30 January 2024
Four Woldingham ensembles, featuring musicians from Year 8 to Upper Sixth, are through to the semi-finals of the Pro Corda National Schools Festival 2024, a prestigious annual competition which celebrates chamber music in schools.
Following a qualifying round at Epsom College on Friday 26 January, adjudicated by concert pianist Andrew Quartermain, Woldingham’s semi-finalist ensembles are:
Cherry L (Upper Sixth), Isabel L (Upper Sixth), Lilico U (Year 11)
Cherry L (Upper Sixth), Isabel L (Upper Sixth), Fiona R (Year 11)
Gloria C (Year 9), Freya S (Year 9), Minerva Z (Year 8), Shaki C (Year 8)
Rose R (Year 10), Bea R (Year 10), Kiara N (Year 10)
Good luck to all 11 musicians for the semi-finals, which will take place in the second half of term.
Interim Director of Music Ms Ives expressed her pride in all six Woldingham ensembles that entered the competition (see photos in gallery below), thanking the musicians for their “time, dedication and determination in making the first round so wonderful.”
Earlier this month, Year 11 bassoonist Fiona, one of our Pro Corda semi-finalists, performed with another chamber ensemble in the Royal Academy of Music’s Junior Academy Variety Showcase at Wilton’s Music Hall, London (see photo in gallery below). Fiona, who studies bassoon on Saturdays in the Academy’s Junior Department, was asked to replace an injured bassoonist to make up a sextet with Sixth Form musicians, describing it as “amazing to be given the opportunity to play with older people and spend a great night with them at this fab concert.”
