4 October 2017
Our first Solo Concert Platform this evening, preceded by the Music Society’s Annual General Meeting, gave some 14 of our pupils an early solo playing opportunity and a chance for a supportive audience of parents, staff and fellow performers to hear some of the School’s gifted old hands as well our very newest musical talent. The standard of playing was phenomenally high and it was particularly good to welcome some new faces.
The larger contingent of performers included a plethora of pianists and there were some outstanding performances. In the first half we heard Andreas Lo in Liadov, Tiger Wang with Liszt’s sublime Liebestraum, Hugo Payton in Tanaka’s Masquerade and Harry Pan in an exotic arrangement by Peixun Chen of a sad Shanghai street seller’s song, translated as “Selling Sundry Goods”
Pianists in the second half of the concert included new scholar, Robin Collins, in Chopin’s E minor Prelude, Reuben Havelock in some beautiful Moskowski, Harris Ma in Schubert’s wonderful Gb Impromptu, Brooklyn Han in Debussy’s tempestuous Dr Gradus ad Parnassum and Jason Ng in Chopin’s famously heart-rending Impromptu in C sharp minor, Op Posth.
Performances by musicians of other instruments included three violinists. Alvin Tam is polishing his violin programme for his diploma recital at the end of term and gave a most poised performance of Beethoven’s Spring Sonata, first movement. Alex Glover played one of his grade 8 pieces, the first movement from Haydn’s G major Violin Concerto and Dashiell Hathaway played us a movement from Schubert’s Violin Sonatina.
We also heard two oboists. The first, Iain Storrie in Benjamin Britten’s colourful portrait of Bacchus, the God of Wine in Britten’s Six Metamorphoses after Ovid. Not to be outdone by his older brother, Oliver Glover gave a suitably dramatic performance of Bellini’s unsurprisingly operatic Oboe Concerto, with a sense of poise and style that belies his mere 12 years of age.
Our thanks must go to all the gifted performers and to their outstanding and dedicated teachers, especially our pianist accompanists, Mariette Pringle and Lynette Stulting whose birthday it was today (now that is dedication)! This was a marvellous way to start the musical year.
