School Matters 36

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PVI MUSICIANS’ PLATFORM

PVI musicians took to the stage to present excerpts from their IGCSE solo recitals. The concert opened with Darcey Rogers’s Aria for solo cello, and moved via Mendelssohn, Handel and Tchaikovsky towards a stylish and subtle ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ from Pippa Maby on jazz clarinet. Joey Ellis treated us to a poised and accomplished performance of the Prelude from J.S. Bach’s famous Cello Suite in G Major. The closing two items in the concert could not have been more different. Lottie Sanderson played an excerpt from Erich Korngold’s ravishing Violin Concerto, which was immediately followed by Luca Dean-Taubert’s ‘Come Together’ of Beatles’ fame.

Nina Ribeaux, S7

MUSIC SCHOLARS’ PLATFORM

Seven of our Music Scholars delighted a sizeable audience with a typically eclectic programme. Kimee Mansour, LVI opened the evening with a delicate Dussek ‘Allegro.’ The programme travelled, via CPE Bach and Saint-Saëns, to the 1980s, with S9 Skye Bishop’s new arrangement of ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’. Skye, at short notice, performed a second song to cover for an indisposed pupil, giving us a rendition of ‘Shallow’ from A Star is Born to most moving effect. The evening was rounded out via Franz Schubert and Norah Jones by a battle of Brahms vs. Lottie Sanderson, PVI and Mrs Warsi. The home team was victorious!

Pippa Maby, PVI

SOLOISTS’ PLATFORM In a typically eclectic programme elegantly bookended by Mozart and Bach, Alexander Lau, S8 opened the afternoon with refined yet sparky Mozart sonata movement, navigating the tricky passages with aplomb. Gabriele Menini, S9 treated us to a fabulous aria from Don Giovanni : such a demanding sing for this young voice, and the budding tenor more than met its challenge. Gaby de Wasseige, S7, making her IPS Senior School debut, took us on a ‘Holiday in Havana’ on the cello. We finished, via LVI Olivia Brett’s ‘Après un Rêve’ on alto saxophone and S10 Darcy Coleman’s Vivaldi Violin Sonata, with a Bach double-bill. Thomas Boyle, LVI played the Adagio from Bach’s Sonata in E minor and Oliver Visram, S10 brought the evening to a rousing finale with a piano performance of Bach’s Prelude in C minor BWV 999.

SENIOR 7 PERFORMERS’ PLATFORM

At this event in the Refectory, our youngest pupils took to the stage, all making their IPS debut, and many performing on their instrument in public for the first time ever! We were treated to a wide-ranging hour of music, ranging from Music Scholar Nina Ribeaux’s elegant and refined Schubert to Victor Allard’s rendition of ‘Voodoo Child’, a rock star in the making! In another IPS first, we enjoyed the ebullient rap section in Dua Lipa’s ‘Levitating’, courtesy of Mahalia Anand and Giulia Chiappini. The drummers provided an exciting interlude. Mattia Romano’s close to the evening on drums was rousing, and it was fabulous to see many of the audience joining in. Congratulations to all performers. The musical future of IPS is in safe hands!

Olivia Brett, LVI