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Pearce emerged triumphant as the first winners of the newly revived inter-House Music competition when their version of the hit song from the 1980s film classic, Dirty Dancing, found favour with the judges.

Run for the first time in five years, the reformatted contest featured specially formed ensembles drawing boys from across all year groups.

Each House’s ensemble had to choose a piece based on the theme of the Oscars and then arrange and rehearse it. The competition culminated with a performance of all the pieces to the whole Lower School (Years 7-10) at a special assembly in the Shearly Hall.

Congratulating all the ensembles, Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The boys faced a tricky task: they had first to take into account the particular talents within their House when selecting their piece; then they had to arrange the music themselves, and finally, they faced the challenge of performing together in front of their peers.

“This competition constituted a great opportunity for boys of differing ages to work together and foster that shared sense of House identity. It is an experience that will no doubt stand them in good stead for other Music competitions in the future.”

The judging panel comprised QE music teachers Tom Jack and Jen Brown, as well as St Albans High School for Girls’ Director of Music, Miss Emma Price, who led the panel and delivered both the feedback and results.

Pearce won the day with their rendition of (I’ve had) The Time of My Life. The judges felt the boys performed well in all areas, but specifically highlighted the strong sense of rhythm and timing providing by Pearce’s drummer, and the timing and quality of their saxophone solos.

Runners-up Harrisons’, who played Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire, drew plaudits in particular for their use of Indian drummers for a call-and-response segment, as well as for their generally strong performance.

Overall, Miss Price commended the boys on some very good playing, whilst proffering useful practical advice to consider for future competitions.

Year 13 pupil Abbas Adejonwo, who was part of the Harrisons’ team, remembers the old Music competition, in which boys performed pieces individually. He recalls finding the experience somewhat daunting as a Year 8 boy, and he welcomed the different arrangements adopted for the revived competition: “It was an exhilarating experience competing in this new format. It really instilled a sense of teamwork – and I am very proud of my House.”

The Music competition complements the broad range of inter-House competitions now running through the year, with points won at this event added to the overall House Competition totals.

In order of appearance, the performances were as follows, with the competition positions in brackets:

• • Leicester – Can you feel the love tonight? from The Lion King (third)

• • Broughton – I dreamed a dream from Les Misérables (fifth)

• • Stapylton – Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (sixth)

• • Underne – Themes from Gladiator (fourth)

• • Pearce – (I’ve had) The Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing (first)

• • Harrisons’ – Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire (second)

QE’s Main School Hall resounded to the sounds of fine music spanning more than three centuries at the 2017 Senior Chamber Concert.

In a packed programme, giants of European culture, including J S Bach and Beethoven, rubbed shoulders with lesser-known luminaries, such as the French female composer, Cécile Chaminade and the Italian, Pergolesi, who died in 1736 aged just 26. Also among the pieces performed were several from the past 100 years, from the title track of Sonny Rollins influential Tenor Madness jazz album to the poignant strains of John Williams’ Remembrances, taken from the soundtrack to the film, Schindler’s List.

Director of Music Cheryl Horne, who accompanied several pupils on the piano, said: “The Senior Chamber Concert is a valuable opportunity for our talented older boys to gain experience in playing publicly. I am sure everyone in the audience will have enjoyed an evening of chamber music performed to a very high standard: with no fewer than 22 separate pieces of music, there should have been something for everyone!”

Highlights of the evening included:

• • Final-year A-level Music student Alfie Clarke performing two pieces for the classical guitar: Andreina by the 20th-century Venezuelan composer, Antoni o Lauro, and Gran Vals, by the Spanish Romantic composer Tarrega (now famous because a phrase from it was used as the Nokia ringtone)

• • Year 11’s Jaison Jeyaventhan, who sang Nina from Pergolesi’s opera, Lo Frate ‘nnamorato

• • Sam Burgess, another Year 11 singer, who performed Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah

• • Year 13 cellist Joshua Wong’s powerful performance of the beautiful Andante (third movement) from Rachmaninov’s Sonata in G Minor, op. 19

• • Year 11 pianist Drew Sellis, who accompanied several boys before taking centre-stage himself to conclude the concert with his rendition of the third movement, Animé, from Maurice Ravel’s Sonatine.

The Tigertones, Princeton’s signature male a cappella group, brought the distinctive sounds of American close harmony to QE in a specially arranged concert.

The group performed for the Upper School as part of their autumn tour of London. They delivered a 30-minute set comprising exclusively their own arrangements of popular songs, ranging from Coldplay’s Viva la Vida and Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours, to the Scottish folk song, Loch Lomond, and an energetic rendition of the barbershop classic, Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby.

The visit was initiated by QE parent Mr Muammer Cakir (father of Batu Cakir in Year 9), who studied at Princeton as a postgraduate. Having learned about the group’s tour through the Princeton alumni network, he got in touch and helped make the arrangements to bring them to QE. Mr Cakir was a special guest of the Headmaster, Neil Enright, for the concert.

The Tigertones were introduced by sixth-former Mehul Meghani and thanked by Nikhil Shah, who, like Mehul, is a Vice-Captain in Year 13.

Mr Enright said: “The Tigertones were very good, delivering a rich and well-blended sound, with lots of confidence and personality both in their performance and when they spoke to the boys. We hosted them for lunch and gave them a tour of the school – they seemed impressed with our history, achievements and facilities.

“I am most grateful to Mr Cakir for his help in making possible this visit, which, I am sure, will have played a part in reminding our boys to consider Princeton and other US destinations when they are making their university choices. Ivy League universities have bec ome increasingly popular with QE leavers; it is a trend we are happy to encourage.”

After their performance, the Tigertones took questions from the boys on everything from matters relating to the group itself – their creative process, the reasons for the ensemble remaining all-male and the auditions system –  through to the differences between the US and UK university systems. One of the main things they highlighted was that in the US, undergraduates can continue to study a range of subjects for two years before picking their major – in contrast to the early specialisation required in the UK.

“We now look forward to an influx of new interest in our own barbershop and a cappella groups at QE!” the Headmaster concluded.

Portraits of Poetry, QE’s first major concert of the academic year, gave centre-stage to the spoken word a s well as to the School’s young musicians.

With performers drawn mainly from the Lower School (Years 7–10), there was music to suit all tastes, from the edgy complexity of Charlie Mingus’s Better Get It In Your Soul played by the Jazz Band to the simple beauty of the Sinfonietta’s rendition of Robert Burns’ 1794 song, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose.

The concert began with the School Choir singing Benjamin Britten’s setting of the nursery rhyme, Old Abram Brown.

Several boys gave poetry readings during the event in the Shearly Hall. Year 7 pupil Lohit Seera read William Blake’s The Lamb – counterpart to his most famous poem, The Tyger – after which the Flute Ensemble performed John Tavener’s 1982 setting of the poem to music.

Year 11’s Tristan Boldy read Seamus Heaney’s The Wishing Tree, before the Saxophone Ensemble concluded the first half by performing a setting of it written by another Irishman, fiddle player (and medical doctor) Seamus McGuire.

After the interval, the Concert Band played two pieces following readings. Seven boys read Laurence Binyon’s famous remembrance poem, For the Fallen, before the ensemble played Keith Terrett’s Fallen Heroes. The seven were: Surya Dhaka, of Year 8; Joshua Han, of Year 11; Sathu jan Manmatharajah, of Year 11; Ugan Pretheshan, of Year 7; Tharan Sutharson, of Year 7, and Dhruv Syam, of Year 8. Then Year 11 boy Oscar Smith recited Goethe’s Der Erlkönig (The Erl-King) and the Concert Band performed modern composer Scott Watson’s setting of the gothic tale of the death of a child assailed by supernatural beings.

The evening was hosted by Director of Music Cheryl Horne, who said: “We aimed to provide considerable variety in both the music and the poetry performed. It was also an opportunity for the Year 7 boys to take to the stage for the first time at QE to showcase what they have been working on in their ensembles this term.”

Her Music department colleagues, Jen Brown, Tom Jack and Eluned Pritchard, accompanied various ensembles, while Biology teacher Simon Hall provided the accompaniment for the Celli’s performance of the Rondeau from the incidental music Purcell wrote as a setting for the 1676 revenge tragedy, Abdelazer.

The B Minors vocal harmony group are self-conducted during performances by Year 11 boy Jaison Jeyaventhan, although they were rehearsed by English teacher Lucy Riseborough. The Junior Indian Ensemble was directed by four boys: Year 13 pupils Saranyan Kugapiragasam, Abbeykeith Kugasenanchettiar and Shiran Gnanaraj, together with Year 12’s Tharshan Sriskantha.

Headmaster Neil Enright praised both musicians and readers – noting Oscar Smith’s “impeccable German” – for serving up a culturally rich evening. He noted musical highlights including the jazz that featured quite heavily in the second half of the programme, when there were performances by Friday Jazz – so-called because of the day on which they meet – as well as the Jazz Band. “The audience were treated to some impressive improvised solos.”