Purcell Violinist Wins at North London Festival

We are delighted to share that Yakub (Year 11, violin) won 1st place in the Concerto or Recital (15-17 years, Grade 8 and above) category at the North London Festival last Friday.

Congratulations to Yakub on this well-deserved success!
 

Purcell Vocalist in Junior Recital Competition

Suanoi (Year 13) is best known for his skill as a flautist but during his time at Purcell he has taken his second study, singing, very seriously. On Sunday, he took part in the final of the Junior Recital Competition held by the Association of English Singers and Speakers. This took place in a beautiful wood panelled auditorium in St. Paul’s Girls’ School. He was runner-up, having given a very strong recital which was very ably accompanied by Yifei (Year 13). Their performances made themselves, and the school, very proud.
 

Purcell Violinist Selected for Prestigious Morningside Music Bridge Programme

We are thrilled to share that Julia (Year 12, violin) has been selected to participate in the highly competitive Morningside Music Bridge (MMB) international summer programme at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, USA, this summer.

MMB is an elite programme for the world’s most gifted young musicians (ages 12-18), offering a full scholarship to just 18 violinists globally – and Julia is the only participant from the UK! This also marks her third time taking part in the programme and is testament to her playing and musicianship.

Morningside Music Bridge provides an unparalleled opportunity for artistic and personal growth, bringing together outstanding young musicians with some of the world’s most respected performing artists and teachers. You can learn more about MMB here.

Huge congratulations to Julia on this remarkable achievement!
 

Purcell Double Bassist Wins at North London Festival

Congratulations to Summer (Year 7, double bass) for her fantastic success at the North London Festival of Music on 14th March! Competing in the Concerto or Recital (9-11 years) category, Summer delivered an outstanding performance and won 1st place.

A wonderful achievement – well done, Summer!


 

Voice Masterclass

Last week, the singers were put through their paces by Linda Hurst, one time Head of Singing at Trinity Laban and a distinguished singer, particularly of contemporary repertoire. This was part of their preparation of the Berio Folk Songs which will be performed in the Wigmore Hall at the beginning of the summer term. Marija (Year 9), Sonya (Year 10), Lia (Year 10), Alina (Year 12), Adi (Year 13), Celeste (Year 11), Ramona (Year 13), Solomiya (Year 12) and Clem (Year 13) were the singers involved. Linda inspired them with her enthusiasm for this repertoire which she herself has performed and offered many technical and musical insights which were invaluable. Many thanks to Linda for an incredibly helpful session.
 

Concerts Review

Middle School Orchestral Concert on 17th March
On Monday 17th March, our Middle School Orchestra put on a fantastic concert of music by Haydn, Mozart, Glazunov, Dvořák as well as two original compositions by our students, Nemunis and Matilda. Chaeyu in Year 10 was the soloist in the exquisite violin concerto No.4 by Mozart and said, ‘it was an amazing experience to play Mozart’s violin concerto No.4 third movement with the middle school orchestra, which was my very first time performing with a whole orchestra! The piece is elegant and light, and closer to a chamber music piece, and I enjoyed it very much.’
 
Middle School Composers’ Concert on 18th March
The week pushed on strong with our middle school musicians, who had the world-premiere of their own compositions, created with Purcell’s composer-in-association, Robert Saxton, based on Voiles by Debussy. Ambrus in Year 10 composed Petrification and said, ‘I enjoyed listening to everyone’s pieces. The concert was a great display of compositional skills. My piece was performed superbly by Luca, and it helped me to develop a new perspective on the piece. I might write more movements now that I have heard it performed in a concert’.
 
Barnes Arts Festival 19th March
A group of six Sixth Form students performed at Barnes Arts Festival on 19th March in their lunchtime concert. The programme included a rare performance of the clarinet quartet by Walter Rabl, performed in full by Thomas, Tristan, Jessie and Yazdi. Phoebe and Leo opened the concert with an emotional rendition of Schubert’s Divertissement a la Hongroise for piano four hands. The audience included students from two secondary schools and the performances were received with enthusiastic applause and cheers at the end.