Soprano Lesley Garrett brought a close to this year’s Proms at St Jude’s festival with a rousing performance alongside the London International Orchestra.
Over 500 people packed into St Jude-on-the-Hill, in Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb, for a sold-out performance of the annual Last Night of the Proms concert on Sunday night.
The orchestra was conducted by Paul Bateman and joined by internationally-renowned violinist Vasko Vassilev during the two-and-a-half hour performance.
Ms Garrett performed a number of pieces before changing into a Union Jack skirt and red top to conclude the concert in patriotic fashion, with renditions of Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia!
The concert marked the end of this year’s eight-day festival, which began with a two-day literary festival on June 21 and continued throughout last week with musical performances and themed walks in the Suburb.
Among the highlights of the week’s performances was the Schools Concert last Thursday starring the Nonesuch Orchestra and attended by 200 pupils from Garden Suburb Infant School, Annemount Nursery and Pre-preparatory School and Brookland Junior School.
On Saturday, families enjoyed the Musical Mystery Tour lunchtime performance by BBC Radio 3 presenter Lucie Skeaping and her husband Roddy Skeaping at St-Jude-on-the-Hill.
This year’s festival raised £60,000 for chosen charities Toynbee Hall and North London Hospice, up from £50,000 last year.
Festival trustee Ron Finlay said: “It was nice to have much better weather this year and we were very pleased to have some new sponsors, like Barclays, Investec and Saracens.
“When you get the patriotic numbers at the end of the Last Night of the Proms everyone waves their flags and people stand up to sing and clap. It was very lively at the end. We got lots of positive feedback from the audience.”
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