The Queen's College Record 2023

EGLESFIELD MUSICAL SOCIETY
Rosanna Milner, President
Following on from the success of last
year, the activities of the Eglesfield Musical
Society flourished this year. Our Saturday
recital series saw impressive and varied
performances each week. A personal
highlight of mine was performing Pergolesi’s
Stabat Mater with fellow choral scholar
Members of EMS at the annual EMS dinner Oisin Byrne, accompanied by a string
quartet and organ scholar Luke Mitchell
playing the harpsichord. Alongside many students from Queen’s and around Oxford,
we were pleased to welcome the esteemed pianist Maki Sekiya to perform. My
thanks go to our Recitals and Concert Managers Henry Coop and Dara Collins for
putting on these recitals each week.
Reports and College Activities
In addition to the recital series, our ensembles and concerts thrived. In Michaelmas,
we introduced a chamber orchestra to complement the work of our non-auditioned
orchestra. Both were organised by our Vice President, Cameron Hutchinson, and
conducted by Henry Coop. I had the privilege of leading our A Capella group which
performed at the 1341 Society Luncheons. All three ensembles performed at our
end of term concerts, alongside talented soloists and other chamber ensembles. The
popular Christmas concert featured Tchaikovsky’s Peter and the Wolf, narrated by
Professor Owen Rees, and a performance of The Beach Boys’ God Only Knows as
an encore by our A Capella group. Publicity Officer Nicole Tay ran Off-key, an improv
jazz band, performing at our 5th week blues nights in the Beer Cellar. A massive
thank you to the band Last Orders for performing in Trinity! Many EMS members also
took part in the Jesus College Music Society’s Queen’s Greatest Hits Playthrough,
which was a resounding success for JCMS. The Hilary Term EMS dinner was a lovely
occasion to look back on and forward to the year’s events, featuring speeches,
singing, merriment, and nostalgia for the year.
In addition to these EMS staples, we explored new and exciting concert ideas.
As part of EMS Fest, a week-long series of EMS events, we put on a chamber
concert in Chapel, a College BOP and a concert for International Women’s Day. In
Michaelmas we collaborated with Magdalen College Music Society for an Art and
Music Installation. Also, we were honoured to be interviewed by Oxford University
Music Society and look forward to more collaboration between EMS and OUMS.
Some of our best attended events were our termly musical theatre concerts. We
gave a platform for Hilary musical productions to perform in the Shulman Auditorium
as ‘previews’ for their shows. In Trinity, this took the form of a ‘scratch night’ at The
Mad Hatter, raising money for our Trinity Term musical.
College Record 2023 | The Queen’s College 57