Ensembles

John Rutter with the Choir and Orchestra in St Albans Abbey

One of the great pleasures of coming to a music school is the opportunity to make music with other similarly talented young musicians.  We run many ensembles and, if you have a yearning to play music that isn’t on offer, you are encouraged to go ahead and form your own ensemble.

The main ensembles organised by the Music Department are:

• Symphony Orchestra
  
• Sinfonia
  
• Junior Orchestra
  
• Senior Choir
  
• Chamber Choir
  
• Junior Choir
  
• Jazz Band
  

However, this is only the tip of the iceberg! At any given time in the School, you might also hear: 

• traditional ensembles (string quartets; piano trios, quartets and quintets; piano duets; wind quintets and sextets; brass quintets and dectets; percussion ensembles; vocal groups, from duos up to chamber choirs; the Contemporary Ensemble)
  
• jazz groups (trios, quartets, quintets and big band, junior and senior improvisation groups)
  
• pupil-led groups (folk groups, barbershop quartets, rock bands, funk groups etc.)
  
• electronic music (often pupil compositions that mix live and electronic instruments).
  

Whatever music you like, you are bound to find someone in the School who is willing to play it with you.