News

Yesterday afternoon, we were delighted to welcome eminent pianist Bernard d’Ascoli to give a class to our piano students.  Head of Keyboard, William Fong said “His class was not only inspiring and illuminating, but also given with the generosity and elegance that distinguish his own concert performances and recordings.”  The three Purcell School pianists, Gabriele Bekeryte, Kenny Fu and Leah…

Richard Taylor, centre, surrounded by pupils and colleagues in the Purcell School picture, 1981. ​It is with great sadness that The Purcell School learned of the death of former Headmaster Richard Taylor. Mr Taylor made a key contribution in developing the school to be an internationally recognised centre of excellence. From its humble beginnings in…

With induction week at the London music colleges drawing to a close, and with university terms about to get underway, it’s time to focus on the superb achievements of this summer’s Purcell School leavers.  The statistics below are a reminder of how effectively and consistently our school prepares pupils for the next stage of their…

Congratulations to former Purcellian, Kristina Arakelyan, winner of this year’s NCEM Young Composers Award presented in association with BBC Radio 3. The new pieces were performed by Theatre of the Ayre, directed by one of Europe’s leading lutenists Elizabeth Kenny , with tenor Nicholas Mulroy and mezzo soprano Anna Starushkevych . The winners were announced after the concert by Les Pratt, BBC…

Former Purcell pupil and BBC Young Musician 2014, pianist Martin James Bartlett will perform for Her Majesty The Queen at St. Paul’s Cathedral today for the National Service of Thanksgiving.  This special service marked the start of the official celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday.   Live coverage on BBC One https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl1tj

Thirteen Purcell School pianists took part in the Royal Northern College of Music’s Keyboard Festival, Dancing Fingers: A Portrait of Russian Music, on Sunday 21st June.  Our pianists performed the complete Preludes Op. 32 by Rachmaninoff, which was extremely well received.  William Fong, Head of Keyboard said “We were very well looked after and it was a…

A delightful end to this half of term, with a performance of Vivaldi and Bach from our very own burgeoning Baroque Ensemble.

The Delegates performing on stage The Delegates – horn section Deputy Head, James Harding addressing the guests The School was invited to contribute to a special award ceremony on Saturday night as part of Hertsmere Council’s annual Civic Dinner. Hosted by the serving mayor, Councillor Martin Worster, the event was an opportunity to reward local volunteers…

Thirty students from Year 10 worked really hard today recording their final GCSE Music compositions.  There were some beautiful pieces, inspired by music from different cultures.  Yasmin Strevens-Chen even wrote a piece including the Chinese guzheng, which she played herself! 

Year 8 pupils visited the London house of Charles Dickens as part of their programme for this term’s Exams and Outings week.  Here we see pupils taking part in an interactive tour of Dickens’s Doughty Street house.  The tour was followed by a fantastic creative writing workshop at the museum, conducted by the museum’s Education…