Red Priest
Red Priest, who closed our 2017 Festival with their Gypsy Baroque Fantasy, are currently at the top of the Specialist Classical Chart with their CD of this music.
Rowan Pierce
Rowan Pierce, a young soprano from Saltburn, Cleveland, first visited us in 2010 as a schoolgirl taking part in a masterclass with Dame Emma Kirkby. She appeared again in a Young Artists Platform recital in 2015 with Simon Passmore, a young pianist whom we have also helped to develop over several Festivals. This summer Rowan graduated from the Royal College of Music with a string of awards, including the President's Award from HRH the Prince of Wales, and has gone on to win the prestigious Grange Festival International Singing Competition. Just following her Twitter feed shows that she is already becoming well-established as a world class soprano. Oh, and she also debuted at the BBC Proms this year.
Andrey Lebedev
Guitarist Andrey Lebedev performed in our Young Artists Platform in 2016 with flautist Bronte Hudnott. He has now gone on to win the International Youth Competition of the Guitar Foundation of America and was placed third in the prestigious 2017 ARD International Music Competition, Germany's largest classical music competition. As well as taking third prize, Andrey also won the prize for the 'Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Piece'. In the final Andrey performed Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto with the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Reiland. The news of Andrey's success came from the City Music Foundation (CMF) where we found news of another Festival performer:
Bartosz Glowacki
The CMF holds an annual fundraising BeerFest in the City's Guildhall Yard, and among the artists performing there this year was Bartosz Glowacki - the young accordion player whose performance interspersed with poetry readings at this year's Festival was regarded as moving and memorable by those who were there.