Guildhall School takes leading role in Lady Mayor’s Show

The breadth of talent from our Guildhall Young Artists (GYA) network was on full display at the first ever Lady Mayor’s Show on Saturday 8 November, when musicians from across Junior Guildhall, Centre for Young Musicians, GYA King's Cross and GYA Online united to perform in the City of London’s prestigious procession.

Broadcast live on BBC One (32mins 52 secs), 50 wind, brass and percussion students formed a ground breaking drum and bass marching band, putting a contemporary twist on the world’s most historic civic procession. 

The musicians, aged 13 to 18, were joined by DJ Raiser, performing tracks and arrangements from OrchestRAVE, reworked by Guildhall School’s Electronic & Produced Music cohort, in collaboration with Guildhall Production Studio, the School’s award-winning, full-service production studio. 

The Lady Mayor’s Show saw Dame Susan Langley DBE become the 697th Lord Mayor of London – only the third woman to hold the post in over 800 years and the first ever to be titled the Lady Mayor of London. The first Lord Mayor’s Show took place in 1215 and featured in the plays of Shakespeare and the diaries of Samuel Pepys. This year’s show included over 7000 participants from all over the world, in a procession more than three miles long that led from Mansion House to the Royal Courts by way of St Paul’s, Cheapside and Fleet Street.

I’m really proud of the way Guildhall School came together as one to collaborate on this unique performance for the Lady Mayor’s Show. It was truly inspiring how 50 brilliant Guildhall Young Artist students worked with our talented undergraduate students to put on a unique electronic and acoustic show. The performance brought huge energy to the procession and was enjoyed by the hundreds of thousands of people dancing and cheering along the streets - as well as the couple of million viewers on BBC One!

Spencer Down, Creative Director, Guildhall Young Artists

Preparations for the Show included a day practising marching at UCL East, where GYA students were joined by the Army Engagement Ensemble to perfect their marching. Despite blustery wind and pouring rain, the students had a great time learning how to march with their instruments and engage with a crowd – not an easy task. A huge thanks to UCL East for allowing our students and staff use of their facilities for the day.

We’ve come together and had some members of the Army Band come and do a performance for us, where they demonstrated roaming performance and how to engage with the audience.

We’ve been trying to practice walking while playing our instruments, which is quite difficult, but we’ve been getting the hang of it and trying to keep the dance moves going and also march to the beat.

Erin, Centre for Young Musicians

Guildhall School’s participation in the Lady Mayor’s Show is made possible thanks to the support of Dominus, a leading real estate developer, owner and operator in London and other major cities across the UK. This builds on the School’s existing partnership with Dominus funding an annual scholarship for one of Guildhall’s talented students.