Music maestro hits the high note of his career

Role model, musician, composer, author: Year 6 teacher Mark Baxter is all of these and this Easter he’ll be hitting the high note of his musical career by leading a performance of his very own musical Rabboni at Wincehester Cathedral.

The 52-year-old music teacher is leading rehearsals for the prestigious Easter event with 250 pupils from Hook with Warsash and Brockenhust Primary schools.

Mark has written several musicals which have been performed by schools across the UK but he has never seen them sung on such a grand stage: "This will be such a great opportunity for the children. Winchester is a wonderful venue and the children are hugely excited about it, he said."

Rabboni which loosely translates as Great Master in Ancient Aramaic, is a re-telling of the last week of Jesus’ life in song.

Dr Trevor Reader, Archdeacon of Portsdown said: "This is a very moving production which deals passionately with real life issues such as love, hate, life and death, and which culminates in a vibrant expression of Easter joy."

Mark doesn’t just reserve his musical talents for the classroom though: "We have a heavy metal band outside school and I record quite a bit of rock music in my own studio," he said, "It’s a great hobby of mine."

The musical maestro has also turned his talents to writing. This year he published his first musical entitled ‘Emmanuel.’ It’s a series of assemblies with music about the Christmas story and has already sold over 600 copies. "It’s really great to know that people in schools all over the country and even the world will be singing my songs, he said."

Chris Hines, Head Teacher at the school said: "Mark has inspired generations of children here. Other schools have always used his work. He is a real role model, especially to male pupils and he has helped to create a unique musical ethos here."


The special Easter service is being held to raise money for the El-Shaddai charity which raises money for Indian street children, a cause dear to the heart of the school’s headmaster who was inspired to raise money for the charity whilst travelling in India.