Biography

Edinburgh-born with South Korean heritage, Sarah gained a scholarship to study at the prestigious St Mary’s Music School in 2005. During her time there she distinguished herself as a solo pianist and as a chamber musician.  With her first concerto experience aged 14,  she has since performed in venues across the UK.

Sarah’s talent has earned her numerous prestigious awards, including the James Waterhouse Trophy and the Elizabeth Ritchie Medal.  In 2008 she was a finalist at the Edinburgh Competition Festival, where her performance at the Pianothon was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.  She has also taken part in numerous masterclasses, where she has worked with distinguished musicians to develop her skills.

Sarah has performed as a soloist and as part of a trio.  In the summer of 2011, she was one of the few selected from St Mary’s to tour a series of concerts around the Highlands.  She enjoys taking every opportunity to communicate her interpretations of music with an audience, and her ambition is to become a professional performing artist.

How the Award Helped

Biography

Originally from Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Lliam showed an immense aptitude for the piano from a young age.

As an undergraduate, Lliam gained a coveted place to study at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He proved himself to be an active and dynamic musician in a variety of roles including composer, conductor, recitalist and accompanist. His dedication paid off, and he achieved the outstanding result of a first class honours.

After graduation, Lliam was accepted onto a masters degree in piano accompaniment at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  This flexible programme offered the opportunity to pursue courses in areas such as composition, conducting and harpsichord.  Lliam received an offer to study composition at New College, Oxford as well Advanced Composition at the Darlington International Summer School.  He was also selected as a repetiteur for the British Youth Opera for the second year in a row.

Lliam shows immense talent and considerable promise for the future.

How the Award Helped

Biography

Paul Kirby’s first degree was in maths at Cambridge. Born and brought up in Edinburgh, Paul’s passion is jazz piano and composition. For the past five years, he has been an integral part of the jazz scene in Edinburgh, Scotland and beyond, performing over 1500 gigs both in solo performance or with the Paul Kirby Trio, Camerata Ritmata and Ken Mathieson’s Classic Jazz Orchestra, amongst many others.

Paul is regarded as one of the two most outstanding young jazz pianists in Scotland. He is accomplished in a variety of musical genres and roles – he is considered to be both a wonderful soloist and a supportive and inspiring accompanist. Paul has released two trio records as a leader with German bassist, Martin Zenker, and Chicago drummer, Adam Sorenson.

Paul has studied privately with Jason Moran, George Colligan and Kenny Werner. He is currently studying for a Master of Jazz Piano Performance at the Mason Gross School of Music, Rutgers, New Jersey with distinguished pianist Stanley Cowell.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award will help Paul complete the second year of his master’s programme

Since the Award

During his second year of study, Paul lived in Brooklyn to be able to accept invitations to play in some of the iconic jazz venues in NYC. He writes that all his time was taken up by practising or being at school during the day and playing or watching music at night.

Paul successfully graduated with a Master of Music from Rutgers, where he performed an “outstanding recital”. He will stay in NYC until the end of 2010, playing at every opportunity, rubbing shoulders with some of his musical heroes and generally soaking up the intense atmosphere of the most exciting city in the world for a young jazz musician.

Biography

From Glasgow, David is a final year pupil at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh. He first played the piano by ear when he was four and started to have piano lessons when he was five. Since then, all David has wanted to be was a concert pianist and writes, “I can’t imagine doing anything else, as I live and breathe music; it is all that goes round my head all day.”

David is considered to be “one of the most outstandingly talented students” to have studied at St Mary’s Music School, and a sensitive and imaginative musician with exceptional technical facility. Some of his finest achievements are winning the Cathedral Class of the Moray Piano Competition in 2005, being awarded an ‘Excellent Plus’ by Yonty Solomon on three occasions, as part of St Mary’s annual assessment and winning the Directors’ Recital Prize at St Mary’s in 2007.

In 2005 David won the international ‘Young Theatre Organist of the Year’ competition in Los Angeles, and has since then been invited to play in concerts throughout the UK and the USA, where he has built up an enviable fan-base. He plays a wonderful version of Highland Cathedral on the theatre organ which goes down a treat in the States.

David performed the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 at the 2008 St Mary’s Music School end of term concert, which was aired on BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Classics Unwrapped’.  The presenter of the programme commented that David was a ‘name to watch out for in the future.’

David was offered places and scholarships at three of the major music conservatoires. He accepted a place at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award will help David through his undergraduate degree in piano performance at the RAM, London.  David’s support has been continued into his second, and now third year of study. A few of the highlights at the start of his third year include his performance debut at St John’s, Smith Square, where he shared the stage with some top musicians, and a performance of music by Frank Zappa which was subsequently recorded on an official Academy CD.

Biography

Born and brought up in Aberdeenshire, Maryam learnt to play the piano at the age of six and the violin when she was seven. She enjoys playing both classical and traditional music on both instruments, and over the years has won many local competitions in both genres, including the Alex Watters Memorial Award for piano in 2002.

Maryam began studying jazz piano at Strathclyde University, where she gained an honours degree in applied music. She performed a jazz piano piece for her degree recital in 2006, which was considered one of the best recitals of the year. Maryam has always enjoyed piano accompanying and has gone on to study for a postgraduate diploma in piano accompanist at RSAMD in order to develop as an accompanist as well as a solo pianist.

Maryam has a big, natural talent for the piano and a love for music that comes across powerfully in her playing. Her ability to empathise and support will help her to develop the potential that she possesses to become an exceptional accompanist.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award will help Maryam pursue a Postgraduate Diploma in Piano Accompaniment.

Since the Award

Biography

Wui Man (also known as Raymond) is a gifted pianist who moved to Aberdeen with his mother in the early 2000’s. Having no piano to use at home, Raymond would practise at school, and even during the holidays he continued to pracise there for hours every day.

Raymond audition for the Aberdeen City Music School, and at his audition he impressed the board with his considerable music potential and impressive motivation.  He was accepted as a student, allowing him to dedicate himself to his passion and talents.

How the Award Helped

Since the Award

Raymond made his concerto debut with the Meadows Chamber Orchestra in Edinburgh in 2010. Crowned as the Aberdeen Young Musician of the Year 2011, he performed concertos with various orchestras in Scotland. He has given recitals at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival and the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, and during his studies at ACMS he performed with a jazz band in venues such as the Blue Lamp, and the Edinburgh Jazz Bar.

Raymond has gone on to study at the Guildhall School of Music, and has received additional support from the Awards to facilitate his continued success.  He has won the Springboard Concerto Competition, leading to engagements with the Brighton Youth Orchestra. He continues to go from strength to strength and has a bright career ahead of him.

Biography

To have a life in music has been Alan’s dream since he was eight years old. A graduate of St Mary’s Music School, Alan started his musical career by learning the violin and was a member of the National Children’s Orchestra of Scotland. He represented the City of Edinburgh by playing solo violin in the UK Holocaust Memorial concert.

Then he discovered jazz. He switched to playing the piano, set up a jazz quartet (Take 4) at school, with whom he has performed throughout Scotland and helped to launch a BBC youth initiative. Take 4received the School’s Director of Music’s discretionary Award for Musical Achievement.
Up until then, Alan was largely self-taught on the jazz piano. He then had the benefit of tuition from a number of leading pianists/composers who helped him develop and refine his technique and composing. A self-confessed obsessive jazz pianist by this time, Alan took every opportunity to play – with Tommy Smith’s Youth Jazz Orchestra, the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and his own jazz quintet. He also was a regular performer in Edinburgh’s Jazz Bar, which led to great opportunities to play gigs with the best jazz musicians around.

Being offered a scholarship to study jazz piano at Berklee was a dream come true. By this time, Alan was being noticed as a jazz pianist of huge potential and, unsurprisingly, he won the BBC Scotland Young Jazz Musician of the Year at the same time as being accepted by Berklee.

On arrival at Berklee Alan made history by being awarded the highest ‘rating’ of any Scot entering Berklee for more than 20 years.

As well as allowing him to be in some of Berklee’s top student ensembles, this also gave him the opportunity to study with Berklee’s premier piano teacher, JoAnne Brackeen. He writes,”I had been hoping that it might be possible to study with her later on in my studies if things went really well, so I’m over the moon to have it happen from the start.”

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Awards is supporting Alan’s studies at Berklee.

Since the Award

Alan spent four remarkable years at Berklee, getting straight ‘A’s’ for his studies, winning the 2009 Alex Ulanowski Award for outstanding composition, taking over the piano chair of the Berklee Rainbow All Stars ensemble and culminating in receiving the 2010-11 Billboard Award.

He graduated Summa Cum Laude in the summer of 2011. In his last semester, he represented Berklee with his quartet at the Monterey Next Generation Festival. He went on to the Rochester International Jazz Festival to perform with his trio as part of the ‘Made in the UK’ series. He also had time to play with a couple of jazz legends; in one of Hal Crook’s ensembles at Berklee and with Jerry Bergonzi on one of his latest projects.

Alan writes of his whole Berklee experience that “I’ve been able to get a taste of what it’s like to play with some of the best musicians out there….and thereby learn some important lessons that no classroom can give you.”

July 2015 – Alan and his trio released the acclaimed debut album ‘Traveler’s Tales’, inspired by Alan’s travels as a musician, the landscape of Scotland and his love of Japanese animation.

Biography

Although Perth’s Alasdair Beatson is the first classical musician in his family, our guess is that with an aunt who was a member of the 70’s iconic pop group ‘New Seekers’, musical star quality is in his genes.

Alasdair is a stellar pianist. He began his musical tuition at the Aberdeen Music School, where he won a scholarship. At the age of 18, he went to the Royal College of Music as a Foundation Scholar and four years’ later continued his studies at Indiana University with the famous pianist Menahem Pressler. Along the way, he has won a clutch of prestigious prizes, including the Making Music Award for Young Artist and 2nd prize in the China Shanghai International Piano Competition and has performed with some of the world’s top musicians and ensembles.

Alasdair is one of the two most talented students his music tutor at RCM has encountered, and his playing is considered to be inspirational. He writes of Alasdair, “I have never heard him give a performance which was not memorable and arresting, casting new light on the repertoire.” Working at the highest professional level, Alasdair needs permanent access to a piano that will allow him to explore and develop his playing. He is expected to become one of the great pianists on the international stage.

For more information about Alasdair, see www.alasdairbeatson.com.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award made a substantial contribution towards the purchase of a piano.

Since the Award