Junior Musician of the Year

Many congratulations to Joseph Jankinson (B Block) for winning the coveted title of Junior Musician of the Year at the recent finals of this year's music competitions. The winners from all the classes were given the chance to impress for one last time and the distinguished judge, Adrian Partington, was left in no doubt that Jospeh's virtuosic rendition of the first movement of Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C major was the outstanding performance. Joseph played from memory, with great control, and wowed the audience with some superb semi-quaver passages, not to mention the wonderful cadenza. Joseph had also sung Schubert's 'Die Forelle' earlier in the evening as the winner of the Boys' Classical Voice class, as had Sebastiaan Howle with a convincing and authentic rendition of 'Luck be a Lady' in the Popular Song class. Owen Winter (Senior Boys' Voice, Classical and Popular) and Mark Harrison (Guitar) performed with great distinction in the second half of the final, with both boys drawing very warm and positive comments from the judge. Owen, in particular, should be thanked whole-heartedly for five years of tireless service to Repton music. He has led the Orchestra, been lead male chorister, helped organised Opera Society trips, arranged music for the inter-house competitions, not to mention the variety of chamber groups of which he has been a part. He will be sorely missed next year. With the likes of Joseph and Sebastiaan coming up through the House, however, it seems that Owen's musical legacy is in safe hands.