RGS Worcester music tour, February 2024

A large group comprising choir, orchestra, and jazz band from RGS Worcester enjoyed an exciting tour in early February, with a real focus on collaborating with local French young musicians from our region. The tour began with an evening of rehearsals and pizza uniting all the students involved in the project, over one hundred and ten combining to create a huge multi-level orchestra!

The next day, after a morning visiting the Basilica Saint Therese de Lisieux, was spent at Chateau Canon with the Lisieux Conservatoire’s ‘orchestre cadet’. The beautiful concert hall was absolutely packed for the evening concert, which featured the various English and French ensembles and culminated in the combined pieces.

The following day the morning was spent enjoying Laser Games at the huge arena near Caen. The rest of the day was based in Honfleur, where young children and adult learners from the Ecole de Musique ‘Erik Satie’ d’Honfleur joined forces with the English musicians and the Lisieux orchestra to form an ‘Orchestre Geant’. The huge Greniers a Sel concert hall was packed to the brim for the evening’s concert, and after the event there was a lovely meal in one of the restaurants near the pretty harbour.

The final day began with a schools performance given to the students of the College ‘Gustav Flaubert’ de Pont L’Eveque, in which the various ensembles performed followed by a Q&A session about life in a French school vs life in an English school! A trip to Cerza zoo led on to the final event of the tour, a Jazz Night at the accommodation centre. The Henri Lemarchand Trio, accordion/keys/bass, accompanied a special ‘Diner Normande’ in which the students tried frogs legs and snails, followed by a huge ‘jam session’ in which all the instrumentalists went to grab their instruments and join in with the trio. Huge fun!!!