ICSE’s Summer tour

Stands, music and instruments packed up, the Imperial College String Ensemble headed off on the 13th of September to Speldhurst in Kent for their annual Summer tour. A long weekend of music, socializing and charity events was to follow.

After a full cooked breakfast (an ICSE speciality) the 16 ensemble players rehearsed intensively at mastering Vivaldi’s Winter, Corelli’s Concerto Grosso “Christmas Concerto”, the Imperial ArtsFest favourite “StopPlaying Your Homework And Do Your Video Games” by Gen Kim, and an arrangement of John Kander’s Caberet for string ensemble. All of this was performed at the concert in St Mary’s Church in Speldhurst raising a fantastic £150 for St Mary’s Church and the Tunbridge Wells Winter Shelter. The main social event of the tour, a village Barn Dance, allowed members to play as part of a Ceilidh band, try their hand at calling and entertained the local community, all whilst raising £70 for their newly launched “ICSE young conductor scheme”. This will enable one Imperial student to gain training in conducting through conducting lessons whilst benefiting from ICSE’s new conductor, Dan Shilladay’s experience. Prior to the Ceilidh the ensemble split into two groups rehearsing and arranging “Swedish” (originally recorded by Blazin’ Fiddles) and “Jigs” (originally recorded by Last Orders) for the dance, an entirely new challenging but fun departure from ICSE’s usual repertoire. Free time was spent exploring the local area and playing in small groups, all whilst consuming tea and biscuits, in quantities only ICSE could manage! A barbecue and party rounded the weekend off and wet everyone’s appetite for the next year of ICSE filled Friday evenings, social events and future weekends away!