On Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st November our esteemed adjudicator, violinist Nicola Loud (BBC Young Musician 1990), heard 95 tremendous performances in our biennial string prizes. It was wonderful to have so many students taking part in this two day festival of string music.
Fourteen separate classes took place over the two days which included concerto movements, sonatas, unaccompanied works and ensembles. This year, along with the myriad of violinists and cellists, we also had classes featuring 20 guitars, eight harps and three double basses.
A highlight of the first day was Mr Hawley presenting his younger years’ string prize to Grace (LC3), for her energetic violin playing of Mussorgsky’s Gopak.
At the end of Wednesday’s competition Nicola performed for us, delighting a packed Council Room. She played Mozart’s Violin Sonata in E minor, accompanied superbly by Mr Jones, and a virtuosic arrangement of Sway. This was especially written for her by Ian Finkel and was accompanied with great panache by Mr Keir. She ended her recital with an unaccompanied Yiddish melody in homage to her childhood violin teacher Gjörgy Pauk, who recently passed away.
To cap off a fantastic first day, String Serenaders joyfully performed the Waltz from Tchaikovsky’s Serenade to Nicola to the appreciative audience of parents, staff and students.
The morning of day two included a non-competitive class and the guitar prizes which included acoustic, classical and electric guitars respectively. Sarah (SFC2) won on classical guitar with her intricate rendition of Prelude in F by Molino.
The final two classes were the Solo String Prize and The Advanced String Cup. All the students that performed in these classes were superb and played so confidently on stage. Both classes were won by Janice (SFC1) on the harp. Nicola said that Janice’s playing was “mesmerising, full of technical excellence and musical maturity.”
It really was an absolutely fantastic two days of string playing and my thanks go to all the instrumental teachers who prepared the students so well, and to our accompanists Mr Jones, Miss Fu, Mr Carr and Mr Keir.
The results are as follows:
Junior String Cup
1st | Olynn (UC4) | Violin |
2nd | Persia (UC4) | Violin |
3rd | Eunis (UC4) | Violin |
The Harp Prize
Winner | Gaia | UC5 |
The Olive Woodington Cello Prize
Winner | Livvie | SFC1 |
The Williams Viola Prize
Winner | Julie | SFC1 |
The Double Bass Prize
Winner | Charmaine | SFC1 |
The Salisbury Violin Prize
1st | Jonna (LC3) |
2nd | Minnie (UC4) |
3rd | Elise (UC4) |
The Dominic Hawley LC1-LC2 Prize
1st | Grace (LC1) | Violin |
2nd | Alexandra (LC1) | Cello |
The Ensembles Prize
1st | Faith (UC4) and Maegan (UC5) | Violins |
2nd | Nerissa (LC3) and Skylar (LC2) | Harps |
3rd | Maya and Anya (LC3) | Violins |
The Greenop Violin Prize
Winner | Alexandra (SFC2) |
The Guitar Prize
1st | Sarah (SFC2) |
2nd | Genevieve (LC3) |
3rd | Sophia (SFC2) |
The Senior String Cup
Winner | Maegan (UC5) | Violin |
The Solo String Prize
1st | Janice (SFC1) | Harp |
2nd | Pearl (SFC1) | Harp |
3rd | Sophia (UC5) Natalie (SFC1) | Violin Cello |
The Advanced Prize
1st | Janice (SFC1) | Harp |
2nd | Faith (UC4) | Violin |
3rd | Julie (SFC1) Kathryn (UC5) | Violin Violin |
A huge congratulations to all that performed!
Edgar Bailey, Head of Strings
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