Welcome to the latest edition of Purcell’s Weekly Highlights!
Masterclass with Josephine Knight
The School recently played host to British cellist Josephine Knight, one of the most sought after performers of her generation, who led a Cello Masterclass on Monday 6th March. Josephine
has performed as a soloist with leading orchestras across the world and has worked with many conductors including Vasily Petrenko, Christian Zacharis, Richard Hickox and Jac Van Steen.
Momentum Dance
First-study composers in the sixth form are working with dancers from Momentum in Bushey to create short collaborative pieces. On Wednesday, composers all worked in small groups with their dancers, discussing and refining ideas. These will be performed at The Purcell School in a special event on May 8th 2019!
Sophie Rogers racks up success
Year 8 student Sophie Rogers has had an incredible few weeks!In half term Sophie spent two days playing alongside the Band of the RAF Regiment, firstly at their studio at RAF Northolt and then in concert in Amersham. On Sunday 24th February she was presented with the Perfect Pitch cup for best Junior Wind Soloist at the Chesham Arts Festival. On Wednesday she won the Junior Ensemble Prize at the Wycombe Orpheus Festival of Young Musicians playing in a folk trio with two friends from Chiltern Music Academy, and finally, next Sunday 10th March she will perform on the main stage at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club, after being invited to be part of their Big Band in a Day workshop celebrating International Women’s Day. Well done Sophie on your fantastic achievements!
Leicester MusicFest 2019
During half-term, Petar Jovanovic took part in the Leicester MusicFest where he was a winner in two categories! He came first in The classical guitar competition G4 Advanced Guitar Solo and was presented with Tony Gill Trophy. Petar was also a lucky winner of a Classical Guitar Award 2019 where he won a Pericle guitar made by renowned luthier Roy Courtnall.
Bromley Music Festival
On Sunday Bethany Caswell competed in the Bromley Music Festival harp section where she won first prize in the advanced harp recital class. She has also been invited back to represent the harp section in the Bromley Music Festival Star Performer competition at the end of March.
Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition
Congratulations to Firoze Madon on being awarded a first prize in the piano category of the Paris and London editions of the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition! As part of the award he has been selected to perform at the Amphithéâtre, Cité de la Musique in Paris and the Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall in April.
Donation to the School
We have recently received an incredibly generous donation of a French Horn from Richard Thomas on behalf of his late wife Fiona who was a graduate of The Royal College of Music. We hope we can continue her legacy and provide a great home for her instrument.
Purcell takes on the united nations
On Monday March 4th, Alison Cox (Head of Composition) was invited to speak at the United Nations and Commonwealth Rotarian Peace Envoys meeting which took place in the Houses of Parliament. This was as a direct result of the Purcell School’s spectacular contribution to London’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings in April 2018, where the school participated in four events in association with the Commonwealth Resounds. One of these events was ‘Rotary and the Commonwealth, Drumming for Peace’ where 20 Purcell pupils aged between 10 and 18 performed with musicians from Ghana, Cameroon, Botswana, India and also with distinguished Rotarians and Commonwealth delegates. Together, they gave a spectacular drumming performance to 1,500 people. The drumming performance was superbly directed by Kevin Hathway. It was collaborative, cross-cultural and inter-generational, which generated a great deal of interest.
Alison spoke to an assembled audience of almost 100 UK based and international Rotarians, MPs, Lords, Commonwealth and community leaders and invited guests. She discussed the potential role of music as a supporting element in national and international peace initiatives, using the drumming project and former pupil Asha Parkinson’s ‘Voices Beyond Division’ as examples.
