PIANO
Update for 2016
Robert Cheung, age 16, was accepted into both the Royal College and Royal Academy Junior Departments and offered a full scholarship to the Purcell School of Music and is currently studying piano independently with Dr Nigel Wilkinson. In 2014, he was awarded an outstanding distinction for his ABRSM piano diploma and also named overall winner of the Nationwide Rotary Young Musician competition sponsored by Harrods. In March 2015 he performed his first concerto (Rachmaninov 2) with Reading Symphony Orchestra. Over the past two years he has given numerous solo recitals, most recently in Dorchester Abbey, Oxford. As a Concordia Foundation Artist, Robert has performed as part of The Lord Mayor’s Table recital at the National Portrait Gallery in June 2015, and is a participant on this year's Memory Lane Training Programme, in partnership with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and the Royal College of Music.
Peter Foggitt is a composer, pianist, organist and conductor. He is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the MBF Accompanist’s Prize at the 2013 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, the Pianists’ Prize at the Emmy Destinn Awards and First Prize at the Croydon Concerto Competition. His first orchestral work was performed in 1996; he made his piano concerto debut at fourteen; in 2006, whilst a finalist at Cambridge, he recorded Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto for BBC Radio 3. Peter undertook postgraduate study in singing, piano and improvisation at Trinity College of Music; he studied for his MMus at the Guildhall School with Martin Roscoe and Eugene Asti. Peter directs the award-winning vocal ensemble Cries of London, and in the 2012-2014 seasons was a guest Chorus Master at the Royal Opera, Copenhagen, and for Polish National Opera. As a solo and ensemble pianist, Peter’s planned concerts this season include performances with Trio Ischl, concertos with Sevenoaks Symphony Orchestra, the Blackburn Symphony Orchestra and the 1885 Players, and solo recitals including Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
Pianist Jocelyn Freeman has been described as "outstanding", "brilliant" and "One to Watch" by International Piano Magazine. Originally from Pembrokeshire, Jocelyn’s engagements have led her to four continents, collaborating with highly-regarded musicians, and releasing her debut album in 2013 with Kissan Records. Jocelyn was awarded a Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music in 2012 and is much in demand as a duo partner. She gained the DipRAM on graduating from the Royal Academy of Music. Competition successes include Gold at the Marlow International Concerto Competition. Recitals have taken Jocelyn to the Wigmore Hall, the Caribbean, Singapore, Cyprus, France and Denmark. She has performed on BBC and Sky television and has performed concerti at the Aberystwyth Great Hall and St David's Cathedral. Jocelyn is often engaged as an accompanist at conservatories, major competitions and summer schools, including Dartington International Summer School, BBC Young Musician of the Year and the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. Jocelyn is a Concordia Foundation Artist, and has recently participated in Concordia’s Memory Lane training programme in partnership with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and the Royal College of Music.
Canadian pianist Juliane Gallant holds a Professional Studies Diploma from the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique de Montréal and a Masters of Music from the University of Ottawa. She studied song accompaniment with Dalton Baldwin at the Nice Summer Music Academy, as well as with Olivier Godin at the Orford Arts Center (Canada). More recently, she took part in the Oxford Lieder Festival master course week, where she studied with Roger Vignoles. Juliane has also worked as opera repetiteur at the Université de Moncton (The Turn of the Screw, Cosi fan Tutte) and the University of Ottawa (Carmen, Le Nozze di Figaro). Her enthusiasm for contemporary music led her to work regularly with soprano Jane Manning. Recent performances include a recital of Chabrier songs at the Barbican Hall, an homage to Jean Cocteau, Francis Poulenc and Edith Piaf at the St James Theatre and a performance in the Purcell Room on the final week of The Rest is Noise festival. Juliane’s studies are funded by the Worshipful Company of Salters as well as the Leverhulme Trust. She is currently studying piano accompaniment with Pamela Lidiard at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Juliane has been a regular accompanist for Concordia Foundation recitals since 2014, and has recently participated in Concordia’s Memory Lane programme, bringing music to patients in the elderly wards of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
Fiachra Garvey graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, London with 1st class honours and distinction in the MA in Music Performance. 1st prizewinner at the 2012 Jaques Samuel Competition, London, Fiachra gave his solo debut recitals at Fazioli Auditorium and Wigmore Hall in 2013; prize-winner also at AXA Dublin International Piano Competition, EU Piano Competition Prague and 3rd Soirees-Concours Internationales de Piano a Collioure, France. Fiachra was awarded the “Rising Star” award by the NCH Dublin. Notable appearances include Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (RTE Concert Orchestra), under conductor John Wilson. Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto no 1 (RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra, UCD Symphony Orchestra), Prokofiev’s 3rd piano concerto(RIAM Symphony Orchestra) , Grieg piano concerto (Hibernian Orchestra), solo recitals at Google Dublin, Incontri Musicali (Spoleto Italy), solo and two piano recitals in Japan, duo recitals at St. John’s Smith Square, St. Martin in the Fields, Brighton Festival; and piano trio recitals at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Wigmore Hall and Bridgewater Hall Manchester. Fiachra’s Concordia related appearances include an All American piano recital at St. Martin in the Fields, London and as a member of the Ducasse Trio at Wigmore Hall. Fiachra’s debut CD “For the Piano”, under the Lyric FM label, was released in July 2012: “brings a deep and infectious enthusiasm, combined with insight and technical comfort.” (Sunday Times). Fiachra’s second cd, a live performance from Wigmore Hall was released in April 2014.
Gamal Khamis is a British pianist, educated at Westminster School, Imperial College London and the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Niel Immelman, Simon Lepper, Ashley Wass and Andrew Ball. He first performed at the Wigmore Hall at the age of ten, and has since appeared at many leading UK concert halls and on BBC Radio 3 and Dutch radio. He has participated in festivals in Canada, France, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and USA, and has been lucky to work with musicians including Thomas Adès, Paul Badura-Skoda, Leon Fleisher, Robert Levin and Mitsuko Uchida, among many others. Gamal has won major prizes at the Norah Sande, ESO Young Soloist and Christopher Duke piano competitions, and has performed concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky and Finzi with orchestras across England. He has given world premieres of works by Timothy Salter, Andrew Toovey, Eleanor Alberga, Howard Skempton, Shiva Feshareki and Charlotte Harding. Gamal has been a Park Lane Group Artist since 2013, and he is also a member of the Lipatti Piano Quartet. Gamal is grateful to the Concordia Foundation for performance opportunities at St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James's Piccadilly, New North London Synagogue and Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.
‘…a piano recital of pure joy….wonderfully expressive….today’s recitalist was conqueror.’
Lynn News
Award winning British pianist Maria Marchant is much in demand as recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician since giving her Wigmore and Southbank debuts to critical acclaim. After gaining the Silver Medal for Piano Performance at Trinity College of Music, Maria graduated from the MMus in Advanced Piano Performance at the Royal College of Music when she was awarded Gold Medal and First Prize in the International Hindemith Competition, Berlin with her study funded by the BBC Performing Arts Fund. She performs regularly in prestigious venues around the UK and abroad and has performed for numerous festivals, music societies and Radio 3 broadcasts. Recent concerto appearances include concerts with the Bernardi Chamber Ensemble and European Union Chamber Orchestra. Maria is a passionate advocate of British music and is pianist-in-residence at the Shipley Arts Festival. She has performed for Concordia Foundation at prestigious venues in Monte Carlo and in London, and is delighted to represent the Concordia Foundation as resident pianist in Memory Lane, a project providing music for stroke and dementia patients which takes place at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.
Ljubica Stojanovic is a 25 year old pianist from Serbia. Described as a leading pianist from the country, Ljubica started to play the piano at the age of 6 and soon after she was giving her first solo recitals. Ljubica continued her studies at the 'University of Music Art' in Belgrade, where she studied with Professor Aleksandar Sandorov. Currently, Ljubica studies piano accompaniment at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Professor Caroline Palmer. Ljubica was the 1st prize-winner of over 20 national and international competitions including: "Windsor International Piano Competition 2015" in Windsor, "Grand Prix" in Geneva, National competition of Repulic of Serbia, Competition of Young Yugoslavian pianists, and many others. She also won 2nd prize at the ‘5th Memorial Isidor Bajic” in Novi Sad in Serbia. Ljubica has played in over 400 concerts, all over Serbia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Germany, Austria, England, among others, in prestigious concert halls such as Mozarteum University Hall in Salzburg, Philharmonia Hall in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Thonex hall in Geneva, Kolarac Hall. Ljubica collaborated with the ‘Witold Lutoslawski’ Philharmonia from Wroclav, with the Serbian Radio Television Orchestra. Ljubica has attended many masterclasses, receiving tuition from Arie Vardi, Irina Aleksejcuk, Jurij Kot, Avedis Kouyoumdjian. In 2015, she became an Artist of the Concordia Foundation.
William Vann graduated with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music and has recently been made an Associate in recognition of his services to the music profession. He has been awarded many prestigious prizes for piano accompaniment, including the 2013 Wigmore Song Competition Jean Meikle Prize for a Duo, the Gerald Moore Award, the Royal Overseas League Accompanists' Award, the Association of English Singers and Speakers Accompanist Prize, the Great Elm Awards Accompanist Prize, a Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust Award, the Serena Nevill Prize, the Sir Henry Richardson Scholarship and the Hodgson Fellowship. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of the London English Song Festival. He has collaborated with a vast array of singers and instrumentalists, among them Thomas Allen, Mary Bevan, Allan Clayton, James Gilchrist, Ann Murray, Nicky Spence and the Navarra Quartet. Recent performances have included appearances at Wigmore Hall, the ROH Crush Room, Sage, Gateshead, St George's, Bristol and St John’s, Smith Square, at the Aldeburgh, Machynlleth and City of London Festivals and abroad in South Africa, Nigeria, Germany (on live ZDF television), Sweden and Ireland. He has given guest recitals for the Lennox Berkeley, Elgar, Finzi, Gurney and John Ireland Societies and toured a programme of Dvorak and Brahms’ chamber music with the Nephele Ensemble. He recently recorded his début CD with South African baritone Njabulo Madlala entitled Songs of Home.
Since winning the Beethoven Society of Europe’s Piano Competition in 2009, South-Korean pianist Grace Yeo has continued to build her international career as one of the outstanding pianists of her generation. She has given recitals and concerto performances throughout Great Britain, as well as in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Finland and South Korea. British highlights for Grace have included her performances in Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. James Palmer said of her Wigmore Hall recital in 2012, '...Ms Yeo declared herself to be a fine artist, with phrasing and a sense of structure that were exceptional...' Musical Opinion Magazine. Her return recital in 2013 was described by Michael Church as '…Yeo's programme displayed her talents across a wide variety of styles...' The Independent, UK (4 stars). Grace has completed her Master Studies with Ronan O’Hora and Joan Havill at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and is currently on Advanced Diploma course with Christopher Elton at Royal Academy of Music. She is a Concordia Artist since 2011 and is grateful for their generous support.
Updated for 2016
One of the most versatile musicians of his generation, James Sherlock performs widely as a pianist and conductor. In January this year he made his debut at Carnegie Hall, and throughout 2014 makes several return appearances to the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, alongside appearances at festivals in the City of London, BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Leeds International and Oxford Lieder. James studied at Trinity College Cambridge, the Guildhall School of Music, the Georg Solti Accademia and the Franz Schubert Institut. His teachers have included Joan Havill, Ronan O’Hora, Graham Johnson and Pamela Lidiard. He has performed as a soloist with the London Symphony and English Chamber Orchestras. As a chamber musician and accompanist he has collaborated with Angelika Kirschlager, Sarah Connolly and Benjamin Appl, and made numerous recordings with ensembles including Tenebrae, the English Chamber, London Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras. He is a winner of the Royal Overseas League Piano Competition, BBC Fame Academy (now BBC Performing Arts Trust), Award for Young Concert Artists (Making Music) and Gold Medallist at the Marcello Galanti International Organ Competition, and his recordings have won awards from Gramophone, BBC Music and International Piano Magazines. He has guest-conducted groups including I Fagiolini, Tenebrae, the English Chamber Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia, Monteverdi String Band, British Youth Opera and the Forest Philharmonic. James is a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Director of Music at Hampstead Parish Church.
Born in Hong Kong, Chinese-Canadian pianist Annie Yim has broadcast live on CBC Radio 2 in Canada, BBC Radio 3 and Portuguese Radio Antena 2. Annie has performed throughout the UK, Europe and Canada in major international venues including Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (Vancouver), St. Antonio’s Church (Rome), St. Martin-in-the Fields (London) and at LSO St. Luke’s with the City University Symphony Orchestra. Her festival appearances include Chelsea Schubert Festival, Dean and Chadlington Summer Music Festival, Gaia International Music Festival, and Geneva Music Festival. Annie performed at the 2011 Trasimeno Music Festival Young Artists Concert in Italy, by invitation of pianist Angela Hewitt. Annie has won many awards including the CBC Debut Young Concert Artists Series (Canada), Friends of Chamber Music Competition (Canada), and Concordia Foundation’s Serena Nevill Award (UK). Annie is founder of the Minerva Piano Trio, who were finalists in the 2013 Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition. Currently a doctoral candidate in performance and musicology, Annie studies with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Christopher Wiley at the City University. Her deep interest in musical research has led her to write a thesis on Schumann’s musical-aesthetical influence on the original version of Brahms’s Piano Trio in B major Op. 8. She is grateful for the generous support from the Concordia Foundation, British Columbia Arts Council, City University Overseas Research Award and Vancouver Foundation.
Matthieu Esnult studied piano at the Conservatoire de Versailles and Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris under the tutelage of Francois Chaplin, Cecile Hugonnard-Roche and Francoise Buffet. He has also studied piano accompaniment with Christine Roualt and Francoise Tillard at the Paris Conservatoires. In 2011 Matthieu was awarded the prestigious “Jeune Talent” by the Lions Club foundation. He was also the recipient of the TCM trust scholarship for his postgraduate studies with Mickhail Kazakevich at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. As a soloist Matthieu has been performing actively for the last few years in England, France, Scotland, Hungary, Austria and Spain. Most recently a performance of Heiner Goebbels’s Surrogate Cities at the Royal Festival Hall (broadcast on BBC) for its UK premiere. Matthieu has won a collection of prizes with his most recent success as the winner of the Lillian Ash French song duo competition and the Cavatina Chamber Music Competition with the Scarampella Ensemble. Matthieu was finalist of the Elizabeth Schumann Competition and was highly commended at the John Halford Solo Piano Competition.
Thomas’ musical life began at the age of three when he started piano lessons with Kevin Smith, former Head of Keyboard at Eton College. At the age of twelve he won first prize in all classes entered at the Hastings Music Festival, for bassoon, recorders, flute and piano, as well as being awarded the European Piano Teachers’ Association Cup for the Most Promising Pianist of Any Age. This achievement was repeated the following year, including winning a further twenty prizes in all classes entered. Before attending Eton as a Music Scholar, Tom had, by the age of thirteen, achieved Distinction in all his instrumental and singing examinations to Grade 8, as well as the ATCL Diploma on the piano, which is normally awarded at the end of the first year of undergraduate study at a Music Conservatoire. By fifteen, he had also achieved ATCL for flute, DipABRSM for bassoon, LTCL for recorders, and Fellowship of Trinity College London (FTCL) for the piano, an accolade usually gained only at post-graduate level. In 2010 Tom performed Balakirev’s ‘Islamey – Fantaisie Orientale’ at the Cadogan Hall, in a concert presented by Sean Rafferty, for which he received a standing ovation. He was then invited by Mara Galeazzi, Principal at the Royal Ballet, to perform at her Gala Concert at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. In the same year he became an Apprentice to the Worshipful Company of Musicians. During his time at Eton, Tom sang in the College Chapel Choir, played in the Eton School Orchestra, Senior Concert Band, Senior Flute Group, Wind Quintet, Wind Octet and in the Recorder Consort. He also won the Advanced Woodwind and Singing Competitions, together with the Junior and Senior Piano Competitions as well as an Academic Scholarship. In his last year at Eton, he was awarded the School Music Prize, in addition to achieving the highest marks in the Pre-U examination for Music. His final performance at Eton was Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3. Thomas has just finished his first year at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Romanian pianist Florian Mitrea is the winner of the Lagny-sur-Marne 2014 and Vienna-Panmusica 2010 International Piano Competitions. He also won the Beethoven 2010 and the Sheepdrove 2011 Intercollegiate Competitions in the United Kingdom. Early prizes and distinctions include First Prize in the Romanian Music Olympics, Ada Ulubeanu Piano Competition and the Third Prize in the Jeunesses Musicales International Competition. He performed recitals and concertos in venues such as Palais Lobkowitz-Eroica Saal (Vienna), King’s Place, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Steinway Hall, Draper’s Hall, Colston Hall (Bristol), Bath Abbey, Romanian Athenaeum (Bucharest, Romania), Ruinekerk (Bergen, The Netherlands) and the Seoul Arts Centre (South Korea). In 2013 he was accepted on The International Holland Music Sessions in Boris Berman’s studio. In the summer of 2014, he held a fellowship at the Yale University – Norfolk Music Festival and throughout this six weeks period, he received intensive coaching from Peter Frankl, Boris Berman, Wey-Yi Yang and Melvin Chen. Florian started studying piano with Flavia Moldovan and Gabriela Enășescu and was later given a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in July 2012 with First Class Honours and the Regency Award for notable achievements and outstanding studentship. In the summer of 2014, he graduated from the Academy, obtaining his Master of Arts degree with Distinction and a DipRAM for his final recital, which is the Academy’s highest distinction.
Krzysztof Moskalewicz was born in Warsaw, Poland and began piano lessons from the age of seven. Krzysztof studied at the F.Chopin State School of Music in Warsaw with Joanna Kurpiowska. In September 2011 he began his Bachelor studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Ronan O'Hora. Krzysztof has won prizes in many national and international competitions, most recently being awarded third prize at the International Brant Piano Competition 2013 in Birmingham. He also often participates in masterclasses given by internationally renowned pianists such as Richard Goode or Angela Hewitt. Krzysztof has performed many solo and chamber concerts in Poland, Japan, Germany and UK including Wigmore Hall. He also performed alongside prestigious orchestras. Krzysztof's studies are generously supported by Guildhall School Trust.
Aristo Sham, born in Hong Kong, is now studying at Harrow School. He joined the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts as a junior piano student in 2002, studying with Miss Shirley Ip and Professor Eleanor Wong. Having left the Academy in 2010, he is now under the tutelage of Professor Colin Stone. Aristo has won a number of international and national prizes: the First Prize and Barenreiter Urtext Prize in the 10th Ettlingen International Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Germany in 2006; the Grand Champion of the Hong Kong Young Musician of the Year Award 2006; the First Prize in the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition in 2008, and most recently the First Prize and two special prizes in the Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition in 2011. He has given recitals in Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, UK, France and the USA. Aristo has also collaborated with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra at the Temple Square of Salt Lake City and the Minnesota Orchestra. He was featured in the documentary ‘The Greatest Prodigies in the World’, broadcast by Channel 4. He was awarded the Fellowship Diploma with distinction in Piano Performance by the Royal Schools of Music (FRSM) in 2011, and has been a Young Steinway Artist since July 2012.
Award-winning concert pianist Caroline Tyler has performed as soloist and ensemble member at many prestigious venues including the Barbican Hall in London, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham and the Martinu Concert Hall in Prague. Recent highlights from 2013 include concerts and masterclasses in Istanbul at Robert College Theatre and the chapel of the Dutch Embassy, and a performance for the Lord Mayor of London and guests at Painters’ Hall, London. In 2001 Caroline won a place at The Guildhall School Of Music And Drama to study with Senior Professor of Piano, Joan Havill. She graduated with first-class honours in 2005, adding a postgraduate Masters degree with Distinction in 2007. Caroline has given many performances nationally and internationally, to critical acclaim. Future plans include recitals, masterclasses and piano teaching in Istanbul and solo engagements in central London, Sheffield and Somerset, as well as further composition and arrangement work.
25-year-old pianist Chiyan Wong has been astonishing audiences with not just the sincerity and sheer authority of his playing, but is also fêted by critics and colleagues as a pianist who is, in the words of British pianist Stephen Hough, "exciting, original and thoughtful". Recognised by the Dutch newspaper Trouw as “possessing remarkable sophistication in his piano playing” at the age of 15 and by Korean pianist Kun-Woo Paik for having a rare “sincerity as a person which he applies to his music-making”, Wong made his Asian debut at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in March 2010. In the same year he made his debut in France at the International Music Festival in Dinard at the invitation of Paik. He was invited twice to perform for the Liszt Society of London in 2010 and 2011. In the 2010-2011 season, he gave a 15-concert recital tour in Germany. He was invited to return to Hong Kong in December 2011 to give a Liszt recital sponsored by the Radio Television Hong Kong Corporation as part of the city's celebration of the composer's bicentenary, which was broadcast live.
In 2012, Wong was invited to inaugurate a new music festival in Germany with a recital and made his Italian debut in Sacile in June. Later that month he scored an enormous success in his Singapore debut at the 19th Singapore International Piano Festival, giving a recital which earned rave reviews. In December, he made his prestigious, widely-praised debut at the Wigmore Hall in London with an all-Liszt programme which amply demonstrated his unique, profoundly searching and committed musicianship. For the 2013-2014 season, Chiyan has been re-invited by the Weltklassik series to perform 17 recitals across various cities in Germany.
Manon Ablett has given regular concerts throughout the UK at venues including The Linbury Studio at The Royal Opera House, The Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Wigmore Hall. In 2004 Manon performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21 in C with the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and later that year was invited by the Maltese Government to give a series of concerts in Malta, consisting of both chamber music and solo works. As part of the centenary celebrations of the birth of Antal Dorati in 2006, Manon was asked to play his Piano Concerto with the New Haifa Symphony Orchestra and the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Israel and Turkey. In 2008 Manon won the 2nd prize at the International Hindemith Competition in Berlin and most recently has given her debuts in both the Kammermusiksaal of the Berlin Philharmonie and in the Musikhalle in Hamburg, performing Chopin’s first Piano Concerto with the Haydn Orchester.
In great demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician, John Paul Ekins has given performances throughout the UK and overseas in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain and Switzerland. He has been broadcast on the BBC, on Romanian national television and radio, and on Polish television. In 2009 he graduated from the Royal College of Music with First Class Honours, and was awarded the James Anthony Horne Scholarship by the Guildhall School of Music & Drama to study with Charles Owen, graduating with Master of Performance (Distinction) in 2011. He has received support from Making Music, The Musicians Benevolent Fund, The Concordia Foundation, The Razumovsky Trust and The Keyboard Charitable Trust. International Competition successes include as many as 19 awards and prizes, and performances have taken him to prestigious venues such as Bucharest’s Athenaeum, Zurich’s Tonhalle, Prague’s Martinu Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall (where he made his concerto debut in 2013), Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Fairfield Hall and Steinway Hall, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. John Paul has been particularly honoured to be presented to Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip at a Reception for Young Performers at Buckingham Palace.
As a British pianist, Yasmin Rowe began her studies on the piano with her mother at the age of four and won her first major prize at the age of ten, where she was presented with the title of Arun Young Musician of the Year. Yasmin performs regularly around the UK at venues such as the Wigmore Hall, St John Smith Square, Bridgewater Hall, Chichester Cathedral, St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. James’s Piccadilly. She also enjoys an extensive touring record throughout Europe, Australasia, North and South Americas. Yasmin is the winner and laureate of many national and international competitions such as the EPTA UK competition, Moray International Piano Competition and the Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year Competition. Yasmin is also the recipient of numerous awards ranging from the Worshipful Company of Musicians to the Peter Donohoe piano award and most recently second prize winner of the RNCM recital prize 2013. Upon completing her BMus with first class honours studying with Murray McLachlan she went on to complete her MMus with Distinction studying with Stephen Savage. Yasmin was offered a place in RNCM’s prestigious International Artist Diploma, which she has graciously accepted for 2014. Yasmin acknowledges the generous support of the Myra Hess Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, the Postgraduate Tuition Fee Bursary awarded by the Tillett Trust and the Award from Craxton Memorial Trust. She performs with cellist Yelian He as the duo Y-Squared.
