Surrey students highly praised at international music competition

Budding young composers from ACS International School Egham have been recognised in the world-renowned Young Composers Competition as part of The Association of Music in International Schools (AMIS), including 15-year-old student, Efe A, whose piece was awarded ‘Highly Commended’.

The AMIS Young Composers’ Competition provides students with the opportunity to develop and showcase their talent by submitting one original piece of music for large ensembles. Efe’s highly commended composition entry, ‘Ay mi Jeva’, is inspired by Son Cubano and Cuban folk music and features eight musical instruments, including the trumpet, bongos and the piano, all of which were played and recorded by Efe himself during a five-hour session. The judges commended Efe for recording his piece live and commented on the “stylistically effective” and “rhythmically sophisticated” nature of the piece.

Young composer, Efe comments: “For me, composing the piece has sparked a new dimension of passion towards Cuban and Latin music. I hope that I will be able to transfer the same joy and magic that I experienced when writing and recording my piece to the audience.”

Fellow Grade 10 students, Alexandra V and Angad T also received remarkable feedback from the judging panel on their pieces. Alexandra’s work, ‘Inaestimable’ featured predominantly woodwind instruments to create a chaotic and intense atmosphere mirroring the sometimes-unpredictable nature of wind, while Angad’s piece ‘Little Girl, Dark Forest’ for celesta, contrabass and piano was praised by the judges for its “mystical atmosphere which matched perfectly with the intended evocation for the audience.”

Mark Wilson, Head of School at ACS Egham, comments: “We are immensely proud of our three students’ outstanding achievement; their enthusiasm and dedication has inspired us all. The students’ ambition and success has been nurtured by our fantastic faculty of music here at Egham – composing is a popular aspect of our music curriculum and allows all students to explore their creativity and produce music worth celebrating.”

Music is embedded into the ACS Egham curriculum from the lower school years all the way through to International Baccalaureate (IB) courses in High School.