Issuu

THE ANNUAL FUND 2026-27

Supporting the next generation of musicians

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Tomorrow’s music starts with you today. The Annual Fund is central to enhancing every aspect of our students’ journey here at The Purcell School for Young Musicians. Philanthropic donations to the School from our community are essential and support everything from performance opportunities to outreach activities. They shape the everyday experiences of life at Purcell. School fees alone cannot provide the necessary developments and opportunities we offer our young musicians. Donations to the Annual Fund allow all students from across the School to enjoy broader experiences and improved resources. Donations also provide access to a musical education otherwise out of reach for over 80% of our students. This year, our focus includes improvements to our Jazz and Commercial Suite to allow for more live performances and recording sessions, as well as investments in our Composition, Wind, Brass & Percussion, Harp and Music Technology departments. We warmly encourage you to consider supporting the Annual Fund, whether by contributing to these particular initiatives or by giving to the fund as a whole. Every gift, whatever its size, is sincerely valued and will have a meaningful impact on the experiences of our students. In recent years, the generosity of parents, alumni, staff and our community has made remarkable progress possible. Our inaugural Giving Day is a fantastic example of the tangible difference donations can make. Donated funds have also supported essential masterclasses by visiting musicians and outreach projects in the community. If we want our students to flourish and develop their unique and incredible talents, we must invest in these activities. We invite you to take a moment to explore the projects outlined in this booklet for the 2026–27 Annual Fund. With your support, we can continue to provide a musical education like no other and equip the future leaders of the music industry with the tools and knowledge needed to succeed.

Thank you for considering a contribution to support our students. Every gift matters and each one is appreciated.

INTRODUCTION

Annual Fund Donations help us fill the gap between tuition income and the actual cost of an education at The Purcell School. The Annual Fund aims to support projects which will have an immediate and tangible impact on students. Below is a list of our funding priorities for the 2026-27 academic year and you can read about each project in more detail over the next few pages. If you are interested in supporting any items, departments or areas of our Annual Fund, you can click on the individual donation links on each page or please see page 12 of this booklet for a link to an online donation form. For more information about supporting the School or for further details about any of our projects, please contact Chris Harbour, Director of Development, on c.harbour@purcell-school.org or 01923 331131.

Page 4

Jazz, Commercial and Popular Music Department

Composition Department

Wind, Brass & Percussion Department

Music Technology: Equipment

Harp Department

Bursaries

[My daughter] has blossomed in an environment that has nurtured her, both musically and personally. Parent

PRIORTY PROJECT

Jazz, Commercial and Popular Music Department With thanks to a generous donation, a new rehearsal studio and individual practice rooms were created for the Jazz, Commercial and Popular Music Department. We are now in a position where we can create a permanent setup for two rehearsal rooms in the department. To do this, we require the equipment below for live performances and recordings.

X32 Compact Mixer

This digital mixing console also works as an audio interface, which means you can plug it directly into a computer and record every channel directly. Perfect for our students.

£979.00 Yamaha DBR12 Active PA Speaker (x2) State-of-the-art DSP technology speakers.

£788.00 Ampeg RB-110 Rocket Bass Amp Ideal amp for practicing and small venues.

£269.00 Gretsch Catalina Club Jazz Drum Kit (inc. hardware)

In contrast to our pop & rock kits, this drum kit would support our students’ needs for Jazz practice and performance.

£1,049

PRIORITY PROJECT

Composition Department The Purcell School is unique amongst the specialist music schools in offering music composition as a First Study option for our students. We are in an exciting phase of development in the Composition Department, with newly appointed Daniel Fardon, Head of Composition and Contemporary Music, developing an ambitious artistic vision. Funding will support the creation of a Centre for Creative Practices.

The Centre for Creative Practice Our ambition is to create a connected, inspiring and professionally relevant environment for all music creators across the School. This begins with the refurbishment of the NMC Ground Floor. The longerterm vision is to establish the Centre as a dynamic creative hub where students can compose, produce, experiment, collaborate and share work across disciplines. Funding at this level would support a wide range of essential improvements, including upgraded equipment, studio hardware, software, and DAW workstations with mixing desks, Logic Pro licences and related music technology infrastructure. These developments would not simply enhance day-to-day teaching and learning; they would help us position the Centre as a distinctive and forward-looking part of the School’s offer.

£2,500

It is no exaggeration to say that The Purcell School ‘made’ me. My seven years there shaped me as a musician, and as a person. Alumni 5

PRIORITY PROJECT

Wind, Brass and Percussion Department Our brass ensembles, chamber ensembles, Big Band, Wind and Symphony orchestras provide platforms for collaborative musicmaking, allowing students to refine their performance skills through dedicated coaching and rehearsals. The following projects and instruments are designed to specifically enhance student learning.

Launch The Purcell School Woodwind Experience Similar to The Purcell Brass Experience created in 2025, The Woodwind Experience would benefit both current students and young musicians in the community. The programme will provide talented young woodwind players in Years 5 to 12 of Grade 3 to 8+ standard with the opportunity to work closely with The Purcell School’s distinguished woodwind faculty and guest artists in an inspiring and supportive environment. Each termly session will offer focused ensemble coaching, masterclasses and performance workshops designed to nurture musical skills, technical development and artistic confidence.

£4,000 Instrument Support The servicing costs for our Percussion Department are particularly high and the annual fees are increasing. The instrument refurbishments include cracked bar repairs on our two marimbas, new felts and dampers on our three vibraphones, new heads, releases and wires on the snare drums, cleaning of the glockenspiel and tuning of our xylophones. The cost of this servicing is becoming increasingly more difficult to meet each year. Support in this area would make a significant difference to our students and quality of sound during performances. 6

£2,000

PRIORITY PROJECT

Music Technology Students are taught techniques for developing coherent ideas in music technology and are exposed to a variety of audio production methods and styles. Workshops with young and established producers enable students to learn more about recording and production techniques but our equipment needs replacing and refurbishing. The following items for the recording studio and computer room would have an immediate and tangible impact on students’ education.

13x Classroom Audio Interfaces: Scarlet Solo 4th generation £1,100.60 X13 Classroom Headphones £534.00 Studio Controller: PreSonus fader Port DAW Control Surface £580.50 Microphones for string performance and recording: DPA 4099-DP-1-199-V £515.00 Monitor Controller: Genelec 9320A Reference Controller £1,190

PRIORITY PROJECT

Harp Department Our Harp faculty consists of distinguished harpists who are not only experienced solo and orchestral performers but also highly skilled educators. Notable alumnae of The Purcell School include renowned harpists Catrin Finch and Anne Denholm-Blair, both of whom have held the prestigious position of Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales. To help students in this department thrive, we would like to fund the items and projects below.

Upgrades to the Harp Rooms (PR1 and 8) These rooms need refurbishing and redecorating to provide a suitable practice area for our harpists and to match the quality of the music being produced within it.

£1,500 Servicing and Repairs of Harps Including the purchase of new harp strings.

£1,000 2x Stools These can be used by both our harp and piano students.

£500

I am blown away by the commitment, skill and infectious energy of the remarkable young musicians at The Purcell School. Sir Simon Rattle, CBE 8

BURSARIES

Supporting the future of music Only 15% of our students pay the full-fees and 10% of our families have reported no income at all. Over 80% of our students are on means-tested financial support, a figure way in excess of the national average (7%). The UK’s status as a global creative superpower is only as good as the talent that underpins this, and our students are backed to become the world-class performers of the future. With no additional funding, this educational route will be lost for future generations. We are reliant on generous supporters putting ‘potential before privilege’ to ensure that The Purcell School continues to be open for all. Our aim is to protect the opportunity for gifted low-income children to achieve their full potential. Without philanthropic support, this talent pipeline - from regional orchestras to West End productions – will shrink, causing knock-on regional and national economic damage. Too often, music is treated as a luxury rather than a necessity. Our students challenge that misconception head-on. We place professional, high quality music-making at the centre of our mission, proving that access to music can truly provide social mobility in the arts. A grant towards our Bursary Fund would be used to support those within the school community in the most profound need and the impact will be significant. We invite you to not only support The Purcell School but to invest in the future of our young people. Without the crucial support our Bursary Fund provides, the significant social mobility the School enables would be dramatically compromised and the socio-economic diversity of the student body would be significantly reduced - potential outcomes that directly contradict our ethos and mission.

A SUPPORTER’S PERSPECTIVE

David Abrahams

My association with The Purcell School goes back almost thirty years, when my wife and I attended a school concert held in memory of one of its notable early benefactors, Wendy Hall. The performers that evening were all beneficiaries of the scholarship she had funded. It was a testament to the school’s extraordinary ability to nurture gifted young musicians from around the world. Evident more than ever is how much the school relies on continued philanthropic support. Contributions of any size make a difference and help ensure that talented young musicians can thrive, regardless of their financial background. The musical education provided by the school is truly special, alongside strong academic teaching. Beyond the core skills of musicianship, the students develop confidence as solo performers and the collaborative competence necessary for ensemble work. These are valuable life skills anywhere. It’s striking how music is not just another school subject for Purcell students. Privileged to observe emerging musical talent at close quarters, my wife and I have come to see how true musicality matures into a practical expression of emotional intelligence. It becomes a way for the students to express themselves and connect with different audiences. These young musicians are remarkable, and we cannot let the downward trend of investment in the arts continue. Supporting The Purcell School is much more than sponsoring education, it’s an investment in the future of music and the future of human connection.

STUDENT DESTINATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Beyond Purcell Having received an outstanding musical and strong academic education, most students graduate to study music at one of the top London music colleges, often having been offered scholarships. Destinations of leavers also comprise the UK’s top universities, including Oxford and Cambridge. Below are examples of the institutions chosen by our recent leavers.

Music Colleges and Conservatoires

Universities

Royal College of Music, London

University of Cambridge

Royal Academy of Music, London

University of Oxford

Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London

Harvard University

Berklee College of Music

Durham University

Birmingham Conservatoire

Manchester University

Achievements Renowned composers, BBC Young Musician of the Year winners, Grammy Award winners, internationally-acclaimed soloists and members of major orchestras and ensembles have all passed through our practice rooms. Below are a few examples of the recent achievements of our students. These accolades are thanks to the level of training and performance experience they have received at The Purcell School, combined with their own talent and dedication: Winner of the Revelation Award at the Radio Annual Awards (Gala da Rádio Vizela). Performance to an audience of over 1,000 at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Greece, playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, accompanied by the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ektoras Tartanis.

Champion in the Harp Junior Category (ages 13 and under) in the International European Music Competition 2025 (Hong Kong Region). Performance at the annual WE HAVE ONE WORLD UK charity concert in support of Save The Children UK, sharing the stage with renowned artist Sumina Studer at Dartmouth House in Mayfair.

STUDENT DESTINATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS Bronze Award in the Original Composition Performance category and the distinguished Characteristic Special Prize in the London Young Musician Competition. Four Purcell students were selected for the broadcast rounds of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, and one reached the final and performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Second prize at the WPTA Spain Piano Competition plus a special prize for the best interpretation of a Beethoven work. Second Prize and three special prizes at the Balys Dvarionas International Competition. Winner of all three classes at the Bromley Music Festival. First Prize overall in the Harp Competition at the Croydon Music Festival.

Selection to participate in the highly competitive Morningside Music Bridge (MMB) international summer programme at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, USA. Winner of the Under-17 Bach Choir Carol Writing Competition.

DONATING TO THE ANNUAL FUND

How To Give Support the School and our students with a gift towards the Annual Fund. To donate towards a specific item or department, you can click on the links on the relevant pages within this brochure. To make a donation for the School to use in an area where it is needed most, please click here. If you would like to discuss a transformational gift or naming opportunities within our fundraising projects, please contact Chris Harbour, Director of Development, on c.harbour@purcell-school.org or 01923 331131. 12

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Other Ways to Give Regular Gift By establishing a regular income, we can create a sustainable fund allowing us to proactively develop the School, from facility refurbishments to an increase in bursary fund support for families who cannot afford the fees.

Become a Friend

Whether you're a musician or simply love music, becoming a Friend is your chance to support the next generation of incredible young talents and fuel their creative journey. In return, Friends of The Purcell School enjoy exclusive benefits including half price tickets to concerts and an invitation to a dedicated annual concert and reception, held specifically for our Friends. You can become a Friend for as little as £5 per month. Click here to join.

1962 Circle

The 1962 Circle is a community of monthly donors helping us to invest in long-term projects and support the future of our young musicians. Membership levels are higher and come with increasing benefits including free tickets, named recognition and interval hospitality. Click here to join.

Leave a Legacy Leaving a gift in your will can be an easy and effective way of making a significant contribution to the students at Purcell. As a registered charity, your gift would also be exempt from inheritance tax, making your donation go even further. However you chose to make your bequest, whether it be cash, property or assets, it is important to take legal advice. Click here for more information about joining The Rapaport Society: a community of legacy donors to the School.

Corporate Support We have a number of opportunities for organisations to sponsor various aspects within the school calendar, including our showcase concerts and masterclasses throughout the year. Organisations or groups also have the opportunity to select The Purcell School as their preferred or nominated charity. Corporate partnerships have mutual benefits and staff can enjoy bespoke concerts and student performances for their employees. If you work at or know of a company that may be interested in partnering with The Purcell School, please contact the Development Office at development@purcell-school.org

Thank you for supporting The Purcell School and our remarkable young musicians.

Contact Us development@purcell-school.org 01923 331131 The Purcell School, Aldenham Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire WD23 2TS Charity No. 312855