Saturday 20th May saw the culmination of a very special recorder project. The event featured new pieces for recorder, written by young people and all inspired by a new concerto for recorder which is being written by the composer Graham Fitkin.
The project was a fascinating collaboration with the Royal Academy of Music’s Junior Department (RAMJD). Beautiful, accomplished pieces by three Purcell School composers, Pablo Barrios, Asha Parkinson and Michael Temporal Darrell were performed alongside unfinished but very promising new pieces by RAMJD young composers. Purcell School performers included Heather Brooks (harp) Ivan Varchenko (saxophone) and Petar Jovanovic (guitar). It was a great privilege for the young players to be coached and supported by Carson Becke, former Purcellian composer/pianist, former RAM student and currently staff member at the Purcell School.
We would like to extend a special thanks also to Barbara Law, recorder teacher, to the many talented young people at the Purcell School and the RAM, who worked so hard to pull all the logistics together. Also to John Cooney, Head of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department/Yehudi Menuhin School, who worked so carefully with the young composers, and was so kind and complimentary towards the Purcellians, Graham Fitkin who showed such an interest in them all, and Josh Hagley, Purcell School Academic/Composition Assistant who supported the whole project so efficiently.