Thursday 5th June 2008
On 29th April a Tonbridge School minibus drove across the forecourt of Buckingham Palace and through the portico at the front of the Palace. The minibus was taking nine Tonbridge School musicians ((William Chan (FH), Jimi Dallimore-Symonds (JH), Gordon Taylor (Sc), Lawrence Chan (Sc), Harry Hawkins (CH), Max Puller (SH), Ben Ferguson (HS), Henry Gleave (HS) and Sean Hopkins (HS)) to play at a private reception hosted by HRH Prince Edward, President of the National Youth Music Theatre. With music arranged and conducted by Tonbridge's Director of Studies, John Pearson, who has been an associate Musical Director with the NYMT for over twenty years, the players provided the orchestral backing for a show consisting of ten songs from a variety of musical theatre works and performed by an NYMT acting company of thirty, some of whom are now West End stars.
The boys were bowled over by their surroundings and the Tonbridge String Quartet were thrilled to play in the beautiful and elegant Music Room as the guests arrived. Following the show and speeches, including one from Prince Edward and another by Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of the South Bank , the reception continued to the backing of the jazz music of "Three's Company": Peter Aisher, Ben Harris and Sean Hopkins. After the show, Prince Edward came over to speak to the players and remarked how helpful Tonbridge School has been to the resurgence of the NYMT in the last two years.