COMPOSERS IN THE LEAD AT PRIOR PARK COLLEGE

30 Mar 2015

Composers at Prior Park College continue to make musical headlines. Following Rosie McNiff, whose choral motet ‘Qui autem se’ won the HMC National Composition Competition last summer, Prior composers have been aiming high again. Thanks to New Music South West, several students have been trialling their pieces recently with professional orchestra The Bristol Ensemble, and this week it was announced that of the finalists in the prestigious Bath Film Festival Filmscore competition, two had been selected from Prior. Over a hundred students submitted movie music for this innovative competition, but only eight go through to the grand final, to be held in Bath on March 26 2015.

Pianist Oli Jones’ quirky, post-modern take on Chopin’s music (Luminaris) caught the judges’ ear, while cellist Sebrina Lambert-Rose chose a tragicomic love story with a difference for her Message in a Bottle. Both sixth formers hope to pursue music when they move on from Prior. Director of Music, Roland Robertson, who teaches them both, paid tribute to their creativity: ‘These musicians do so much music here and it’s great to see how this leads them into new soundworlds of their own.’