J & A Beare Solo Bach Competition
25 March 2007
North London Festival of Music, Drama and Dance launched a competition for violin, viola and cello players in 2003. In 2005, we were approached by the Festival and the competition became J & A Beare Solo Bach Competition. Open to players up to 30 years of age, the competition attracts some of the finest young musicians both from this country and abroad. Candidates are required to perform contrasting movements from any solo Sonata, Partita or Suite by J. S. Bach.
This year, the competition invited Louise Hopkins, Associate Deputy Head of Strings at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and Roger Bigley, principal tutor in viola and chamber music at the Royal Northern College of Music, as adjudicators. We had 43 competitors from Austria, Belarus, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Spain and the USA as well as the major British conservatories in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
4 violinists, 1 violist, 1 cellist and 1 double bassist were selected to proceed to the Final. The standard was very high and the adjudicators had a difficult time deciding who would take the first and second prizes.
First prize of was awarded to Tamsin Waley-Cohen, 20 year old student of Itzhak Rashkovsky at the Royal College of Music in London. She played the Chaconne from Bach's Partita No.2 in D minor.
Second prize was awarded to Meherban Gillett, 19 years old and a student of Simon Kuhn at the GSMD. He played movements from the 2nd Cello Suite in D minor.
Edward Brenton was commended for his performance of selected movements from Bach's Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor.
J & A Beare Solo Bach Competition
2006
In 2006, the Competition invited Mark Messenger of the RCM and Naomi Sadler editor of The Strad as adjudicators. We had 44 competitors. The youngest was 15 year old Molly Cockburn who is still at a normal comprehensive school and the eldest was 29 year old Reiko Kakinuma who is launched on professional career.
The first prize was awarded to 23 year old Ashok Klouda, a student of Jerome Pernoo at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is the cellist of the award winning Artea Quartet.
The second prize was awarded to 19 year old Yoshika Masuda, a student of Hannah Roberts at the RNCM.
