Ms Natasha Wright, head of instrumental music studies at St Swithun’s School Winchester, played viola as part of the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London on Saturday 13 September.
Natasha, who was a member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra for eight years prior to joining St Swithun’s said ‘It was an amazing experience. I’ve played in the Last Night Prom before, when I was a member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, but that was about 10 years ago. It’s a long concert, but the atmosphere is like a big party. I think the piece we all enjoyed playing the most was the arrangement of the Mary Poppins songs’. This sing-along section was led by musical West End star Ruthie Henshall.
Natasha was also invited by the orchestra to join them for the opening night of the Proms and two further Proms during the summer.
Not to be outdone, three St Swithun’s pupils also sang during Prom season at the Royal Albert Hall earlier in the month. Bridget Burkill, age 15, Rebecca Bird, age 13 and Anna Rodrigues, age 18, joined other girl and boy choristers from Winchester Cathedral for Prom 66, which was Peter Sellars’s staging of Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion, with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.