2021 Music & Acting Scholars

Final recital MMus2 august 2020

“I cannot emphasise enough how invaluable your donation is, and how grateful I am for your support. Without it, I would not be able to undertake the Artist Diploma course and have another year of piano lessons with my professors or receive any of the other multitude of benefits that being part of the Royal College of Music provides”

Dominic is the 2020 winner of the ROSL Award for Keyboard. In the summer of 2019 Dominic studied at the Aspen Festival and School in Colorado, on a Polonsky Foundation Fellowship, having previously taken part in the piano masterclass programme at the Banff Centre in Canada (thanks to the English-Speaking Union’s Yehudi Menuhin scholarship). Dominic is a former joint winner of the EPTA UK Piano Competition and winner of the Royal College of Music’s Teresa Carreño (2013) and Constance Poupard (2014) prizes. In 2017, Dominic was placed third in the Joan Chissell Schumann Prize, and in 2016, second at the Isidor Bajic Memorial Competition (category B).

Dominic is becoming a seasoned recitalist and concerto soloist. In October last year he performed Schumann’s Piano Concerto in St John’s Smith Square with the Young Musician’s Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in November with the Dorset Chamber Orchestra. In June the same year he performed Brahms Piano Concerto no. 1 with the Leipziger-symphonieorchester in the Mendelssohn-Saal at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, to critical acclaim. Other concerto performances have included Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (with Martyn Brabbins and the Royal College of Music symphony orchestra), Brahms’ Piano Concerto no. 2, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos nos. 2 & 3, Grieg’s Piano Concerto, and Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto no. 1. Solo appearances have included recitals at the prestigious Beaumaris and Beaujolais music festivals (France), the Poros Piano Festival (Greece), the Banff Centre (Alberta, Canada), and in Moscow (at the invitation of the Spivakov Foundation). Closer to home, Dominic has performed at the Bolivar Hall, Cadogan Hall, Wigmore Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Elgar Room (at the Royal Albert Hall) and at 22 Mansfield Street (for the Nicholas Boas Foundation).

Dominic has made appearances on BBC Radio 3 (performing Chopin and discussing the art of virtuosity) and on CNBC (discussing the experience of participating in a masterclass with Lang Lang).

O du mein holder Abendstern

“I was delighted to learn that I am continuing to be the recipient of the Fishmongers’ Company Scholarship for this coming year and wanted to convey how incredibly grateful I am for your continued support”

With the RCM Opera Studio, James has sung the roles of Buonafede (Il mondo della luna), Sam (Trouble in Tahiti), Le Gendarme (Les mamelles de Tirésias) and Blazes (The Lighthouse) and was due to perform Ramiro (L’heure espagnole) in March 2020. Other roles include Lysander (The Enchanted Island) with British Youth Opera, Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) with Hurn Court Opera, and cover Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas) with English Touring Opera.

James has made multiple appearances at the Oxford Lieder Festival: in a 2017 showcase recital, and as part of the lecture-recitals ‘Clara Schumann: Rethinking the Myth’ in 2019 and ‘Brahms’s Circle and the Musical Past’ in 2020. The most recent recital was streamed worldwide, and an extract featured on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune. Other performances include the Fauré Requiem (with the RCM Symphony Orchestra under Jac van Steen) and recitals of English song at The Red House, Aldeburgh and 22 Mansfield Street.

James won first prize at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards 2018, first prize and the Audience Prize at the Somerset Song Prize 2019, the Schubert Prize at the Mozart Competition 2019, and was a semi-finalist at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards 2019.

Upcoming performances include Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) at the RCM Opera Studio in March 2021, a showcase recital at the Ludlow English Song Weekend in April 2021, and a recital of English song for the Finzi Friends in June 2021.

“I am thrilled to join this course and extremely grateful to the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers. Your support has made a huge difference to me, and has enabled me to come and study here at my first-choice opera course, to immerse myself in all it has to offer and make the most of the opportunities coming my way.”

Gloucestershire born soprano Ellie Neate is studying on the Opera course at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Sarah Pring. Ellie’s studies are generously supported by the Fishmongers’ Company and Help Musicians UK as a Sybil Tutton Opera Award holder.

This year Ellie performed at Wigmore Hall with Julius Drake and Nicky Spence in a concert of Janáček’s Diary of One Who Disappeared and Moravian folk songs, which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. She also sang with artistic director Adrian Kelly at the Buxton International Festival Gala, where she was cast as cover for the role of Galatea in the Buxton Festival/Early Opera Company’s now postponed co-production of Acis and Galatea under the baton of Christian Curnyn. She has also performed Carmina Burana in the Barbican Hall with the London Symphony Chorus, conducted by Simon Halsey, and in John Adams’s Grand Pianola Music with Simon Wills and the UBU ensemble

“The funds I received from the Fishmongers’ Ben Travers fund are the reason I continue to be able to benefit from such world class training and the dedication and expertise of all the Guildhall staff. As an independent MA student there is no government financial aid available to me and following the death of my mother a couple of years ago, I have no parents to support me. The funds have allowed me to cover the tuition fees and thus carry out the second year of my training while giving me the freedom to utilise any excess funds to support my brother and without your support I would not have been able to do so.”

Sarah is in the second year of the MA in Acting programme. Before joining the Guildhall School, Sarah read English Literature at Durham University and during her undergraduate degree she gained performance experience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the National Student Drama Festival, and in university productions of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Pillowman.

She also has a keen interest in musical theatre and has appeared in amateur productions of Kiss me Kate, Cabaret, Anything Goes and How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (Broadway Baby review – “Sarah Slimani as cigarette girl turned secretary Hedy LaRue gives the stand out performance. She is loud, brash and exciting but never slips into caricature”). Sarah’s most recent Guildhall performance was in the role of Masha in Chekhov’s The Seagull and she looks forward to gaining further musical theatre experience in her second year summer project.

Chloe is a trainee music therapist in the final year of the MA in Music Therapy course. Before specialising in music therapy Chloe studied jazz vocals and continues to perform in a contemporary choir.

Chloe’s final year placement (supported by the Fishmongers’ Company) is at an East London pupil referral unit for young people not in mainstream education. Chloe has gained a vast amount of experience from this placement where she works alongside a qualified music therapist to support the young people with a range of behavioural and social development issues and mental health difficulties.

“As a recipient of a Fishmongers’ Company Award, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your generous support.  I am honoured to have received this award”

Hailing from Whangārei, New Zealand soprano Sophie Sparrow is currently based in London on the Royal Academy Opera Programme as a Fishmongers’ Company scholar, and a Countess of Munster Trust and Kiwi Music Trust awardee, under the tutelage of Kate Paterson and Marcus van den Akker.

Sophie recently graduated with a Master of Performance (Distinction) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama having studied with Yvonne Kenny AM and Marcus van den Akker. She holds a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of Otago, New Zealand.

Sophie made her Wigmore Hall concert debut in 2019 performing the world premiere of ‘Remembering the Future’ by Daniel Davis written for her and countertenor Nils Wanderer. Her first engagement at Wigmore Hall was performing in a masterclass with world-renowned South Korean soprano, Sumi Jo.

Other concert performances include song recitals of Debussy and Heinrich Heine settings at Milton Court Concert Hall London, ‘Whānau Voices London: Voices of Aotearoa, far from home’ concert recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, the Guildhall School American Songbook Company, the world premiere of ‘Tell me again the music of that tale’ by Daniel Davis at Milton Court Concert Hall, and her recent Barbican Hall debut performing Debussy Song’s for the London Symphony Orchestra Platforms with Guildhall Artists.

Sophie recently debuted the role of Tytania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten) with Royal Academy Opera in November 2020. She has also performed the roles of Pamina (The Magic Flute) and Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro) with Opera Otago, and has performed in the chorus for Carmen and L’elisir d’amore with New Zealand Opera. In 2019, Sophie made her German debut performing First Witch (Dido and Aeneas) at the Maulbronn Monastery Music Festival. Further opera scenes include Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Marie (La fille du régiment), Gilda (Rigoletto), Sidone (Armide by Jean-Baptiste Lully) and Morgana (Alcina).

Sophie is a recipient of a 2019 and 2020 Countess of Munster Trust and Kiwi Music Trust Award. She has received multiple awards across New Zealand placing 1st in the 2019 Dame Malvina Major Foundation Wellington Aria Competition, 3rd in the New Zealand McCormick Opera Award, and 1st in the 2018 Ronald Dellow Memorial Vocal Recital and Norah Howell Award. Sophie was also a 2016 Lexus Song Quest Semi-finalist while training with Frances Wilson at the Auckland Opera Studio. Sophie was also a semi-finalist in the 2018 IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition.

Sophie would like to thank the Royal Academy of Music, the Fishmongers’ Company, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Kiwi Music Trust, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Behrens Foundation, Auckland Opera Studio, New Zealand Opera Foundation Trust, Wallace Arts Foundation, Dame Malvina Major Foundation, and the Joan Kennaway Scholarship for their support.  

Upcoming 2021 engagements include covering Despina in Royal Academy Operas’ Così fan tutte, opera scenes from Giulio Cesare (Handel) and new opera scene Behind God’s Back (Joseph Howard and Emma Harding).