Newington Strikes the Winning Chord

House Music 2026 was a triumph, celebrating the superb musical talent within the different houses. Each house presented both an instrumental and a vocal entry for the competition with repertoire ranging from the Baroque era to Billie Eilish and with pupils ranging from the First Year up to the Upper Sixth Form.

The Instrumental Class saw some superb performances. Third Prize was awarded to Cecilia Q (First Year), of Harestone house, for her wonderfully warm performance of Boyce’s Allegro. Alfred D (Third Year), of Newington house, received the Second Prize for his spiky and rhythmically intricate saxophone performance of Three Latin Sketches (No. 1) by Bartok. Ethan G (Upper Sixth Form), of the Boarders, was the First Prize recipient, with his lyrical and delicate performance of Liszt’s stunning Liebestraum No. 3.

The Vocal Class was a delightful presentation of songs from Pop repertoire, Musical Theatre, Opera and classical song. The Third Prize recipient was Agnes P (Fourth Year), of Newington house for her theatrical and emotional performance of I Dreamed a Dream, from Schonberg’s West End hit, Les Misérables. The Second Prize was awarded to Namratha D (Fifth Year), of Ridgefield house. She gave a heartbreaking performance of Dido’s Lament, from Purcell’s stunningly brilliant opera, Dido and Aeneas. The winner of this class was Emily S (Fourth Year), of Lewisham house for her performance of Lloyd Webber’s Memory, from the musical, Cats. Her performance was delicate, emotive with a wonderful tonal variety and projection.

Maya J was awarded the Music Department Prize, which is a special award for a performance that was striking, impressive and engaging. Maya gave a very beautiful performance of Billie Eilish’s, The Greatest.

Overall, the winners of House Music 2026 were Newington House, with Lewisham in Second Place and Third Place tied between Harestone and Ridgefield houses.

The Adjudicator, Miss Nicola Stone, Head of Academic Excellence at Copthorne Prep, is an excellent musician. Studying Music at the University of Manchester; first study singer and second study cello, her specialism is in British choral music and Musical Theatre, especially Sondheim. She was extremely impressed with the standard of performances, saying “there was a wonderful variety of high quality and engaging performances“.

Congratulations to all our excellent performers to did themselves and their houses proud, it was a real celebration of musical brilliance.