Cambridge scholarship for QE organ pioneer
Year 13’s Noah Morley has become the third QE pupil this century to be offered an organ scholarship from Oxford or Cambridge.
His scholarship counts as a major success for QE’s three-year-old musical partnership with Barnet’s St John the Baptist Church, in which Noah played a pioneering role.
He follows in the footsteps of Cambridge organ scholars Peter Yarde Martin (OE 2002–2007) and Drew Sellis (OE 2013–2020).
Noah’s scholarship offer from Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, comes after he played a leading part in two recent landmark musical events for QE – the Chamber Choir singing evensong at Christ Church, Oxford, and a Royal College of Organists (RCO) concert at St Lawrence Jewry Church in the City of London.
Assistant Director of Music Jas Hutchinson-Bazely, who helped Noah obtain the Cambridge scholarship, said: “This is a wonderful achievement and is richly deserved following his enthusiastic involvement in our organ scholarship at the parish church for the past three years.
“He has fulfilled his duties both there and in School with distinction, and is a brilliant role model to our increasing number of young organists. Hopefully, he will inspire many more to follow his lead, and we wish him every success.”
Noah began learning the organ at QE in Year 9. Under the partnership with St John’s, Noah, who was then in Year 10, was named as an inaugural QE organ scholar, together with sixth-former Joel Swedensky (now singing as a choral scholar with the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge).
Noah is currently the Senior Organ Scholar in the scheme, with Year 9’s Arthur Wang as Junior Scholar.
If he secures the A-level results he needs to secure his place at Cambridge, Noah will have the privilege of playing the organ three times a week in the college chapel. He said: “Being awarded the scholarship is very important to me. My organ teacher is very proud.”
Noah is taught at QE by organ and voice teacher Adam Hope, who rehearses the School’s Chamber Choir. In the Summer Term, Noah played voluntaries at Christ Church’s Rieger organ before and after evensong at Christ Church, as well as accompanying the choir during the service [pictured top].
This term, he was among the star performers in the concert in the City church beside the Guildhall – the second time that QE, which became an RCO-Accredited Institution in 2025, has been invited to take part in the RCO Young Performers concert series. Also performing were 11 other pupil organists and singers from Years 8–13.
The historic venue, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, is the official church of the Lord Mayor and the Corporation of London. The church is home to a Klais organ, built in 2001 as a Millennium Project
QE’s concert was introduced by Madeline Smith, Director of Relationships at the RCO. The organists performed works by composers including Elgar, Bach and Vivaldi, while the singers presented pieces by Purcell, Torelli and Ireland.
The performers were supported by Year 9 pupil Hoting Tan [pictured in the blue shirt], who acted as the organists’ console assistant for the day. Having recently started learning the organ himself, Hoting was able to observe and learn from more experienced musicians.
Year 8 organist Hercules Li said: “I enjoyed playing on a new organ and I liked the large variety of sounds. I also enjoyed being able to walk through the organ and see all the pipes inside it.”
Robin Peng, of Year 9, added: “I really liked the immersive sound and atmosphere the organ produced, and how I could feel the mechanisms working behind the keys and creating the sound almost magically.”