Annual Michael Stuckey Memorial Concert and Singing Competition

We were delighted to hold the annual Michael Stuckey Competition yesterday evening, now in it’s eleventh year. 

The competition takes place in memory of Michael Stuckey, who was Director of Music at King’s House in the 1980s and sadly passed away at the age of 33. He had been at King’s House for 12 years and conducted the choir at the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Wigmore Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Westminster Abbey and the Barbican Concert Hall, as well as many commercial recordings. Michael was also Children’s Chorus Master for the World Premiere production of Evita, amongst many other musicals.

The three finalists, Louis, Luca and Pablo, all sang Evita and a song of their choice. We also heard several other wonderful performances from choirs and soloists.

The competition was judged by composers Alexandra Harwood and Roxanna Panufnik, musician and alumni Jem Panufnik, and alumni Tyler Brown. Tyler Brown is a King’s House alumni, who went on to Cranleigh with a Music Award, and won the competition several years ago. Jem was a student of Michael’s at King’s House, and he spoke about how inspiring Michael was as a teacher.