Concert Review
Lunchtime Concerts W/B 1st June
Our last half term of concerts began with a solo Kreisler piece performed by Martin, and Anna performing the Beethoven Choral Fantasy.
On Tuesday, one of our Purcell Impulse outreach groups presented an enjoyable interactive concert with local primary school children from Longwood School. Thank you to Bettina, Carla, Clara, Daria, Ethan, Gaby, Gianntino, Grace, Julianna, Kate, Natalie and Rozalia for this concert.
On Wednesday, Simon Allen, Head of Jazz, led a Jazz Jam Session with Otto, Marcus, Mahla, Paawan, Seth, Albert and Miles giving us an insight into how the jazz world works performing jazz standards and improvised arrangements.
On Thursday, Samsara, Martin and Zev performed Muczynski, Prokofiev and Bach.
Well done everyone this week.
Forthcoming Events
In addition to those highlighted events below, please visit our online Concerts and Events Guide here.
9 June – Lunchtime Concert at St James’s Church Sussex Gardens
Time: 1.00pm
Venue: St James’s Church, Sussex Gardens, Hyde Park
Tickets: Admission is free of charge. No booking required.
Purcell pianists perform two dates in the popular concert series at St James’s Church Sussex Gardens.
16 June – St Bride’s Lunchtime Concert
Time: 1.15pm
Venue: St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, London
Tickets: Admission is free of charge. No booking required.
Purcell students perform at a lunchtime concert at St Bride’s Church, in the heart of London.
18 June – St Mary’s Watford Lunchtime Concert
Time: 12.30pm
Venue: St Mary’s Church, 1 Church Street, Watford WD18 0EG
Tickets: Admission is free of charge. No booking required.
Purcell guitarists and singers present a lunchtime concert at St Mary’s Church in Watford.
22 June – Singers Soiree
Time: 5.00pm
Venue: Recital Room, The Purcell School
Tickets: Admission is free of charge. No booking required.
23 June – Claire Martin with The Purcell School at PizzaExpress Live (Chelsea)
Time: Doors 6.30pm | Show 8.00pm
Venue: Pizza Express, The Pheasantry, 152 King’s Rd, London SW3 4NX, UK
Tickets: Tickets are £20 and available from PizzaExpress Live
Join us for a special evening of world-class jazz as acclaimed vocalist Claire Martin performs alongside the exceptional young musicians of The Purcell School at PizzaExpress Live in Chelsea.
Under the direction of saxophonist and Head of Jazz Simon Allen, and supported by a faculty of leading jazz performers and educators, students at The Purcell School refine their craft to an outstanding level. Many go on to study at top conservatoires and build successful careers as professional musicians.
An eight-time British Jazz Award winner, Claire Martin has been a defining voice in UK jazz for over three decades. She began her career at just 19 and soon fulfilled a lifelong ambition to perform at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho. Since signing with Linn Records in 1990, Claire has released 18 acclaimed albums and collaborated with some of the most celebrated names in jazz, including Martin Taylor, John Martyn, Stéphane Grappelli, Kenny Barron, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and Jim Mullen.
Claire has toured extensively around the world with her trio and has appeared as a featured soloist with leading orchestras such as the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, BBC Big Band and BBC Concert Orchestra. She also co-presented BBC Radio 3’s flagship programme Jazz Line-Up for 17 years.
For this one-night-only performance, Claire joins forces with The Purcell School’s outstanding jazz musicians to present a specially curated programme celebrating highlights from her remarkable career.
24 June – Electric Eclectic Concert
Time: 7.00pm
Venue: CP Hall, The Purcell School
Tickets: Admission is free of charge. No booking required.
The concert features new, stylistically wide ranging compositions for electronics, string quartet, vocals and visuals. Inspired by the beauty of numbers as a special tribute to our departing Head of Maths, Alex Stone, it includes music for film, esoteric electronica and disco strings with a surprise event for acoustic ensemble titled Enigma, a celebration of the hidden universe of numbers!
26 June – St James’s Piccadilly Concert
Time: 1.00pm
Venue: St James’s Piccadilly, 197 Piccadilly, St James
Tickets: Admission is free of charge. No booking required.
29 June – Lunchtime Concert at Proms at St Jude’s
Time: 12.00pm
Venue: St Jude’s, Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London NW11 7AH
Tickets: Admission is free of charge. No booking required.
Purcell students perform a one-hour lunchtime concert of chamber music at the Proms at St Jude’s.
Programme to include:
Chopin Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante Op.22
Franck Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano
Rachmaninov Trio élégiaque No. 1
For further information about the venue, visit the Proms at St Jude’s website.
1 July – Anna Avramidou plays Tchaikovsky with The Purcell School Symphony Orchestra
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Milton Court, 1 Milton Street, London EC2Y 9BH
Tickets: Tickets are £22 / £11 (Conc.) and can be purchased here
The Purcell School Symphony Orchestra returns to Milton Court with a vibrant programme featuring the first symphonies of Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Prokofiev composed his Symphony No. 1, the ‘Classical Symphony’, in 1917 during the upheaval of the Russian Revolution. The work draws on the clarity and charm of Haydn while adding Prokofiev’s distinctive neoclassical wit.
Shostakovich wrote his Symphony No. 1 at just 19 as his graduation work at the Leningrad Conservatory. Both symphonies reveal the striking brilliance and individuality of these composers in their youth—an inspiring reflection of the creative potential nurtured at The Purcell School.
Featured soloist, Anna Avramidou, a Year 13 pianist at The Purcell School, is rapidly gaining international recognition. She won the prestigious Cooper International Piano Competition in 2025 and has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra. Her accolades also include prizes at the Clara Haskil Piano Competition and the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Weimar.
As the winner of The Purcell School’s Senior Concerto Competition, Anna will perform Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, one of the most thrilling and monumental works in the piano repertoire.
Programme:
Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 Classical
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B♭ minor, Op. 23 Anna Avramidou, piano
Shostakovich Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10
2 July – Mozart: The Magic Flute Opera
Time: 7.00pm
Venue: CP Hall, The Purcell Hall
Tickets: Free admission. No booking required.
5 July – Last Night of the Proms at St Jude’s with Helen Charleston
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: St Jude’s, Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London NW11 7AH
Tickets: Tickets are from £40 and available from the Proms at St Jude’s website
The Purcell School Symphony Orchestra joins forces with the dazzling mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston for the Last Night of Proms at St Jude’s.
Traditionally a sold-out occasion, the Last Night promises all the excitement and spectacle of a classic prom celebration. This year’s programme includes:
Walton Spitfire Prelude and Fugue
Elgar Sea Pictures
Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 “Classical”
Mozart Così fan tutte: “Ah scostati! . . . Smanie implacabili”
Conducted by Paul Hoskins, Director of Music at The Purcell School.
7 July – The Purcell School in concert with Vanessa Haynes at PizzaExpress Live (Holborn
Time: Doors 6.30pm | Show 8.00pm
Venue: PizzaExpress 99 high Holborn, London WC1V 9LF
Tickets: Tickets are from £20 and available from the PizzaExpress Live website
The Purcell School Session Bands team up with acclaimed UK vocalist Vanessa Haynes for a special concert of Soul classics and original songs. Cutting her teeth as backing vocalist for artists such as Van Morrison and Chaka Khan, Haynes became front woman of legendary jazz funk outfit, Incognito, in 2008, touring with the band for over 14 years.
8 July – Sumer is Icumen In – Celebrating Alison Cox
Time: 6.00pm
Venue: CP Hall, The Purcell School
Tickets: Free admission. Please click here to book.
Join us for a panel discussion about The Purcell School over the years. Alison Cox (Head of Composition: 1988-Present), Panos Fellas (former Head of Science and Housemaster: 1997-2024) and Ed Longstaff (Academic Music & Choir: 1993-2024) will walk us through the history of the School, chaired by Paul Bambrough, Principal.
During the evening, the panel will discuss highlights from their vast careers totalling almost 100 years at the School and share insights about the institution in its various forms.
Expect to hear tales of concerts, boarding anecdotes, memorable students and much more as these stalwarts of The Purcell School take us on a journey through the Purcell years!
Following the panel discussion, join us for a very special concert. 38 Composition alumni and staff have each written a one or two minute piece based on ‘Sumer is icumen in’ and will be performed by Purcell students. This is the oldest known musical composition featuring six-part polyphony. The manuscript in which it is preserved was copied between 1261 and 1264.
This will be Alison Cox‘s final Composition Concert before her retirement at the end of this academic year. Alison will retire after 38 years at the School, including 32 years running the Composition Department that she created in 1994.
“Retiring from my position as Head of Composition at The Purcell School has been an immensely difficult and almost heartbreaking decision for me to make, because, when I arrived at the school 38 years ago as a 32-year-old music teacher, it was impossible to imagine the huge impact it would have upon the rest of my career” Alison Cox.
9 July – Lichfield Festival Lunchtime Concert
Time: 12.00pm
Venue: St Michael’s Church, 48 Church Street, Boley Park
Tickets: £16 and available to purchase from the festival’s website.
The Purcell School students open the Lichfield Festival 2026, with pieces for solo piano, string quartet and piano quintet. Part of our America250 season, this programme will include works by Barber, Prokofiev and extracts from Dvorak’s American Quartet.
Programme:
Prokofiev Sarcasms, Op. 17
Barber Waltz from Souvenirs, Op. 28
Dvorak Excerpts from String Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81 ‘American’
