Welcome to the latest edition of Purcell’s Weekly Highlights!
 

Lucia Breslin

Year 12 saxophonist Lucia Breslin has reached the final of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain (CASSGB) Young Saxophone Soloist Competition 2020.
 

Sofiia Matviienko

Year 13 flautist Sofiia Matviienko has reached the second round of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2020 competition.
 

Phoebe Papandrea

Year 8 pianist Phoebe Papandrea was awarded First Prize in the 12th edition of the Young Pianist of the North International Competition 2019 (category A) in Newcastle upon Tyne, and was invited to perform in the winners’ concert and award ceremony on 23rd November.
 

National Youth Orchestra

Year 11 clarinet player Lily Payne and Year 12 bassoon player Eva Serksnaite have both gained places in the National Youth Orchestra (NYO) this year.
 

Moscow Meets Friends

On Sunday 1st December, two Purcell students will fly out to Moscow to take part in Moscow Meets Friends, an annual internal festival which aims to give talented young musicians from all over the world the opportunity to perform on some of Moscow’s greatest concert stages. Eva Serksnaite and Lily Payne will be performing at the Museum of Russian Impressionism on Monday 2nd December. The event has been organised by the Spinakov Foundation.
 

Handcrafted Floristry

Last week Year 10 created some amazing paper flowers inspired by the artist and designer Lia Griffith. Students used crepe paper and wire to create some stunning handcrafted paper bouquets. Jennifer Baek, Shiwen Chen and Barbare Roinishvili’s creations particularly stood out because they drew inspiration for their choice of flower, colour pallet and design from their recent trip to Kew Gardens.
 

Lunchtime Concert

Earlier this week, Purcell students performed a lunchtime concert for 32 members of the Bricket Wood and District Jewish Social Circle. The attendees not only enjoyed the concert but took in a talk about the school and a guided tour of the grounds and facilities.
 

Woodwind Open Day Reminder

On Sunday 8th December the Woodwind department will hold their bi-annual open day. Young woodwind players of Grade 6 standard are invited to take part in workshops, ensemble playing and performance classes, coached by members of the woodwind faculty. The day provide a valuable insight into this proactive, supportive and vibrant department. Please do pass on the following link here to any contacts who might be interested in taking part.
 

Alan Skidmore Masterclass

On Wednesday 27th November, the Jazz department were treated to a masterclass by the legendary saxophonist Alan Skidmore. The Percussion Suite came alive with an array of instruments as students jammed with Alan Skidmore, and found out about his life and career.
 

Andrew Garrido

The Guardian featured an extraordinary piece last week, entitled ‘Experience: I learned to play the piano without a piano’, about pianist and alumnus Andrew Garrido. The article was one of passion and determination, and it is with great pride that we share it here.
 

Notes of Thanks

‘Please pass on my sincere thanks to the Purcell 5tet for the truly glorious concert they gave us last Friday evening. So much musical pleasure; our audience was thrilled as you could gauge from all the applause. The Brahms was a perfect choice and, I must say, I very much enjoyed the Beethoven Duo. I am so pleased that we now have the Purcell young musicians as a permanent fixture in our calendar.’ Alistair Jones, founder of the Conservatoire Concert Series at South Hill Park