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Winners of Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition Announced
University NewsLast updated 27 October 2014
Timothy Ridout, a 19-year-old violist and student from the Royal Academy of Music has won Birmingham Conservatoire's first 'Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition'.
The competition, took place on 25 and 26 October in Adrian Boult Hall and attracted entries and performers from all over the world.
Ridout has won two concerto performances with Orchestra of the Swan and a trip with all expenses paid to give a recital at the International Viola Congress held in Porto, Portugal in November 2014.
In addition, Ridout also won the Britten-Pears Foundation Award for his performance of Britten's Lachrymae with the Birmingham Conservatoire String Orchestra and the Bishop Instruments Prize for a performance of a Sonata. Birmingham Conservatoire's Head of Strings, Louise Lansdown, said:
Finalists and award winners
Violaine Despeyroux from France won the prize for the winning performance of Solo Bach and Shishi Gong, from China, won the award for the most promising competitor aged 15 years and under.
The four violists, who made it through to the final on the Sunday, were: Silas Zschocke (Germany), Tomohiro Arita (Japan), Timothy Ridout (UK) and Violaine Despeyroux (France). Louise Lansdown said:
