As prestigious conservatory The Purcell School celebrates its 50th Anniversary, accomplished alumni, violinist Jack Liebeck looks back on his school days: "It was one of those life-changing things" (From Haringey Independent)

As prestigious conservatory The Purcell School celebrates its 50th Anniversary, accomplished alumni, violinist Jack Liebeck looks back on his school days: "It was one of those life-changing things"

11:41am Wednesday 14th March 2012 in Music By George Nott

"It was one of those life-changing things,“ says Jack Liebeck, “taking up the violin provided me with an aim in my life, a direction.

“My mum always said I was rudderless, until I started playing, I didn’t really know what to do with myself.“

These days the 30-year-old is right on course. Last year, Jack was appointed professor of violin at the Royal Academy of Music, while in 2010 he took home a Classical Brit award.

Life before music had been tricky for young Jack, who grew up in Hornsey.

“I hadn’t really been doing well at school before then. I was falling behind, it was a real struggle.“

All that changed when, at age eight, after “I’d nagged my parents for a long time“, Jack took up the violin under the tuition of Yugoslavian violinist, Mateja Marinkovic.

“Finally I felt like I’d found something I was good at. But music can do that. It can provide someone with a structure in their life – then everything else followed on.“

With Mateja’s recommendation, Jack joined the Purcell School of Music, a specialist school, now in Bushey, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this month.

To celebrate the anniversary, Jack will join other alumni of the school to be part of the Purcell Symphony Orchestra for the 50th Anniversary Celebration Concert at the Royal Festival Hall.

The orchestra will be conducted by Paul Daniel with Jianing Kong (piano), Robert Cohen (cello), Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Timothy Thorpe (horn) and Catrin Finch (harp). They will be playing Joseph Phibbs’ (a former pupil) New concertante work for oboe, horn, harp and orchestra, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, and Holst’s The Planets.

As he prepares for the concert, he reflects on his time there with its unique style of education. Providing tailor-made lessons that fit around pupils’ music tutoring and concert commitments, proved perfect for the developing prodigy.

“It was really a special place,“ says Jack. “You have talented musicians who are incredibly advanced in one way, so they need that high brow, real direction, but in the rest of their lives they’re just kids. It’s quite a challenging thing to manage.“

Excelling at the Purcell School, Jack played his debut concerto at the age of 15 with the renowned Halle Orchestra.

“It was pretty daunting,“ admits Jack, who now lives in Barnet with his partner, violinist Victoria Sayles, and his dog Molly.

“I definitely did feel quite a lot of pressure. But I had a little arrogant self-belief from the beginning, which I feel outshone my prowess at the time.“

“Then, I felt like I do now, but when I look and see 16-year-old kids up on stage, I do think gosh I was young!“

His glittering career has seen him play with the world’s leading orchestras and in 2009 he signed a record deal with Sony Classical.

Despite all the success, he’ll never forget what he learnt as a Purcell pupil.

“It really pushed us to develop and at the right time as well, because if you do that stuff as a kid, it helps you, it becomes more innate later on in your life,“ he says.

“The aim is not to just send out kids at age 18 that are ready for international careers but send out well-rounded musicians who are still working and doing well at 30, 40 and 50.

“I don’t know if I appreciated it at the time, but in hindsight I know it was very useful.“

Having transformed his own life, Jack hopes the benefits of learning a musical instrument will be more widely recognised.

"The government is always talking about the three R's," explains Jack. "The thing they don't understand is that there are really interesting ways of improving the three R's by learning a musical instrument - which does more than battering students over the head with more books and tests.

“It certainly worked for me.“

The Purcell School 50 Years Concert takes place at the Royal Festival Hall on March 19 at 7.30pm. Details: 0844 8750073, www.purcell-school.org