Musicians take to the stage in Millfield Music School's first Johnson Sessions of the year

Millfield Music School opened to the public for the first time this academic year. This Johnson Sessions saw numerous singers, bands and instrumentalists showcase an incredible display of contemporary music on offer at Millfield.

The evening opened with a heartful duet by Daisy and Oyinkan singing Katy Perry’s The One That Got Away. This was followed by a hauntingly dark rendition of Taylor Swift’s Love Story sung by Tansy. Another duet was beautifully delivered by Cecilia and Lola singing The Sound of Silence. Cecilia accompanied them both on guitar, expertly navigating playing whilst singing harmony lines. Sam changed the mood of the evening by introducing some earthy country sounds. His beautiful baritone voice was accompanied by Mr Clulow. Next came the first of two James Bond tunes of the evening, Megan’s debut performance of Skyfall wowed everyone who did not expect such vocal maturity in a student who is still only in Year 9!

Sam was the first student of the evening to perform an original song, written in lockdown, expressing a thoughtful acknowledgment of the difficulties experienced by many throughout the ongoing pandemic.

The following section of the concert continued to highlight some of Millfield’s finest contemporary female singers, all accompanied by our exceptionally talented Mr Jon Boyle on piano. Amelia sang a beautiful cover of Always Remember Me This Way, from ‘A Star is Born’ and Poppy sang a stunning rendition of She Used to Be Mine from the award-winning musical, ‘Waitress’, expertly exploiting her vocal versatility for expressive use. Clara followed with a drum solo, playing along perfectly to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers song Can’t Stop. Eliza then moved the audience with her version of James Bay’s Let It Go. Eloise continued this relaxed and reflective mood with Elton John’s Your Song. Zain then performed with a contagious enthusiasm, persuading with ease the audience into participating and impressively managing the large number of backing singers he acquired! He got the whole room singing and clapping along to Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud. This fun mood continued with The Pocket Torpedoes (Rafferty, Charlie, Ben, Ed and Alex), a newly-formed band made up of Year 9 and 10 boys who wowed the audience with their version of Chuck Berry’s Jonny Be Good. Following our first band of the evening, Imogen sang Lana Del Ray’s melancholy Happiness is a Butterfly with great control. After, we had a debut performance from Rainbow who, alongside Jemima, performed an original song. This moving song highlighted both their talent as singers and musicians, as well as song writers.

Next was Ella, who nostalgically sang Ed Sheeran’s emotive A Team. Ella was followed by Amelie with our second James Bond theme of the evening, Writing on the Wall. This Sam Smith cover was expertly performed with Amelie accompanying herself on piano.

Esme then took the stage with her stunning cover of Ain’t No Way, originally by Aretha Franklin. The power behind her voice blew the audience away.

The evening concluded with three band numbers: the first saw Rhys, Hamish, Al and Alex playing with Tomi on the lead vocals and rhythm guitar with their version of Crying lightning by the Arctic Monkeys. This was followed by Al, Hamish and Yuv accompanying Amber on the lead vocals with Killing me Softly, originally sung by Roberto Flack. Last but by no means least, Al, Hamish and Yuv performed the final song of the evening with Sam on lead vocals. Their rendition of Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton was a wonderful way to finish off the evening.

Watch the evening’s performances here and view the photos from the event here.