, before our Guitar Group rocked the place with an AC/DC Medley and Van Halen’s Jump - this group is a fantastic addition to the huge range of ensembles at Churchill Academy & Sixth Form and is very much open to new members, as indeed are all of our groups. 

The final item was our now infamous Junior Choir. This choir of Year 7 and

8 students told the Christmas story in their own way, singing songs which they had themselves composed. The massed choir of around 200 students is always a spine tingling moment and most definitely one of the highlights of the whole school year. Simply put, it was a stunning conclusion to a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

We are incredibly proud of all of our students who performed and expect great things from them in the future, particularly in the music and performing arts fields. Congratulations to all of our performers.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our audience for their unwavering support and appreciation of the arts. We firmly believe that events like these have the power to bring our community together and inspire a love for music and performing arts.

We eagerly anticipate seeing everyone again next year!