Four young musicians won the junior category prize at the prestigious Pro Corda Chamber Music Festival – and the School put on a special concert to celebrate.
The Junior String Quartet impressed the Pro Corda judges with their rendition of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 4 in C minor opus 18 movement I, Allegro ma non tanto. Following their achievement, the four boys later secured Music bars, which are awarded to those who already have their QE Music colours.
A second QE ensemble, a trio of senior musicians, also reached the grand final of the national competition, which was held this year at Woldingham School, Surrey.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This is a well respected competition in which standards are high and competition fierce: I offer my warm congratulations to our young musicians on their striking success.”
The Junior String Quartet – comprising Year 9’s Eshaan Anil, Kevin Mao & Jeremy Shi, as well as Joseph Donovan, of Year 10 – competed over three months through the qualifying and semi-final rounds of the competition. As in previous years, QE was among the host schools for the earlier rounds. The final featured more than 40 ensembles.
Director of Music Ruth Partington said: “In the adjudication, it was noted that this was the largest Pro Corda ever, with the highest standard, so it really was a tremendous achievement for our quartet to win: they did brilliantly!
“Our violin trio (Jason Tao, Year 13; Ryuki Watanabe, Year 12; Noah Morley, Year 11) represented QE in the senior category, which is by far the most competitive – therefore getting into the final was also an amazing achievement for them,” Miss Partington added.
The older boys performed Christian Sinding’s Serenade No. 2 Op. 92 Movement II Andante sostenuto in F sharp minor and Igor Frolov’s Divertimento for 2 violins and piano.
Just a few days before the Pro Corda final, the trio played their pieces at the final of South East Schools’ Chamber Music Competition, which is again highly respected in the music world. “Jason, Ryuki and Noah did very well to reach the final and played impressively in the crowded senior category, where they were up against the likes of Harrow and St Paul’s. In fact, both our finalist ensembles really were spectacular,” said Miss Partington.
At the celebratory lunchtime concert in the Friends’ Recital Hall, both ensembles performed their pieces.
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At Telford International Centre, Team Rogue (working in partnership with a team from Haberdashers’ Boys’) were overall champions for the Year 10 (VR5C) event and also took a highly prized Design award. They now qualify for the global finals being held next month in Texas, together with fellow Year 10s in Team Nova and Year 9 teams Constellation and Omega.
Team Constellation took a Design prize in the junior VIQRC competition.
VIQRC
Head of Digital Teaching & Learning Michael Noonan said: “The standard of competition was amazing and the team had an absolute blast!
“The competition proper was intense, and had a game every 20 minutes during the competitive phases. Having come in the top 40 out of 160 teams in Skills, we were now free to put together a strong performance on day one, ranking 13th of our 40 on day 1. Day 2 brought its challenges, and unfortunately our team succumbed to four losses. Undeterred, they battled well alongside a team who had been their alliance partner, losing out 39-30 in the round of 16.
The speakers were drawn from people who attended QE during each of the previous four decades who have distinguished themselves in fields including sports entertainment, design & architecture, music and finance. The line-up even included an illustrious former QE mum, who serves on the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee.
Alex Gilbert (OE 1990–1995). A committed environmentalist, Alex is Head of Energy and Electrification for Transport for London and is also Chair of the Advisory Group at the University of Sussex Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand (CIED). Alex also took part in the Year 11 Careers Convention and is pictured with some of the boys in QE Connect.
Ramesh Pari (Paripooranananthan) (OE 1997–2004) is an architect who is now Head of Design & BIM Engineering at Ocado. After speaking to Year 12s in a special assembly, Ramesh wrote: “What was my message? That life is full of weird and wonderful opportunities we can’t always plan for—but we can prepare. That careers are ‘squiggly’, and we should embrace the pivot, prioritising interest over rigid plans.”