MUSIC

12/13 SCH

Mrs S Chandler

Back Row: Aakriti Singh, Karina Valrani, Divraj Singh, Emma Shukla Middle Row: Sana Warsi, Taimur Shaikh, Mehak Rattan, Jakub Skroban Front Row: Mrs S Chandler, Zander Visser, Sumaiya Motara, Matthew Hunt, Lucrezia Galli

12/13 SFO

Mr S Forsyth

Back Row: Kian Kazranian, Advika Sengupta, Brennan Mahesan, Disha Kewalramani Middle Row: Mia James, Cameron Richardson, Madeline Lake, Joshua Morgan, Min’Aa Ahmed Front Row: Mr S Forsyth, Thomas Rose, Jahanara Siddiqui, Dominic Marmarchi, Shreya Bhatia

12/13 SZO

Dr S Zaghlowl

Back Row: Alecsi Charlton, Simran Garg, Mayansh Upadhyaya, Katie Watson Middle Row: Tareq Al Alami, Imaan Seth, Amara Singh, Arsh Jagada Front Row: Dr S Zaghlowl, Zainab Haider, Emma Wade, Emma Dix, Chrissie Lowndes

12/13 VHO

Mrs V Holmes

Back Row: Angelina Dooa, Ned Farrell, Charlotte Clarke, Aranya Gupta Middle Row: Zara Edwards, Siddhant Deodhar, Lauren Agent, Salman Aziz, Janice Walder Front Row: Mrs V Holmes, Vedant Bhansali, Tiana Lane Williamson, Sufian Al Alami, Melina Aggarwal

HOUSE MUSIC FINAL 2020

'Moonlight Sonata' garnered her the Intermediate Prize.

Unusually, the Senior Prize was shared this year by two highly accomplished pianists in Year 13. The adjudicators simply could not decide between them: Sourav Roy (Heyerdahl) and Aryaman Chawla (Cousteau) deservedly won First Prize in the Senior Category with their stunning playing of 'Mephisto Waltz' by Liszt and 'Chaconne' by Busoni/Bach, respectively.

The Overall Winner of the 2020 House Music Competition went to Xiaolin Zhang (Year 11, Chichester) for his highly accomplished and colourful rendition of the 'Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C# Minor' by Liszt.

After a terrific number of recorded entries at the first-round entry (over 130 students took part!) and a wonderful semi-final involving 45 students just before half term, the Grand Final took place on the evening of Monday 9th November in the new Black Box Theatre. There were 16 finalists all eagerly awaiting to perform for a chance to win the coveted First Prizes and Overall Winner of the competition.

Despite a few teething problems with technical issues, restrictions with masks, and having to sanitise and socially distance, the first ‘live’ performance in over eight months at Dubai College did not disappoint.

The standard was higher than ever. Impressive, polished performances ensued in front of three external adjudicators: Joanna Marsh - esteemed composer and creator/founder of Choirfest Middle East; Sophie Wetherell - Director of Music at Jumeirah College; and Major Edward Keeley - Head of Conducting and Trombone with the UAE Armed Forces Music Service. Their job was a very difficult one to choose just four winners from all 16 stunning performances on a variety of instruments ranging from voice, piano, drum kit, electric guitar, classical guitar to saxophone.

Kevin Hu in Year 7 from Heyerdahl House began the evening with a beautiful 'Waltz' by Chopin and claimed the First Prize for the Junior Category.

Also representing Heyerdahl, Year 10 student Lavinia Skandalis’ stylish and technically accomplished playing of the third movement from Beethoven’s My thanks and huge congratulations go to all the students that worked so hard to compete in the House Music Competition and to the Music Department staff for their help and support with the event through the heats and semi-finals. Thanks also go to Gordon Hardman for accompanying and to Sam Savant and Gareth Case for their time in helping with filming and photographing the event.

Ms Jennie Lee-Foster Director of Music

YMoG

Young Musicians of the Gulf

The Young Musicians of the Gulf Competition was held online for the first time in the history of the competition this year. Thankfully, that did not deter some of our finest musicians at Dubai College from entering and performing at their very best in front of a camera instead of an audience. I am delighted that we had 24 students take part — our largest ever cohort. With two of our youngest competitors: Lynn and Kevin both in Year 7. My huge congratulations and thanks go to all who took part and in particular to our prize winners: Lavinia Skandalis in Year 10 for winning the Knight’s Bequest Prize for most promising musician under the age of 15; to our Head Boy, Sourav Roy in Year 13, for winning the Keyboard Prize; to Chiara Federico in Year 12 for garnering the Woodwind Prize; and to Advay Chawla for winning the Overall Runner-Up Prize of the whole competition. Bravo!

Ms Jennie Lee-Foster Director of Music