Hello, I am Hugo Jennings. I started at Dulwich Prep in 2001 and remained there until the end of Year 6 in 2008. I have many fond memories of my time at the school: endless games of cricket in the playground, for the U10 As and U11 Bs; countless hours in the music department; and appearances in various school plays, including ‘Stuff & Nonsense’ in Year 6.

From Dulwich Prep, I went on to Winchester College, where music remained central to my life. I sang in the Chapel Choir and studied singing, piano and cello, spending much of my spare time reading the scores of Brahms, Ravel, Strauss and Stravinsky. Alongside this, from the ages of 16 to 20, I worked as a football and cricket writer for a Canadian website. I believe there were also a few occasions where I did some academic work.

After a gap year filled with sports writing, choral singing and two terms working at Alleyn’s Junior School, I went on to study music at Durham University. It was there that I fully recognised how deeply my passion for music ran. I conducted and performed with a wide range of orchestras, choirs, and big bands, beginning to take on paid work as a singer and pianist. Although I initially trained as an orchestral conductor, during lockdown I realised how much of my listening time was devoted to jazz. I began seriously studying the music’s language and, once London reopened, immersed myself in the city’s scene. Through my oldest friend from Dulwich Prep, drummer Robbie Ellison, now founder of the North London Jazz Collective, I was introduced to many of Britain’s finest musicians.

In November 2020, I returned to Dulwich Prep as a peripatetic singing teacher. The first few weeks felt quite literally dreamlike: everything was familiar, yet my perspective had completely shifted. It was strange at first to be a colleague of teachers who had taught me as a child, such as Philip Brooke, Gareth Davies, Tim Hewitt-Jones and many others, but over time I have come to feel truly part of the community. It is a joy to contribute to the school’s musical life.

As my performing career developed alongside my teaching work, I held a choral scholarship at St Mary’s Battersea, which commissioned me to write a ‘jazz mass’ for their choir in 2022. Whilst composing the mass, I had the idea to start up the Battersea Jazz Festival, which I have run every year since. I have been delighted to see its growth into a real highlight of London’s cultural calendar, and have been lucky enough to feature many of my heroes from Britain, Europe and the US in its programme. This year, the festival runs from Wednesday 3 to Sunday 14 June 2026. The full programme will be announced soon, and further information can be found at batterseajazzfestival.co.uk.

In addition, I run a weekly Thursday night residency at the Landor in Clapham North, curate a monthly jazz series at St Mary’s Battersea, and perform many other gigs across London and beyond. I also conduct the Social London Orchestra and the South London Jazz Orchestra. I owe a great debt to the Dulwich Prep music department for instilling in me, from an early age, both a love of music and the tools to pursue it seriously.