ROSL Ensembles Success

Friday 13 March 2015

Both Ensembles Prizes of this year’s Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition have been won by RCM alumni.

The prestigious competition’s Ensembles A Section was won by the Jackson Bielby Duo, comprising Australian violist Ann Beilby and British violinist Martyn Jackson, both RCM graduates. They are also members of the Cavaleri Quartet, which formed at the RCM in 2008 and has since gained a reputation as one of the leading European string quartets.

The top prize of the Ensembles B Section was awarded to RCM alumni the Ferio Saxophone Quartet, made up of recent RCM graduates Huw Wiggin (soprano saxophone), Ellie McMurray (alto saxophone), Jose Manuel Banuls (tenor saxophone) and Shevaughan Beere (baritone saxophone), who all studied at the RCM with Kyle Horch and Martin Robertson.  The jury were unanimous in their decision to award them first prize following their performance of arrangements of J S Bach and Grieg together with original works for saxophone quartet by contemporary composers Guillermo Lago and Jean Rivier.

This is the second consecutive year that RCM musicians have won an ROSL Ensemble Prize, with Block4 triumphing last year, becoming the first recorder ensemble to make it past the semi final round in the competition's 65 year history.

Both the Jackson Bielby Duo and Ferio Saxophone Quartet were awarded £10,000 and are now looking forward to performing in the ROSL Competition Final at Queen Elizabeth Hall on 1 June. They will be joined there by RCM alumni soprano Soraya Mafi (winner of the Singers’ Section) and pianist Ian Tindale (winner of the Accompanist’s Prize), and current RCM harpist Juliana Myslov (winner of the String Section), who will all be competing for the competition's Gold Medal and First Prize.