Montgomery Recital Competition
On Friday 5th May, Wellington College pupils and parents were treated to a musical feast of standards not seen at Wellington for many years. The Montgomery Prize was founded by O.W. Brigadier A H Montgomery, and has a £200 cheque reward, with all performers receiving £100. The competition was adjudicated by Nicholas Kenyon CBE, and is the controller of the Proms, and also a governor of Wellington.
The former boxing ring saw a different kind of bout, a more genteel kind, but equally as passionate and aggressively fought. First in the ring was Amy Tress (Apsley), who was by far the best dressed for the evening, performing on violin. Even the unemotional person, like myself, could not help but be moved by her outstanding performance. Although the first on nerves were present to start with, Amy soon settled into the music well, and exploited her already quite large pool of experience.
Will Wei (Stanley) was next on the stage and exuded confidence from the very start. He transported the Old Gym to his own sound scape immediately with his performance of Debussy's 'Arabesque'. In his usual style, Will followed this with an amazing firework display of his piano talents, and most were in awe at the speed at which he was able to play and the expression he put in to Chopin's 'Ballade'.
Rob Quaile (Anglesey) gave a solid performance of a wide range of musical eras from Purcell to Lerner & Loewe. Although his performance was not as technically dazzling as some of the others', he showed much emotion in his singing.
Trishan Vaikunthanathan (Hill) at only 13 years of age was the youngest performer by several years, and performed with a maturity well beyond his years. Although Trishan has not yet acquired the natural confidence that Will shows, his performance was very sensitive, and showed great potential to go even farther than his already very high standard.
Seelin Ho (Apsley) was the second pianist of the night, had several tough acts to follow, and did so admirably well. Her 'Toccata' by Khachaturian was stunning, and her selection of pieces was very professional, and complimented each other well. Seelin rounded her 20 minutes performing time off well with Gershwin's 'I Got Rhythm'.
Last up was Ramona Racovicean (Apsley), who was quite simply spectacular. She started her programme with Wieniawski's 'Scherzo Tarentella' - a fast and exciting show-off piece. This was contrasted well with a touching performance of Williams' 'Theme from Schindler's List'. This great evening of music was finished with Ramona's last piece: Saint-Saëns' 'Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso', which she will be playing again at the Orchestral Gala Concert on Friday 12th May.
Nicholas Kenyon had the unenviable position of trying to pick a winner from among these outstanding musicians. After speaking for a short time about the whole evening, Will Wei was announced as this year's winner.
Tom Lowe (L)
