Two St John’s Year 8 musicians recently had the opportunity to take part in a masterclass with internationally acclaimed pianist Mr Peter Donohoe CBE, at The Leys School.
Mr Donohoe has built a world-wide career over forty years, encompassing a wide repertoire. He was the Silver Medal winner of the 1982 7th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Mr Donohoe was also awarded a CBE for services to music in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List. In an evening concert at The Leys on the same day, he performed works by Mozart, Schumann, Scriabin, Chopin and Liszt, to rapturous applause.
Alongside performances by pupils from The Leys and other schools in the region, St John’s College School pupils Blake Chen and George Balfour performed the final movement from Maurice Ravel’s Sonatine and Gabriel Fauré's Andante quasi allegretto from the Pièces Brèves respectively.
Director of Music, Mr Simon Kirk, commented, “Along with the other students involved, Blake and George were hugely privileged to work with Peter Donohoe. Through expert advice, entertaining anecdotes and impressive demonstrations, Mr Donohoe was able to distil the essence of successful and rewarding piano playing in such a way that all of the young players were able to gain access to a deeper control and greater command of their instrument and repertoire.”
Kyle Macdonald, Senior Social Media Editor at Classic FM, was a guest of the Leys Music Department for the day. Classic FM featured George Balfour’s performance of Fauré's beautiful Andante quasi allegretto Op. 84/1 which you can view above (reproduced here by kind permission of Classic FM).