Guilhermina Suggia Gift

The Guilhermina Suggia Gift is for exceptionally talented young cellists and is made following competitive audition.

How to apply

From 2011 the Suggia Gift will be run as a biennial award. The next round of nominations will open in October 2012.

In 2009 and 2010 the Suggia Gift was awarded to Michael Petrov. Read Michael's Story

This year, the gift ran in association with the 2011 International Guilhermina Suggia Festival, held in Suggia’s home town of Oporto, Portugal.

In addition to the £1,500 Gift, the most outstanding cellist heard at the competitive auditions was nominated as the UK entrant to the 2011 European Suggia Competition, run as part of the festival, which carries a prize of €10,000, use of Guilhermina Suggia’s Montagnana cello for two years, and a solo performance with orchestra at the Casa da Musica in Oporto.

Michael Petrov, competed against some of Europe's finest young soloists and we are delighted to announce that he won.

In 2010 we also ran a junior Gift offering a Gift of £1,500 to the best cellist under 18 heard at audition. 2010 recipient was Indira Grier.

History of the Suggia Gift

The award was established in 1955 in memory of distinguished Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia to benefit young cello students, particularly those aiming to become solo artists. Over the past 50 years the Gift has been awarded to some of the world's foremost cellists including Jacqueline Du Pré, Steven Isserlis, Robert Cohen, Raphael Wallfisch and Julian Lloyd Webber and more recently, rising young cellists Guy Johnston and Bartholomew La Follette.