Making Music Partnership-Artists

 

Ben McAteer - Baritone
RE (Dick) Maidment Scholarship

Ben McAteer is a final year chemistry undergraduate at the University of St Andrews. He has held the Cedric Thorpe Davie Vocal Scholarship there for five years, and is also senior choral scholar at Holy Trinity Church.

In concert, Ben has performed with the St Andrews Chorus as a soloist along with numerous other groups across Fife, and Central Scotland. Find out more about Ben McAteer

Ashley Riches - Baritone
Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Music Education Award

Ashley Riches studies on the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Previously, he studied English at Cambridge University, where he was a member of the King's College Chapel Choir under Stephen Cleobury.

Find out more about Ashley Riches

Caterina Grewe - Piano
Myra Hess Scholarship

German-Japanese Pianist Caterina Grewe, born in Tokyo in April 1988, moved to Hamburg in 1991 and started to play the piano at the age of four. She studied with Ilse Laue and Gabriele Wulff at the Hamburg Conservatory. From 2004 to 2006, Caterina studied at Chetham’s School of Music with Bernard Roberts. In September 2006, she was awarded the Monica June Black Award scholarship to the Royal College of Music where she first worked with Yonty Solomon and now studies with Ian Jones and Dmitri Alexeev. Find out more about Caterina Grewe

Cosima Yu - Clarinet
Postgraduate Performance Award

Cosima Yu was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1986. She started playing the clarinet and studying in music colleges since the age of 10. She was the winner of the Taiwan National Music Competition for Young Clarinettists in 2005. In 2006 she was awarded a scholarship for the Bachelor of Music degree at Birmingham Conservatoire and came to the UK to continue her studies.
Find out more about Cosima Yu

Eleanor Dennis - Soprano
RE (Dick) Maidment Scholarship and Sybil Tutton Award

Eleanor Dennis (23) is from Aberdeenshire and is currently a scholar in the Royal College of Music International Opera School, under the tutelage of Eiddwen Harrhy. She is generously supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust (and is a participant on their Recital Scheme for the year 2010/2011) and by the Josephine Baker Trust. Eleanor has been supported for two years by the Musicians Benevolent Fund, through a Maidment Scholarship and a Sybil Tutton Award for advanced opera study. Find out more about Eleanor Dennis

Eloisa-Fleur Thom - Violin
Emily English Scholarship

Eloisa-Fleur Thom, 22, currently studies with Maurice Hasson at the Royal Academy of Music. She was awarded an ABRSM scholarship for the duration of her undergraduate course. At RAM, Eloisa-Fleur has been awarded the John Waterhouse Prize 2007, the Amadeus Scholarship 2008 and the Ayling Academic Prize 2009. Before beginning her undergraduate studies, Eloisa-Fleur attended the junior department of RAM where she gained first place in both violin and chamber music prizes. During this time Eloisa-Fleur was a prize winner in the Kocian International Violin competition and the Remember Enescu Violin Competition. Find out more about Eloisa-Fleur Thom

Erzsebet Racz - Violin
Postgraduate Performance Award

Hungarian violinist, Erzsebet Racz began her studies at the age of 5. In the last 17 years she has had the opportunity to perform as a soloist and a chamber musician all across Hungary and the UK. After winning several national competitions in Hungary, she was offered a scholarship in 2006 to study at the Royal College of Music London, with Professor Jan Repko. Chamber music has become one of her passions which resulted in forming the Matteo Quartet in 2007. Find out more about Erzsebet Racz

Gary Griffiths - Baritone
RE (Dick) Maidment Scholarship, Ian Fleming Award Charitable Trust Music Education Award and Sybil Tutton Award

Welsh baritone Gary Griffiths is currently a student on the opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he was the 2009 winner of the coveted Gold Medal Competition. He initially trained as an actor at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Gary has given recitals at many of the UK’s major concert halls including the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Kings Place, Bridgewater Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and The Sage, Gateshead. Find out more about Gary Griffiths

Gheorghe Dorin Tuca - Violin
Postgraduate Performance Award and Manoug Parikian Award

Gheorghe Dorin Tuca is a violinist currently studying for a Masters Degree in Solo Performance at the Royal Northern College of Music with Yuri Torchinsky. Born in Romania, Georghe was the recipient of 1st prize at the Deva and Oradea National Competitions and a 2nd prize in Targul Jiu national competition. At the age of 14 he was awarded 1st Prize in the Romanian Musical Olympics and Special Prizes in the George Enesco International Competition and Cornelia Bronzetti International Violin Competition. Find out more about Gheorghe Dorin Tuca.

James Woods-Davison - Trumpet
Charles Leggett Award

Trumpeter James Woods-Davison is currently in his fourth year of a BMus degree at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Professor James Watson, Mark David and Robert Farley. To date he has won both the Royal Academy of Music Worshipful Company of Musicians Solo Prize for Brass, as well as the Worshipful Company of Musicians Prize for Brass Ensemble. Professional orchestral work includes the Philharmonia Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy and Eliahu Inbal, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the London Sinfonietta under George Benjamin (in collaboration with R.A.M. Manson Ensemble). Find out more about James Woods-Davison

Kathryn Rudge - Mezzo-Soprano
Sybil Tutton Award

Kathryn is 23 and comes from Liverpool. She has recently completed her Postgraduate Diploma in performance at the RNCM with Susan Roper and also holds a 1st Class BMus (Hons). In May 2010 she was selected for representation by the Young Concert Artists Trust. Nationally, Kathryn has won a BBC Fame Academy Bursary, Yamaha MFE Scholarship, Kathleen Ferrier Bursary, the Bruce Millar/Gullivar Prize, the Clonter Opera and audience prize. Find out more about Kathryn Rudge

Kezia Bienek - Soprano
Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Music Education Award

British soprano Kezia Bienek began singing as a teenager and aged 16 she won a place at the famous Brit School, where she studied musical theatre. Whilst there she was encouraged to explore more classical repertoire and audition for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she went to study as an undergraduate and has now embarked on the Masters programme. Find out more about Kezia Bienek

Lucinda Dalton – Oboe
Postgraduate Performance Award

Lucinda Dalton was born in 1986 and started playing the oboe in 1995 with Helen Rawstron at the Berkshire Young Musicians Trust (BYMT). She became a member of the BYMT Scholarship Scheme in 2001 and was principal oboe of the Berkshire Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Chamber Orchestra. In 2005 Lucinda was awarded a full scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2009 she won the Leila Bull Oboe Prize. Lucinda graduated from the Academy with a First Class Honours, Bachelor of Music Degree. In 2009 Lucinda received a Scholarship to continue at postgraduate level at the Royal College of Music. Find out more about Lucinda Dalton

Ksenija Sidorova - Accordion
Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Music Education Award

Classical accordionist Ksenija Sidorova was born in Latvia in 1988; she started playing accordion in her home town of Riga under the guidance of Marija Gasele at Riga 1st music school. Since 2005 she has been studying as an undergraduate at the Royal Academy of Music in London, with Professor Owen Murray. In July 2009 Ksenija has obtained a BMus Diploma receiving Lady Theodore Holland Prize for the 2nd Highest BMus Graduate and Council of Honour Prize for a highly original contribution to the development and evolution of music. Find out more about Ksenija Sidorova

Louise Alder - Soprano
RE (Dick) Maidment Scholarship

Winner of the 2010 Margaret Fletcher Lieder Prize, Edinburgh, Louise Alder has recently sung the roles of Musetta (La Bohème) with OperaUpClose at the Cock Tavern Theatre, London, Vixen Sharp Ears (Cunning Little Vixen) with Edinburgh Studio Opera, Poppea (Agrippina) with Barber Opera in Birmingham, Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with Cambridge Touring Opera in the Berbiguières Festival, Female Primatologist (Okavango Macbeth) in a workshop performance for composer Tom Cunningham and librettist Alexander McCall Smith, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Adina (L’Elisir D’amore) in Opera Scenes, Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito) and Venus (Venus and Adonis) with Edinburgh Studio Opera. Find out more about Louise Alder

Lucy Hall - Soprano
Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Music Education Award

Lucy Rebecca Hall is a 23 year old Soprano from Nottinghamshire. She was a member of Cantamus Girls Choir for eleven years and was the main Soprano soloist for her senior years in the choir. Lucy performed with the choir in France and competed in North Wales, Belgium, Italy, Germany and China, where the choir won the esteemed title of Choir Olympic Champions of the World. Experience with the choir also includes performances in prestigious venues such as The Bridgewater Hall, The Barbican Centre and as a soloist in The Royal Albert Hall, London for the Songs of Praise Big Party. In 2006, Lucy graduated from Cantamus with the aim of forging a career as a soloist and went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.  Find out more about Lucy Hall

Matthew Wilkinson - Guitar
Postgraduate Performance Award

Matthew Wilkinson is a diverse guitarist who has been playing since the age of 8. From private beginnings and school performances, he went on to become a member and leader of the National Youth Guitar Ensemble, performing with artists such as Antonio De Innocentis, the Eden-Stell guitar duo, John Williams and Victoria Walker. Matthew won the Christine Flint Bursary in 2005 to further his musical education, and later gained a major entrance award before starting his studies at the prestigious RNCM in Manchester in 2006. Find out more about Matthew Wilkinson

Natalya Romaniw - Soprano
Miriam Licette Scholarship and Sybil Tutton Award

Natalya Romaniw comes from Swansea, South Wales and has Ukrainian heritage from her Grandfather. She is currently in her first year of the opera course at the Guildhall school of Music and Drama studying under the tutelage of John Llewelyn Evans. A keen recitalist, Natalya has performed recitals with pianists Simon Lepper and Iain Burnside in London and Wales. Find out more about Natalya Romaniw

Paul Wingfield - Repetiteur
Sir Henry Richardson Scholarship

Paul Wingfield graduated with a first class degree from Oxford University in 2006. During his time there he was Organ Scholar at Lincoln College and conductor of the Oxford Philharmonia. He continued his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he trained as a repetiteur on the Opera Course. He is taught by Roy Laughlin. Find out more about Paul Wingfield

Peter Facer - Oboe
Charles Leggett Award

Peter Facer is one of the most up-and-coming oboists of his generation. He currently holds the Howard de Walden Scholarship at Royal Academy of Music, where he is in his first year of postgraduate study. Prior to this, Peter studied at Girton College Cambridge, where he graduated with Double First Class Honours in Music and won numerous prizes for academic achievement. Peter is very grateful to be assisted in his studies by the Charles Leggett Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund. Find out more about Peter Facer

Ruth Gibson - Viola
Ian Fleming Music Education Award

Ruth is from Dublin and began studying the violin aged five with Maria Keleman and later with Ronald Masin, transferring her studies to viola at the age of 11. During 2004, she was a finalist in the European String Teachers’ Association Young Musician of the Year. In 2005, Ruth began her degree at the Royal Northern College of Music and was the recipient of an RNCM Entrance Award. In 2007, she won first prize in the RNCM Viola Competition and the Nossek Chamber music prize with the Roberts String Quartet. She graduated in 2009 with First class Honours. This year, Ruth is continuing her studies at the Royal College of Music with Lawrence Power. Find out more about Ruth Gibson

Toby Kearney - Percussion
Postgraduate Performance Award

Toby Kearney won the percussion section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2006 and went on to perform James Macmillan’s Veni, Veni Emmanuel with the Northern Sinfonia under Yan Pascal Tortellier. Since then Toby has performed across the UK as a solo percussionist and in collaboration with other artists. Most notably in June 2007 Toby performed the world premiere of a percussion concerto entitled Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Matt Sergeant at the RNCM with conductor Clark Rundell and the RNCM Chamber Orchestra, and in 2008 was the percussion soloist in the UK premiere of Stockhausen’s Lucifer’s Dance with the RNCM Wind Orchestra in the Stockhausen KLANG festival at the South Bank. Find out more about Toby Kearney