Gold Medal at Chesapeake for RCM Students

Tuesday 19 April 2016

Recorder quartet BLOCK4, which comprises Royal College of Music performers Emily Bannister, Katie Cowling, Rosie Land and Lucy Carr, has been awarded the Gold Medal at the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition 2016.   

'We are delighted and still a little stunned' said the group. 'We feel incredibly lucky to have won, especially given the high quality of all the ensembles involved.'

The Chesapeake win is the latest in a string of successes for BLOCK4. In 2014 they won one of two Ensemble Prizes at the prestigious Royal Overseas League Competition, the first recorder consort to receive the accolade in the competition's 62-year history. The quartet was also awarded the June Emerson Launchpad prize in 2014 and is currently Ensemble in Residence for Handel and Hendrix House Museum.

The players, who study with Julien Feltrin, Maria Martinez Ayerza and Head of Historical Performance Ashley Solomon, returned from the USA with a $10,000 prize. 'We could not possibly have managed it without the constant support of the RCM’s historical performance faculty! In particular we are extremely grateful for the invaluable coaching we’ve received, and for the kind loan of the College’s consort instruments.

'The prize money will allow us to begin purchasing our own renaissance consort of instruments – we are eagerly looking forward to this step, and the opportunities that we hope it will open up for us.'

As Gold Medal winners, BLOCK4 will return to America in June to give a number of concerts in the Chesapeake area.