Prix Pierre Fournier

[Madame Irma]

POur ceux d'entre vous qui vivent/étudient en grande Bretagne!

=================================
PIERRE FOURNIER AWARD 2007
Monday 22 January 2007 at 22:15

Pierre Fournier Award 2007
Gemma Rosefield receives the prestigious
Pierre Fournier Award 2007


The Pierre Fournier Award 2007 has been awarded to 25 year old cellist, Gemma Rosefield following the final round of auditions at the Wigmore Hall on Friday, 5 January 2007. Gemma performed a programme of Beethoven and Shostakovich in front of an impressive panel of judges comprising Ralph Kirshbaum (founder of the Award), Misha Donat, Levon Chilingirian, Karine Georgian, Martin Lovett, David Strange and Raphael Wallfisch.

Gemma was one of just 4 cellists selected from the first round of auditions and as a prize, Gemma receives two recitals: one at the Wigmore Hall, London and one at the RNCM International Cello Festival in Manchester in May this year, as well as having a CD professionally recorded.

London-born Gemma has just completed her M.Mus (Performance) at the Royal Northern College of Music, having previously graduated with First Class Honours at the Royal Academy of Music.

“It was a thrilling moment when I found out that I had won the Pierre Fournier Award 2007, especially as all the judges are musicians for whom I have the greatest respect, and because I love and continue to be inspired by Fournier’s many wonderful recordings.”

The other finalists, who each were awarded £500 were Stjepan Hauser (Trinity College of Music), Bartholomew LaFollette (Guildhall School of Music & Drama) and Pei-Sian Ng (Royal Northern College of Music).

Ralph Kirshbaum founded the Award in 1986 in memory of the great cellist, Pierre Fournier, with the aim of assisting exceptional talent in young players. The award takes place every three years and previous recipients have been Gregor Horsch in 1988, Hannah Roberts in 1992, Rebecca Gilliver in 1994, Alice Neary in 1998 and most recently, in 2004, Richard Harwood who says:

"Winning the most prestigious award of its kind was a great honour and I have benefited from it enormously. As well as the recitals, receiving a professionally recorded CD of the Wigmore recital was, and still proves invaluable in promoting my playing and furthering my career. In that recital, I performed a Chopin sonata, a favourite of Fournier's, which lead to my recording it for my recent EMI Debut disc."

For the first time in 2006, the Pierre Fournier Award introduced five new grants, each of £600, to promising young cellists at UK music schools: The Yehudi Menuhin School, Chetham’s School of Music, St Mary’s Music School, Wells Cathedral School and the Purcell School of Music. These grants are to further the solo careers of promising young cellists, encouraging them to aim towards participating in The Pierre Fournier Award.

www.pierrefournieraward.com