Personal bests, rave reviews & a musical reunion in the making!

OV Alice Wright earns podium position

We have super news to report on US-based NAZ Elite runner Alice Wight (S 06-13) who has placed a fantastic 3rd at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in San Diego! Alice finished in a superb time of 1:11:38 achieving her personal best for a half-marathon. This is a brilliant achievement following personal bests in 3 other running disciplines (5000m, 10,000m and 5K) this year already.

This week Alice has also been selected for the 12-strong British team competing at the European 10,000m Cup at Parliament Hill in London on 6th July 2019 and we wish her all the best for the next step of her 2019 running season.

OV TO REPRESENT TEAM GB AT WORLD UNIVERSITY games

We were delighted to be informed this week that OV Sam Khogali (S 08-15) has been selected to represent Team GB in the Long Jump at the World University Games in Napoli in July! Sam is having a great year so far having won the Loughborough International long Jump competition this year, attaining a personal best of 7.75m. He is no.4 in the UK and in the top 10 in Europe (all ages). Good luck Sam- we will be rooting for you!

If you would like more information on how to be a part of Sam’s journey to Napoli please contact us on alumni@ksw.org.uk.

fantastic reviews for OV Opera Singer

We are delighted that OV Allan Clayton (H 91-99) is receiving rave reviews for his powerful performance as lead character Faust in La Damnation de Faust which is being performed at Glyndebourne Festival Opera from 9th June – 10th July. It is described as a psychological crime/comedy drama in which ageing scholar, Faust, is led down a slippery slope of temptation by the devil in a journey of love, loss and anguish that ultimately leads to Faust’s damnation. Allan has been praised for his role in this tragic tale with The Independent reporting that, “Allan Clayton’s Faust is vocally all that could be desired”.

This is the work’s debut at Glyndeboure and also marks the 150th anniversary of composer Hector Berlioz’s death so it is a very special performance for Allan to be a part of. To find out more, an interview with Allan can be found here where he and fellow cast member Christopher Purves introduce the story.

Great work Allan!

Planning a special OV Musical Reunion

This week Director of Development, Liz Elliott met with former King’s School Director of Music, Dr Harry Bramma (Hon OV) to start planning a rather special Musical Reunion event for the Autumn of 2020.  Harry was Director of Music at King’s from 1963 to 1976, during which time he taught many pupils who later went on to have sparkling and acclaimed careers in music.  OVs who Harry taught include Stephen Cleobury (Director of Music for the choir at King’s College Cambridge), Nicholas Cleobury (International conductor), Stephen Darlington (former Director of Music, Christ Church, Oxford), Jonathan Nott and Jonathan Darlington (both international conductors), Andrew Millington (retired Organist Exeter Cathedral), Adrian Partington (Organist Gloucester Cathedral), Geoffrey Webber (former Director of Music at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge) and Paul Hughes (General Manager, BBC Symphony Orchestra), amongst many other impressive names in the music world.

King’s School has a long tradition of encouraging and nurturing the musical ability and creativity of its pupils and more recent OVs whose careers in music are flourishing include Allan Clayton (Opera Singer), Peter Holder (sub-organist Westminster Abbey), Jolyon Loy (Opera Singer), Ollie Brookes (West End Musicals) and Nick Tsang (Guitarist, songwriter and producer).

We will be working with King’s own Director of Music, Simon Taranczuk to produce a very exciting event, which will combine music and plenty of opportunities to catch up and chat.  Keep an eye out for future information and if you are interested to know more or to get involved yourself, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at alumni@ksw.org.uk.

OV interviews leader of the Liberal Democrats

We loved this wonderful photo sent in by OV and current Oxford student Edd Peckston (K 10-17)! Edd is President of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats and yesterday he was delighted to interview current Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince Cable MP, and Layla Moran MP, as part of a panel discussion. Sir Vince Cable is MP for Twickenham and has been leader of the Liberal Democrats since July 2017. Layla Moran has been MP for Oxford West and Abingdon since 2017 and is currently Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Education.

Edd said, “I was delighted to be able to host Sir Vince Cable MP, and Layla Moran MP, for a panel discussion on Thursday. We had a stimulating discussion on a wide-range of topics, ranging from the recent European Elections, to the Conservative Party leadership election. It’s always a great privilege to be able to speak to such prominent politicians at what is a fascinating time to be involved in politics.”