News

Ning Hui See won first prize at the recently held Sevenoaks Young Musician Competition. The competition attracts entries from undergraduates at all the London conservatoires and is open to all instruments. Ning will be featured as a concerto soloist at concerts in Kent next season.

Edward Creed, a pupil at Wells Cathedral School, has been awarded the Vicars Close and Sheila Mossman prizes by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in recognition of gaining the highest marks in the UK for his recent grade examination.

 

The Royal College of Music has awarded the Esther Fisher Prize to Ning Hui See. The prize is given for the best undergraduate performance in the annual Chappell Gold Medal Competition.

Wells Cathedral School pupil Lulwa Al Shamlan recently played to a highly distinguished audience at Expo 2015 in Milan. A personal invitation was extended  to Lulwa to participate by the Kuwaiti Minister of Information.

 Daniel Evans has scored a notable success in the Tel Hai International Piano Competition held in Israel in the summer. Despite being one of the youngest competitors Dan was awarded second prize for his performance of Liszt’s second piano concerto. The competition is held as part of the Tel Hai Masterclass course and attracts pianists from across the world. As part of his award Dan will return to Israel in 2014 for a series of concerts with Israeli orchestras.

Conducted by Christopher Adey  Nurry Lee made her debut with the WCS symphony orchestra in February in Wells Cathedral. Her performance of Shostakovich’s second concerto received warm and appreciative  applause and drew critical praise for its ” technical virtuosity allied to a warm and expressive musicianship”.

Malaysian pianist Brian Low has been awarded the top three prizes at this year’s Mid-Somerset Festival in Bath. He was placed first in the concerto and open recital classes and consequently given the “Outstanding Young Pianist” award. Brian has been studying with John at Wells Cathedral School for the last six years.

Daniel Evans gave a performance of Liszt’s second piano concerto in Wells Cathedral last Friday with the WCS Syphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Adey. Prolonged applause greeted the performance described as “virtuosic, compelling, intense and utterly convincing”. Daniel has been a pupil at the school for the last six years
and earlier this year was awarded scholarships by the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Northern College of Music.

WCS pupil Nurry Lee has won first prize in the  piano section of the Gregynog Young Musician competition 2014. Nurry gave a recital of repertoire by Liszt and Janacek at  the competition which is held as part of the Gregynog festival.

Ning Hui See has reached the keyboard section final of the 2014 BBC Young Musician competition. Of the 110 pianists who entered the competition just five now remain. The next round of the competition will be held in Cardiff in March and will be broadcast on BBC 4 in May. Ning is a second year student at the Royal College of Music and the sixth  of John’s pupils to reach this stage of the competition in recent years.