LEAVING ON A HIGH NOTE ZLATAN FLAZIC

LEAVING ON A HIGH NOTE

BY ZLATAN FAZLIC ´

HEAD OF PERFORMING ARTS AND DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

Being Head of Performing Arts and Director of Music at RGS for the last nine years has been a great privilege, as well as an invaluable learning experience. I have enjoyed seeing my students develop their musical knowledge and skills and learn how to understand harmonic structure, inner melodic shaping and the rhythmic heartbeat of music that is new to them.

My students’ academic achievements have given me great pleasure over the years.

I am particularly proud of the work that we have done with our school ensembles. I will always fondly remember developing choral singing in the school and working with what was to become our award winning Junior Chamber, Blue Blazer and Senior Choirs. Not to forget the instrumental music, RGS Symphony Orchestra, casts of the musicals West Side Story, Sweet Charity and The Addams Family. We covered a wide range of repertoires: from Handel’s Messiah (this included the RGS Community Choir and Orchestra) to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, from Brahms’ Hungarian Dances to the Flat 5 Jazz Band’s rendition of Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke. We were fortunate to share our music in various venues: from Retirement Homes to the Sage Concert Hall, from the intimate St Andrew’s Church in rural Hartburn, Northumberland, Jesmond’s St George’s and United Reformed Churches, to the City Centre’s gothic Cathedral of St Nicholas, as well as beautiful churches further afield in Amersfoort and Amsterdam, with choir tours.

None of this work would have been possible without help and support from the whole RGS community: from our domestic, catering and office staff, Junior and Senior teaching staff, Visiting Music teachers, members of the present and previous SLT (Dr Bernard Trafford, Tony Bird, Richard Metcalfe and currently Geoffrey Stanford and Roger Loxley in particular) and of course from the support and appreciation of students’ parents and Old Novos, of which Burland Jacob (44-49) deserves a special mention for his warmth, generosity and indomitable spirit. May I take this opportunity to thank everyone, but especially my team in the PAC: to Sarah Bolt, Jill Graham, Mark Burton, Ben Squire, Kat Clappison and my colleagues from the Drama department (including the inimitable Trevor Walters) for their encouragement, friendship, trust and unconditional support. It has been a privilege to work together and as I prepare to move on, I draw strength from the knowledge of knowing what can be achieved with a good team.

My new job as a Head of Qatar Music Academy in Doha will come with a lot of new challenges, but also with new opportunities that will allow me to pass on the knowledge and experience that I have learned and acquired during my teaching time in the UK to my new staff and students. My wife Glynis, son Carlo (Y12), daughter Lola (Y10) and I are very excited about our new adventure.

Although we may be separated by time and distance, the RGS will always will be with us and we shall carry it close to our hearts. We sincerely wish you all the very best for the future.