Young & Wild Documentary

It is our pleasure to share a documentary about Year 13 commercial piano and voice student Oscar.

Oscar filmed ‘Young & Wild’ in December 2023. The documentary follows his journey into music and the release of his debut EP, Far From Home. It is a brave and bold, insightful and generous film which will be infinitely relatable and inspiring to young singer-songwriters and musicians.

Congratulations to Oscar on the premiere of his documentary and a big thank you for his kind words about Purcell.


 

Purcell Drummer Performs at London’s Jazz Cafe

We’re thrilled to celebrate Year 13 jazz drummer Megan’s recent performance with the all-female ensemble Tomorrow’s Warriors at the iconic Jazz Cafe in Camden on Saturday 26th October. The sold-out venue was electrified by the group’s performance, which earned Megan high praise from both the audience and the jazz community.

Following the performance, Megan was personally congratulated by the Head of Jazz FM and received an outstanding review in Jazzwise magazine. The article highlighted Megan’s dynamic drumming, describing the energy she brought to the stage as ‘rhythmic free-for-alls’ and called the event a powerful moment for the future of women in jazz.

We’re incredibly proud of Megan’s dedication and her remarkable achievements as a talented young jazz musician. Congratulations, Megan!
 

Purcell Violinist Invited to Young Sounds UK Orchestra Experience Day

We are thrilled to share that Year 8 violinist Asta has been invited to participate in the upcoming Orchestra Experience Day with Young Sounds UK on Sunday 10th November, at the BBC Maida Vale Studios.

Asta will have the incredible opportunity to work alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and their Chief Conductor, Sakari Oramo. This invitation follows her receiving the Joan Scrutton Award from Young Sounds UK in September, which included a £500 grant to support her studies at Junior Guildhall (JGSMD).

This marks Asta’s first workshop with Young Sounds UK, and we are confident it will be a fantastic experience for her!
 

Purcell Student Offered Place in NCO’s U12 Orchestra 2025

We are delighted to share the news that Jarvis (Year 7) has been offered a place in the National Children’s Orchestras (NCO) Under 12 Orchestra for 2025. This exciting opportunity has been offered to Jarvis as a French horn player, his second study here at Purcell.

We are particularly pleased for Jarvis who had a challenging start to the summer after breaking his arm and being unable to practise for much of the audition period. Having previously played with the NCO on violin, it is fantastic that he will now experience the orchestra from the perspective of the horn section!

Congratulations to Jarvis on this remarkable achievement!
 

Purcell Pianist Recognised at Abingdon Music Festival

We are pleased to share that Celeste (Year 11) received an Outstanding Certificate at the Abingdon Music Festival for her performance of Ballade No. 3 in A-Flat Major, Op. 47 by Frédéric Chopin. In recognition of her accomplishment, Celeste was also selected to perform in the festival’s closing concert on Sunday.

Congratulations to Celeste.
 

Maths Olympiad for Girls 2024

We are thrilled to announce that Jihyo (Year 13) was the highest scoring student in the whole of the East of England region in the recent Mathematical Olympiad for Girls competition. She scored the full 50 marks on the paper! It is a truly exceptional achievement which, amongst other accolades, saw Jihyo receive a personal letter of congratulations from Dr Geoff Smith MBE, Chair of the UK Maths Trust. We are so pleased that her problem solving ability, talent and hard work have been recognised in this way.

Alongside Jihyo, Kira (Year 10) sat the competition for the first time and came out with an amazing performance which gave her a Distinction Medal.

All at Purcell – and particularly our nurturing Maths faculty of Mrs Stone, Mrs Shah and Mrs Holmes – would like to congratulate these talented mathematicians.


 

Head of Composition on Cross-Cultural Visit

On Saturday 12th October, Purcell’s Head of Composition and Founder of The Commonwealth Resounds, Alison Cox, travelled out to the island of Samoa to run a cross-cultural musical programme linked to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHoGM 2024). As part of this programme, there was the opportunity for her to demonstrate some of the musical and academic initiatives at The Purcell School, which generated a considerable amount of interest amongst delegates and musicians attending the events.

Highlights included:

  • A Commonwealth Music Relay – instead of a sports baton, a little piece of music, ‘Symphony’ was passed around the 56 countries of the Commonwealth. This all started in September 2023, when Alison asked current Year 13 Purcell student Cole to make an arrangement of the original song (written by five young Commonwealth composers) for participants to hear and respond to. Cole did a fantastic job, and the original song was performed at St. James’s Palace in London by Purcell students Cole, Ciara Breen (alumna) and Albert (current Year 12). It was also recorded by Startpoint TV and is available to view here.
  • Cole‘s arrangement of the song travelled all over the world, and young musicians in 38 countries took part and created their own versions of the song ‘Symphony’ in their own way! Here is a wonderful example from the Buddo Secondary School in Uganda.Thousands of musicians took part in the Music Relay all over the world – all of whom heard and were inspired by The Purcell School’s arrangement and made their own beautiful versions, many using traditional instruments and native languages. The Grand Final Performance of the Commonwealth Music Relay was created in Samoa and performed on October 22nd 2024 in the Commonwealth Youth Forum’s Closing Ceremony. It was performed by a cross-cultural group consisting of the Voices of Samoa, dancers from the National University of Samoa, the Vocal Fusion Youth Choir from Western Australia, string players from So Fa Music and the Auckland Philharmonia.
  • The Mangroves of Samoa – Rotary International was running a special mangrove restoration project in Samoa. This is an important project for many countries where mangroves are a vitally important resource. Young people from the Vocal Fusion Youth Choir (VFYC) in Western Australia wrote poems about mangroves and sent them to Alison Cox, who passed the poems to her composition students at Purcell for them to set to music. Songs by Purcell composers Boris (Year 13), Willow (Year 10) and Begum (Year 10) were sung by the VFYC at a special Rotary Reception and also at an important planting ceremony at a mangrove restoration site.
  • A Commonwealth Music Conference – Alison Cox organised and hosted what we understand was the first-ever Music Conference in the South Pacific. Her 10-minute presentation was entitled ‘Creative Music Education as an essential ingredient of self-expression and social transformation’. Alison described much of the work at The Purcell School, with special reference to composition teaching, outreach work and also inter-departmental collaborations such as ‘Maths is Music, Music is Maths’.

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    There were many other musical events, and Alison is delighted to have created so many new partnerships during her time in Samoa; in particular with the National University of Samoa, Sol-Fa Music and TV5 (Samoa) the Auckland Philharmonia and the Vocal Fusion Youth Choir of Western Australia.