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QE’s Symphony Orchestra has been selected to go through to this summer’s national finals of Music for Youth, the world’s largest youth music festival.

The orchestra, which performed Night on a Bare Mountain by Mussorgsky, were highly praised in the written report on their recorded entry. Their mentor commented on the “very good opening … good balance … very good flute sound … good technique in string section … very precise rhythmic playing in the whole orchestra … good dynamic changes … very good control and a very nice ending”.

Music for Youth, which is for groups of at least two people aged 21 and under, is organised by ABRSM, a national music assessment body. Competitors can either perform at regional festivals or submit recordings of their work, as QE has done. All those taking part are allocated a mentor who provides feedback on performances and how they can be improved.

QE’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe, says “Our category of the competition takes place in July at Birmingham Symphony Hall and performing there will be a great experience for all the boys concerned. They have done exceptionally well to get this far and will be up against much bigger county orchestras in the final.”

The School’s Vinson Quintet also received very positive feedback for their entry. The quintet performed a piece by Mozart entitled Clarinet Quintet and the boys were praised for their “nice phrasing and articulation … good clarinet melody … strong rhythms … good change of tempo … nice control and very good finish”.

“Both the Symphony Orchestra and the Vinson Quintet were acknowledged in the reports for their high level of musicality, which is very satisfying,” added Mr Howe.

QE boys picked up two first prizes in the annual World Citizenship Competition run by the Barnet Baha’i Faith Group. There were three categories in the competition on the topic of Living in a diverse society. What is our role and responsibility? The categories were for best poem, poster and essay.

Tochi Onuora won first prize in the Poem section, with Soham Chatterjee and Joel George taking second and third places. Christopher Suen was placed first in the Essay category, while Sachin Ghelani took second prize in the Poster competition. Shivakaron Shankar, Agrim Manchandra and Taehee Baek all received Certificates for Effort.

The boys, all from Year 7, received their prizes and certificates at a special ceremony hosted by the Mayor of Barnet.

“It is a testament to the boys that they won first place in two out of the three categories,” said Religious Studies teacher Sarah Jones. “It demonstrates that QE students are able to think through and communicate spiritual, moral and religious issues.

Pictured are first prize winners Tochi Onuora (left) and Christopher Suen (right).

The School has won a prestigious national business competition for the second consecutive year.

A team of four Year 11 Economists took first prize in Tune into Business 2011. Bennie Jaderberg, John Otugade, Marco Saccardi and Nigethan Sathiyalingam were required to step into the shoes of a high-powered music executive and decide on the most viable artist to invest in out of a choice of three. They had to justify their decision using market data, financial information and other social variables.

The annual competition is run by The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) in partnership with The b-Live Foundation, a careers and community site aimed at pupils at secondary schools.

“We are very proud of the boys’ achievement,” said Headmaster John Marincowitz. “To win such a prestigious competition in two consecutive years speaks of the consistently high level of performance from our boys.”

As part of their prize, the boys spent a day at the Chartered Accountants’ Hall in London where they met Mark Protherough, ICAEW Executive Director of Learning and Professional Development. The visit included an executive lunch at leading City venue, One Moorgate Place.

Commenting on the day, Mr Protherough said “The ICAEW remains the most popular breeding ground for future business leaders; 14 of the FTSE top 100 Chief Executives qualified with the Institute and 84% of those companies have at least one of our members on their board. Through competitions such as this we hope to perhaps find the business leaders of tomorrow.”

Fourteen-year-old Kavi Pau has won a top drama prize at a leading arts festival after impressing judges with a series of performances across different categories.

Kavi took the Drama Versatility Cup at the North London Festival of Music, Drama and Dance. The festival is affiliated to the Federation of Festivals and each year attracts a substantial number of entries in competitive classes including piano, composition, singing, choirs, speech & drama, and instrumental. All entrants perform in front of a live audience and are given feedback by the adjudicators.

Kavi won the cup for the most outstanding all-round performer (13-18 years). He took first prize and the gold medal in the Solo Classical Acting category; the Sight Reading category, and the Verse Speaking open category. He also picked up third place and the bronze medal in the Prose Reading section.

He received the cup from Nona Liddle MBE, former leader of the London Sinfonietta. She complimented Kavi on his delivery of the Brutus speech from Julia Caesar: “You had them turning around looking for Caesar’s body. You and your School can be extremely proud of the fine work you delivered.”

Kavi’s prize also included theatre and book tokens to help him to develop his Drama talent further.

A QE Sixth-Former has picked up second prize in a prestigious nationwide literary competition. Mohammad Bhatti (pictured) was named runner-up in The John Salter Memorial Kipling Essay competition which focused on the poetry of Rudyard Kipling.

Mohammad’s prize was £100 for himself, £100 for the School and a year’s free membership of the Kipling Society. The judges were also impressed with Nikos Yerolemou’s entry and awarded him a consolation prize of a £20 book token along with a year’s free membership of the Kipling Society.

“I am very proud that two of our students caught the eye of the judges in this prestigious and challenging competition,” said Head of English, Susannah Sweetman. “As a department we have been promoting the School’s drive to encourage independent learning, which we feel is essential when aiming for academic and personal success.”

Mohammad received his prize from Sir John Chapple, the President of the Kipling Society.

QE musician Anthony Zhang has been awarded a national bursary after achieving one of the highest marks in the country for his grade 8 piano examination.

The £150 Silver Bursary from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music caps a year of achievement for Anthony.

The School’s Director of Music, Kieron Howe, said: “His mark of 145 out of 150 (97%) is an astounding mark at any level and particularly at grade 8.

“This academic year Anthony has won silver medals at the Watford and North London Music festivals, playing the piano in the open category, where he was competing against adults – again a fine achievement.”

He also played the violin with the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain between Easter and December 2010, performing at the Hexagon in Reading and the South Bank Centre in London.

Anthony plans to put the £150 towards his piano lessons.