UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 30 MARCH 2023
This week has seen great competition success in the Woodwind Department, with three separate prize wins.
MMus student and flautist Japheth Law won the Birmingham Philharmonic Concerto Prize, playing the Nielsen Flute Concerto. This competition is open to all students at RBC.
Japheth is a Leverhulme flute scholar, currently completing his Master’s in Music after graduating in BMus from RBC in June 2022. He can regularly be seen on stage playing with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO).
Head of Woodwind Jenni Phillips said: “Japheth’s performance was heartfelt and exhilarating.”
The second prize win came from the Azå Saxophone Quartet, who won the Sylvia Cleaver Chamber Music Prize and the Andrew Downes Prize.
The Azå Quartet is made up of students from across all years of the Saxophone Department. The quartet has performed across the Midlands and collaborated with RBC composers in creating new music for saxophone quartet. Members of the quartet are successful as prizewinning soloists and are unified by their commitment to education and community music projects including RBC's LEAP and ARCO projects.
Finally, the Junction T Trio won the Leamington Music Prize, which was first awarded in 2009. The trio consists of MMus student and flautist Japheth Law, BMus student and cellist Gen Li, and BMus student and pianist Daisuke Yoshida.
All members of Junction T come from different parts of Asia and met at RBC in 2018. They have gone on to win various chamber music competitions, including the Sylvia Cleaver Chamber Music Prize (2018, 2019 and 2020), and were finalists in the Birmingham Town Hall Symphony Hall and Leamington Music prizes in recent years.
Pictured: (left to right) Assistant Artistic Director at Leamington Music Festival Helen Beecroft, pianist Daisuke Yoshida, cellist Gen Li, flautist Japheth Law and Artistic Director at Leamington Music Festival Richard Phillips.