Written by Mr Richardson
The day literally began with Layla Young who was first up in the ‘Year 7 and under Piano Solo’ class, confidently plating The Entertainer. There were several in her class, and so we were delighted with her very creditable 2nd place!
Next SC up was Aryana Javaherian in the ‘Year 9 and under Piano Sonata’ class. Aryana played really confidently and achieved first place with her performance of Haydn’s Sonata in G, HOB XVI:37 (1st movement).
Aryana was on again for the ‘Year 9 and Under Piano Recital‘ class, this time performing Debussy’s Arabesque No2 and Mozart’s variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman”. Sadly, Aryana’s only contender in this class had withdrawn due to illness, but her playing showed her typical brilliance and was rewarded with a 1st place (not guaranteed, even when the only performer), and more importantly, a mark from the adjudicator in the ‘Outstanding’ category, meaning 90% or more. This is extremely rare!
Not surprisingly, Aryana has been invited to perform at the gala concert on Saturday 16th March.
In the afternoon, Hugo Williamson performed Mr Tambourine Man on the electric guitar, coming in third against some stiff opposition in the ‘Year 11 and Under Instrumental Solo’ class.
A brighter day for the drive over to Whitby this morning. We started with Molly Hill (Year 7) competing in a Vocal Solo class for girls in Year 9 and under, alongside Blossom Harrison (Year 9). Molly took a creditable 2nd place with Pulled from Andrew Lippa’s ‘The Addams Family Musical’, with Blossom taking first prize with Distinction. Blossom was lauded for her outstanding breath control in Still As The Night by Carl Bohm – a particularly technical sing which had several audience members in tears! (for the right reasons!)
A busy morning followed with Scarborough College senior students competing in most of the classes throughout the morning.
In the ‘Songs from the Shows’ Class for singers in Year 9 and under, Ellie Quigley gained 3rd place with a heartfelt rendition of She Used To Be Mine from the musical ‘Waitress’ and Molly Hill achieved another 2nd place with The Lamest Place In The World from ‘13 the Musical’.
Next up, 1sts from Blossom and Ellie in the Vocal Duet Class (Evening Prayer from Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera ‘Hansel and Gretel’). Blossom took to the stage once again for the Recital Class and gained yet another 1st with Skinny Love by Justin Vernon and On My Own from ‘Les Miserables’.
Following a patient wait, Libby Robson finally shone on stage with her renditions of Someone Else’s Story from ‘Chess’ and I Have Dreamed from ‘The King and I’. Two more firsts in the Vocal Solo – Year 11 and under class and ‘Songs from the Shows’ – Year 11 and under.
Kendall Burrows joined Libby on stage for our final offering of the morning with a beautifully blended duet For Good from ‘Wicked’ by Stephen Schwartz. Having started the day with a Distinction from Blossom, we closed with yet another for Libby and Kendall. Excellent work Scarborough College girls!
Let’s see what the Juniors can do next week…
A rather grey and overcast start to our choir day. However, all the Prep School children were ready to set off promptly and we made our way to Whitby in a coach and several minibuses.
Our Infant Choir (Years 1 and 2) opened our day of singing with two insect-themed pieces – Caterpillar Munch and The Flea Song. Many of the Infant parents had a sneak preview last Friday afternoon as part of the Infant Mother’s Day Assembly in Lisvane Hall. Needless to say, their singing was well received by all present.
The small primary school choral classes followed (those for schools with less than 100 children on roll). When the time came for our Prep School Choir to sing in the Recital Class, we wowed the audience with Put A Little Love In Your Heart (originally sung by Jackie De Shannon in 1969 and reprised as part of the Scrooged movie soundtrack in 1988 by Annie Lennox and Al Green). This was followed by a jazzy arrangement of Lullaby of Broadway from the hit musical 42nd Street. We were awarded our first 1st of the day!
Despite one school having dropped out of the competition, we had competition in all our classes. Despite this, we gained another two 1sts in the Folk Song Class, singing J’Entends Le Moulin (a traditional French Canadian folk song) and the Sacred Music Class with I Give You A New Commandment by Peter Aston.
The Prep School have managed to retain their crown at Eskdale Festival for another year! Thanks should go to all those parents who turned out to support the children for the morning. It was greatly appreciated.
Out of 14 competitive classes entered so far, we have come away with eleven 1sts, three 2nds and two 3rds. Let’s see what the rest of the week brings….
A brief, but very important addendum to Monday’s blog entry.
A return to Whitby in the evening saw Ben and Hugo Guthrie competing in the Family Class. This is a competitive class in which Scarborough College has never entered. The boys performed their own composition Where Am I Gonna Go Now? It is not an exaggeration to say that an intense ‘hush’ descended across the room as the boys performed. This silence was commented upon by the adjudicator, who had no hesitation in awarding them 1st place.
It should be mentioned that this was certainly not a walk in the park. This particular class has been contested closely for many years and the standard of music was high across the class, with a variety of musical styles from Bartok violin duets to family close harmony singing. A truly impressive win for the Guthries and another feather in the cap of Scarborough College.
Another fruitful day for the Prep School students! There were some closely contested rounds in today’s competition. The piano and vocal classes always seem to see the highest number of entrants…
Brandon Young (Year 3) started the day off with a well earned 1st in the Piano Solo – Year 3 and under class – no mean feat against 9 other competitors!
Emily Volkova was next, playing in both the Piano Solo – Year 6 and under class and the Piano Recital class, gaining a 2nd and 1st respectively. The adjudicator complimented her on her choice of repertoire for the recital class and also for the technical prowess displayed in Greig’s In The Hall Of The Mountain King.
Gregor Robertson rounded the day off in the guitar class. In spite of his nerves being a first time soloist at Eskdale Festival, Gregor gave a wonderful performance of La Colombina accompanied by Mr Tacon. His assured playing lengthy and effusive adjudication from Mr Marsh who clearly enjoyed this final performance of the day!
Drummers and singers tomorrow… Seven more students are competing in five more classes. Let’s hope we can go out on a high!
Last day, drummers and singers!
We started bright and early with both Nancy Buxton-Tilley and Aurelia Ibbott-Cook competing in the Drum Kit Solo – Year 6 and under class. Both played beautifully – Nancy, playing unaccompanied for her own composition Exploring Rhythm and Aurelia playing to a backing track for the rock hit I Want To Break Free. We couldn’t have achieved any better with Nancy taking 1st place and Aurelia taking 2nd.
Nancy continued our slew of 1sts by singing Defying Gravity and accompanying herself at the piano in the Two Skills class.
Our singers took to the stage for the remainder of the day. Our Infants started the ball rolling with CeCe Thomas-Hogarth, Raffety Wilkinson (both Year 2) and Alice Hutchinson (Year 1) competing in the Vocal Solo – Year 2 and under class. Alice took 2nd place with CeCe pipping her to the top spot. However, special mention should be given to Raffety for her first solo performance at the Festival. While she may not have been placed on this occasion, she certainly did the school proud and sang Castle On A Cloud beautifully.
The junior singers rounded off the Festival in some of the largest classes of the week. There are always plenty of singers who are keen to share their talents in this competition. Toby Hutchinson (Year 6), Emily Volkova (Year 6) and Nancy Buxton-Tilley (Year 5) all competed in both the Vocal Solo class and the ‘Songs from the Shows’ class.
We had a clean sweep in the Vocal Solo class with Toby getting 1st place for his performance of Different from the Stiles and Drewe musical ‘Honk!’. Emily came in 2nd with Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Birds Lament – especially complimented on her effective use of dynamics in this piece. Nancy completed the full house in 3rd place singing How Far I’ll Go from ‘Moana’.
The final class of the Festival was ‘Songs from the Shows’. Once again, all Scarborough College students being placed in the top three – Emily taking 1st place this time with Alone In The Universe from ‘Seussical the Musical’. Toby and Nancy in joint 2nd with Middle Of A Moment from ‘James and the Giant Peach’ and Slipping Through My Fingers from ‘Mamma Mia’ respectively.
Another great year for Scarborough College.
Out of 25 competitive classes entered, we came away with 20 1sts, nine 2nds and three 3rds.
Huge congratulations to all who performed in whatever capacity.
