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YMS pupils play at launch of Menuhin Festival Gstaad 2012
YMS pupils marked the first day of February by performing at a reception at the Swiss Ambassador’s Residence, Bryanston Square, London to mark the launch of the 2012 Menuhin Festival in Gstaad. A champagne reception was followed by a welcome from the Swiss Ambassador His Excellency Mr Anton Thalmann and a few words from the Headmaster Dr Richard Hillier, who reflected on the links between the School and the Festival. The first tour to Gstaad came in 1970, just seven years after the founding of the School, an event which the first Headmaster Tony Brackenbury described as ‘our first adventure overseas’. For much of the School’s history, the concert tour to Gstaad was an annual event and included such major occasions as the celebration of Lord Menuhin’s 80th birthday (and the 40th anniversary of the Festival) in 1996, when the entire School took part.
In recent years the tour has became a biennial event. However, with the orchestra having travelled to Switzerland in 2011 (and going again in 2013) and the duo of Gabriel Ng (violin) and Menachem Rozin (piano) performing in the first Matinée des Jeunes Etoiles in 2012, we hope to establish the Menuhin Festival Gstaad once more as a yearly fixture in the School calendar. Gabriel and Menachem gave a taster of their programme in the concert last night and were joined by the string quartet of Yume Fujise, Phoebe Goddard, Qian Hui Ho and Sharon Wong, cellist Misha Favis, and pianists Leyla Cemiloglu, Anastasia Gilfillan, Sarah Kim and Rosalind Phang. A further Swiss connection came in Rosalind's impressive performance of Changing Five, a challenging piece for solo piano by the Swiss composer Cécile Marti (born 1973). (Pupils pictured above in rehearsal.)
Concert at St Andrew's Church, Chinnor
On Sunday 29 January, eight pupils travelled up to Oxfordshire to give a concert in St Andrew's Church, Chinnor, at the invitation of Graham Smallbone, former governor of the School. Violinists William Dutton, Gabriel Ng and Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux, cellists Misha Favis and Eva Luderitz, pianists Leyla Cemiloglu and Anastasia Gilfillan, and guitarist Daniel Penney were joined by staff accompanist Julian Dyson in a programme of music which ranged from the baroque to the contemporary. The temperature outside was close to freezing, but YMS pupils enjoyed a very warm and appreciative reception.
Peter Norris (1937-2011)
As readers of the School Newsletter will be aware, just before Christmas the School received the sad news that Peter Norris had died, after a long illness. Peter began teaching at the School in 1964, was Director of Music from 1980 to 1987, and continued teaching part-time at the School even after his ‘retirement’. As Malcolm Singer, current Director of Music, said in his tribute at Peter’s funeral in 24 January, for the greater part of the School’s history Peter, quite simply, ‘was the Menuhin School’. Somewhere in the region of 170 people attended Peter’s funeral, amongst whom were many former pupils and staff. Many more alumni sent their good wishes but were unable to be present. Tributes were given by Malcolm Singer, YMS alumnus (and now staff member) Prach Boondiskulchok, and Michael Norris, and a quartet comprising alumni Krysia Osostowicz, Kathy Gowers, Susie Meszaros and Paul Watkins played the Adagio from Haydn’s Quartet in F minor Op 20 No 5.
After the service, a reception was held in the foyer of The Menuhin Hall and a very moving (and unconducted) performance of Elgar’s Serenade for Strings given in the Hall by twenty-six of Peter’s former pupils (pictured above). A full obituary and appreciation of Peter will follow in the next edition of the School Newsletter. A memorial concert is also being planned for later in the year.
Workshops on Presentation Skills with Ken Rae
Students in the three years of the A group (aged 17-19) spent a hugely enjoyable and profitable day on Tuesday 17 January taking part in workshops which were designed to improve their presentational skills on the concert platform. We were extremely fortunate to have been able to call upon the services of Ken Rae MA FGS, one of the most senior members of the acting staff at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as well as a former theatre critic of the Guardian for fifteen years. Our students were very appreciative of the help and advice he was able to give them.
Anna Lee and Nazli Erdogan: soloists with the Brighton Philharmonic
Anna Lee (violin) and Nazli Erdogan (viola) travelled to the Brighton Dome on 15 January to perform as soloists with the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, under conductor Barry Wordsworth, in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. Their contribution was much enjoyed and appreciated, as was made clear in an email sent to the School by an audience member on the following day:
‘I am writing to send my warmest congratulations via you to all involved on the most wonderful performance by two of your pupils, Anna Lee and Nazli Erdogan, yesterday with the Brighton Philharmonic ... Of course great credit must go to Barry Wordsworth and the entire orchestra, but let it be said, for me and my party, and I believe the entire assembled audience, Anna and Nazli stole the entire show. Please pass on to them and all at the school praise for their performance, poise and mastery, and I know sheer dedication and hard work. Their sheer enjoyment shone through and brought an unsurpassable energy and mastery to a wonderful piece of music.’ (email to Headmaster, 16 Jan 2012)
‘Three varied pieces by Britten were supplemented by Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, played with youthful charm by two members of the world famous Yehudi Menuhin School, violinist Anna Lee and viola player Nazli Erdogan.’ (Chichester Observer, 16 Jan 2012)
The Nature of Competition: Sue Bourne's film, Jig
The Spring Term got off to an inspiring start with a visit on 5 January from Sue Bourne, award-winning director of Jig, an entertaining and thought-provoking documentary (released in 2011) about the, perhaps unlikely, subject of the Irish Dancing World Championships. Students and staff settled down in the Square Room to watch a special screening of the film, introduced by the director and then followed by a stimulating question and answer session about the making of the film and about the nature of competition in general. It proved to be an excellent way to launch the term, with both students and staff recognising the many parallels between the worlds of dance and music, the commitment and sacrifice which they involve, and both the positive and negative aspects of competition. Many thanks to Sue (pictured below with Director of Music Malcolm Singer) for making time to come and see us. The film will certainly be prompting discussion for some time to come.
Yehudi Menuhin founded our famous school in 1963 and created the ideal conditions in which musically gifted children might develop their potential to the full on stringed instruments and piano.
Since 1963 the School has expanded and now educates more than seventy talented boys and girls between 8 and 19. The range of instruments is limited to violin, viola, cello, double bass, guitar and piano. All pupils sing in one of two choirs and all string players also play the piano.
In 1973 the School was accorded special status as a Centre of Excellence for the Performing Arts. Since 1975, all UK pupils, as well as those who have been resident in the UK for at least two years, have been funded by the Department for Education and only pay a contribution to the cost of their child's education according to their means. The School's aim is to enable all children who have been selected for their exceptional musical ability and potential to attend the School, whatever their parents' financial background.
