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Thirteen boys fought off stiff competition to reach the final of QE’s Year 7 Music Scholarship competition, taking part in a special concert before a large audience and external adjudicator.

Three boys were then awarded scholarships: Jonathan Ho; Ori Langer and Uday Kataria.

The scholarships, which offer financial support towards additional opportunities or resources to further pupils’ musical progress, attracted a large number of applicants. The 13 finalists made it through two short-listings to qualify for the final concert.

“Although we take the boys’ all-round musicianship into consideration, it is important that the competition culminates in a performance,” said QE’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe. “It is only on the concert platform that it is possible to judge which of the candidates are most able to communicate their music to an audience.”

Jonathan Ho began learning piano at the age of four and the drum at six. He has passed Grade 6 on the piano and Grade 4 on the snare drum. He performed Michael Skinner’s Snares Off and Handel’s Allegro from Suite in G in the final concert.

Ori Langer plays the French Horn and attends the Junior Guildhall’s music school where he plays in their wind orchestra. He chose Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture and Saint-Saëns Romance, Op.36 for the final.

Uday Kataria has passed Grade 7 on the flute, Grade 6 on voice and Grade 3 piano. In the final he played Johann Sebastian Bach’s Andante and Paul Taffanel’s Allegro.

“It was a fabulous evening of extremely high-quality music-making, which made the decision very difficult for the adjudicators, added Mr Howe. The 13 boys who got through to the final concert performed excellently and very musically. All of the boys showed great maturity in performing to such a high standard in front of a large and appreciative audience.”

The senior adjudicator was Danielle Salamon, an experienced recitalist, solo player, accompanist and chamber musician, who teaches at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music.

Joseph Levene from Year 11 has won the annual Years 8-11 School Chess Tournament, defeating Year 9’s Ananth Balaji in a close-fought play-off. The two boys, who have both represented England at chess, were undefeated in the tournament rounds, each securing six wins and a draw.

“I was very pleased to see the number of highly able and enthusiastic chess players we have at QE,” said Geoff Roberts, teacher in charge of Chess. “Joseph is a worthy winner.”

The event attracted a high-quality field of 66 competitors, with excellent performances from Jake Breindel of Year 10 and Girishanth Sureswaran, of Year 9, who both finished in third position, Mr Roberts added. Jake and Girishanth were also the leading points scorers in their respective year groups, along with Ilan Elango, the top scorer in Year 8.

In a change of format from previous years, the School made use of the chess expertise developed by Year 12 boys. Madhi Elango, Kiran Modi and Rushil Sajip all helped run the tournament, administering the pairings for each round and acting as arbiters in the case of rule queries. They also provided chess hints and advice to the younger students throughout the day.

“All of the competitors undoubtedly enjoyed receiving coaching and advice from Sixth Form boys who have been highly successful at chess over many years,” said Mr Roberts.

QE’s highest achievers were rewarded for their endeavours at the School’s Senior Awards Ceremony.

Well over 100 prizes were awarded to boys from Year 10 to the Sixth Form at the event in the School Hall, one of the academic highlights of the QE calendar.

In his welcome, Headmaster Neil Enright pointed out that winning awards in the highly competitive context of QE requires truly outstanding performance that combines ability with sustained, focused effort.

The Guest of Honour was Professor Chris Brink, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle. Born in South Africa, he not only has a distinguished career as a logician, but also successfully led the transformation of that country’s Stellenbosch University from an institution closely associated with the former apartheid regime into a multi-racial, academically strong university.

Professor Brink grew up in a small town on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, with no opportunities for travel until he left South Africa at the age of 24 to start his PhD at Cambridge. “It doesn’t matter where you come from; it is where you end up that matters”, he told the audience of parents, guests, staff and boys. However, while highlighting the importance of boys “overcoming disadvantage” by making the most of their abilities, he also stressed that they should not lose sight of the need to contribute to society as they became successful in life – “overcoming advantage”, as he put it.

The Headmaster said: “Professor Brink gave an inspirational speech which drew on his own experience, yet resonated perfectly with our own ethos as a School which is both a meritocracy and is also committed to developing in our boys a sense of social responsibility.”

The evening was punctuated by a series of musical interludes from some of the School’s leading musicians. The repertoire ranged from pieces by Brahms, Bozza and Saint-Saëns to a recessional composed and directed by QE’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe.

Old Elizabethan Lucian Grainge is consolidating Universal Music’s position as the world’s biggest recording company amid signs that, after years of decline, the music industry is starting to grow again.

In a major interview with the Sunday Times, Los Angeles-based Lucian (OE 1971-78) was bullish about the prospects for EMI – owner of famous labels such as Capitol Records and Virgin – which has been the subject of a controversial £1.2bn takeover by Universal. Concerned about a threat to competition, the European Commission forced Universal to sell a third of EMI.

Speaking of his plans to revive EMI now that the takeover has been secured, he said: “I tried to get my first records recorded at EMI and I really want to make a difference to it. For me, this is a duty and a responsibility.”

Lucian was an early starter in business terms: he walked out of a history A-level examination at QE to cut his first record deal, although he still passed his A-levels. His interest in the business is said to have been sparked in childhood, when he would study which records customers selected in his father’s TV, radio and record shop.

He is due to bring together many of his British labels into a new company called Virgin EMI, while also launching a Capitol Records UK label. In addition, he plans to invest millions of pounds into signing unknown acts.

Figures released recently showed that the recorded music industry’s global revenue grew 0.3% to $16.5bn last year – the first increase for more than a decade, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Revenue was boosted by growing sales from legal downloading and streaming of music.

He is sanguine about Universal’s prospects: “We were the first to be disrupted by the internet and we will show that we are the first to power out. When you lift the carpet there is an extraordinary transformative explosion of new rights, new distribution, new content and new ways of acquiring and finding it.”

Lucian was awarded the CBE for services to the creative industries in the 2010 New Year’s Honours. Married with two children and a stepdaughter, he is known both for his formidable business ability and his disarming style. He remains a keen Arsenal supporter.

His brother, Justin (OE 1978-81), is understood still be to living in Finchley and is a photographer.

Year 12 pupil Michael Zhao has reached the national final of the British Informatics Olympiad – an annual computer programming competition for schools and sixth form colleges.

Michael, who is one of only 15 entrants from across the country to progress to the final, will now compete for the chance to be one of four students who will represent Britain at the International Informatics Olympiad in Australia, in July.

The first stage of the British Informatics Olympiad (BIO) is a three-question, three-hour examination sat in the candidate’s school, in which participants solve problems with the aid of a computer. It was taken this year at QE by Michael and his fellow Year 12 pupil, Gabriel Gendler. The examination is marked by a teacher and then submitted to the competition organisers for moderation. 

Michael, who learned to program outside School, will travel to Trinity College, Cambridge, for the BIO final in April. It will involve solving more difficult problems, some written and some involving programming.

The four top performers will then qualify for the all-expenses-paid trip to Brisbane.