National Youth
World Youth
The NYGE Fellowship Ensemble represents an aspirational achievement for truly exceptional guitarists from the NYGE family. It offers artistic and performance development for early-career guitarists aged 18-25 years old and is the figurehead ensemble for the entire organisation.
Fellowship holders are selected by highly competitive annual audition, and they combine intensive rehearsals with professional engagements and touring, alongside personal development as educators and mentors. Get to know each of our fellows a little better by reading about their careers so far.
Georgina has just graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire under the tuition of Mark Ashford and Mark Eden. Georgina has enjoyed playing in many different ensembles, including the National Youth Guitar Ensemble, Minack Guitar Quartet, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Guitar Ensemble, and the Baker Dadson Duet (voice and guitar duo).
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Georgina has played in master classes with Xuefei Yang, Fabio Zanon, Amanda Cook, Laura Snowden and Michael Partington. She recently won the Birmingham Conservatoire Guitar Prize 2018 adjudicated by Craig Ogden and then went on to win the Dorris Newton Prize against all other departmental winners.
This year Georgina has enjoyed raising money for Sophie’s Silver Lining Fund; a charity that helps struggling young actors and singers. She has organised two charity concerts and has since been asked to be a trustee of the charity.
Having been a member of the NYGE community in the past, she is very excited to be taking a place in the inaugural fellowship ensemble.
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After winning the South Wales Guitar Competition and receiving the Walker Prize from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Eirian was accepted into the Royal College of Music, London, to study under Professors Gary Ryan, Chris Stell and Carlos Bonell. [show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
Eirian has enjoyed performing in a variety of venues in London, Wales and Spain where he played two recitals in the province of Andalucía with Gary Ryan. Eirian has also been invited by Peter Florence to play multiple concerts at the Hay Literary Festival. Prior to his move to London in 2015, Eirian was awarded the Herefordshire Police Choir Bursary Award to help him study for his Bachelor of Music. Recent highlights include a performance at Kings Place, London, with the Meraki Guitar Quartet, the premier of BORDERS by RCM composer Matthew Lomax at the National Portrait Gallery and first prize in the Chichester Arts Festival Guitar Competition.
Eirian has had numerous lessons and masterclasses with some of the best classical guitarists in the world, notably Antigoni Goni, Judicael Perroy and Gabriel Bianco at the 2016 Koblenz International Guitar Festival. As well as his solo pursuits, Eirian is a keen chamber musician, currently playing in a guitar quartet and looking into contemporary music with violist and composer Nathanael Gubler.
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Rowan is a British guitarist based in Birmingham and a recent graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where, under the tuition of Mark Ashford and Mark Eden, he was awarded his Bachelors and Masters degrees along with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Guitar Prize. [show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
He has performed a wide variety of guitar music as a soloist including works by J. S. Bach, Tarrega, Ponce, Rodrigo and Roland Dyens to name a few favourites. Chamber music has been a substantial part of Rowan’s career to date and he has performed many works for 2, 3 and 4 guitars with the Alma Guitar Trio as well as collaborating with flautist Yu Syuan-Li and soprano Aimee Fisk in much of the standard repertoire for these combinations.
Rowan is a member of the Alma Guitar Trio. The group aim to champion the often unheard-of or underappreciated repertoire for three guitars. Their programs regularly include original music for guitar trio By Paulo Bellinati, Stephen Dodgson, Carlo Domeniconi and Gary Ryan. Alma Have been lucky enough to develop and premiere brand-new commissions for Guitar Trio in collaboration with composers none-other than: Ryan Probert, Susannah Self and Sabino de Bari. Rowan has also produced several original arrangements for the trio from a range of styles and instrumentations, including works such as Vaughan Williams’ Phantasy Quintet, and Piazzolla’s Le Grand Tango.
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As a soloist, Michael has performed throughout the UK, including an afternoon concert in the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room and guest artist recitals at festivals in Edinburgh, Ullapool and Ruthven. In 2017 he gave his debut performance of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez with Perth Symphony Orchestra in Scotland. Michael is also an international competitor, having reached the semi-finals of competitions in Germany and the Netherlands.[show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
To date, Michael’s passion for contemporary music has led to several commissions of new works for the guitar and cross-field collaborations with other instrumentalists. As well as several performances with Echoshed, a new music collective, he has performed with the Royal College of Music’s New Perspectives ensemble in a concert celebrating the music of the renowned Israeli composer, Chaya Czernowin.
Michael makes up half of the Toru Ensemble, with flautist Aleksandra Henszel. Together they have performed in venues around London including: Southbank Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum, Kings Place and Regent Hall.
After further collaborations with other contemporary artists, Michael hopes to perform internationally, both as a soloist and ensemble member. In 2017 he completed a Masters degree at the Royal College of Music, London, under the tutelage of Gary Ryan.
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Joseph is currently studying classical guitar at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. During his school years he was a member of the National Youth Guitar Ensemble under Gerald Garcia, performing as a soloist in his final year, and was also a student at the Junior Guildhall School of Music in London under Mark Eden. At the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Joseph is currently studying under Allan Neave and Ian Watt. [show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
Joseph has a strong performance history having performed in several concerts in the UK and in Europe, most recently he competed at the Twents Gitaarfestival in the Netherlands. Joseph also holds a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sheffield.
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Kristian Richardson has always had an adoration of the guitar, having started when he was 7. He progressed quickly learning with Chris Stell and Mark Eden, and achieved his ATCL diploma when he was 14. He was a part of the Hampshire Music Specialist Course at Peter Symonds College under the tutoring of Helen Sanderson, and from there joined the Royal College of Music. [show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
He is currently in his final year of the RCM. Throughout his education he developed a love of chamber music, being part of Guitar Circus (now NYGE) from it’s very beginning, so he is thrilled to be part of the NYGE Fellowship.
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George Robinson began studying the guitar in his hometown of Chichester at the age of 8 with Linda Kelsall-Barnett and subsequently became one of 12 UK young guitarists to be selected for the ‘Guitar Circus’ ensemble, training monthly at the Royal College of Music until the age of 18. George has performed in masterclasses with eminent guitarists including Zoran Dukic, Pavel Steidl, Duo Montes-Kircher, Gary Ryan, Chris Stell and John Williams, and is currently in his fourth year of study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with John Mills and Helen Sanderson.[show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
George is also an active chamber musician, having performed in the contemporary music group ‘Lavolta’, who toured the South West of England in early 2017 to critical acclaim, as well as working with orchestras and choirs to perform newly commissioned works at Dartington Hall, narrated by Vanessa Redgrave. Most notably, George has a long-standing and successful partnership with soprano Beth Wischhusen, giving recitals for guitar societies and festivals such as “Brecon Bites” and they were recently finalists in the prestigious McGrenery Chamber Prize.
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Alex studied for his bachelors’ degree at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Mark Ashford and Mark Eden where he gained first class honours. He has performed recitals as a soloist and chamber musician across the UK as well as Taiwan including a performance at the Hellys International Guitar Festival 2018. [show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
He has won the Birmingham Conservatoire Guitar Competition, Conservatoire Strings Etudes Prize, Alison Stephens competition and the Montagu Cleeve award. Alex was selected to perform the Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos with the Conservatoire projects orchestra at the CBSO centre in Birmingham. Alex has begun his postgraduate studies at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire under the tutelage of Graham Devine and is the recipient of the Leverhulme Scholarship.
He has premiered solo guitar works by William Lloyd Webber and Sabino de Bari.
With Mezzo Soprano Samantha Oxborough the duo have performed in programmes alongside Roderick Williams and at venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, Oxford Town Hall and the Oxford Ashmolean Museum.
Performances in masterclasses include internationally renowned artists such as; Marcin Dylla, John Mills, Xuefei Yang, Irina Kulikova, Marek Pasieczny, Carlo Marchione, Chris Stell and Ali Arango
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Sam Rodwell completed his undergraduate at The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with a first class honours degree under the tutelage of Craig Ogden. Sam is currently completing his Masters in performance also at the RNCM. [show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
In his very first term as an undergraduate he won the String Department ‘Salon Prize’ making him the first guitarist to win this competition for nearly 30 years. Also during his first year at music college Sam was offered the opportunity to perform on guitar, banjo and ukulele in Shostakovich’s rarely performed ‘Paradise Moscow’. In his fourth year he went on to attain a place as a finalist in the highly prestigious ‘Gold Medal’ competition.
Sam has similarly appeared as a finalist in the Ivor Mairants Guitar Competition and The Royal Overseas League strings sectional. Sam has given many recitals in some of the most recognised concert halls in the U.K. including a solo performance for 1500 people at the De Montford Hall (Leicester), St Martins-in-the-Fields, Bridgewater Hall, RNCM Concert Hall, Buxton Pavilion and many more. He has also featured at many festivals including the Cardiff Guitar Festival, Craig Ogden’s Big Guitar Weekend, Winchester Festival, World Youth Guitar Festival and RibFest.
In 2016 Sam made his television debut on Sky Arts whilst taking part in ‘Guitar Star’ making it to the final 8 and being featured in 6 out of 9 episodes. Sam has also been an ambassador for Yamaha (U.K.) in promoting their classical guitar range. He has performed in masterclasses for artists including David Russell, Mark Ashford, Chris Stell, Milos Karadaglic, Gary Ryan, Michael Lewin, Gordon Crosskey and Julian Byzantine. Sam’s love of chamber music has led him to perform with many different ensembles, covering repertoire from the renaissance to the 21st century. He has had notable success performing many concerts with the ‘Roth Guitar Duo’ with Emma Smith. Sam has performed with a number of British orchestras, including the Manchester Camerata featuring a performance with the world famous accordionist Martynas Levickis.
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Torrin performed as String Category Finalist in BBC Young Musician of the Year 2018. He won 2nd prize in the 10th International Competition for Young Guitarists “Andrés Segovia” in Germany. He made his debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall in 2017 and was leader of the National Youth Guitar Ensemble in the UK from 2015-2018. [show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
Torrin has been playing classical guitar since the age of 7. He currently studies with Zoran Dukić at Royal Conservatoire The Hague.
Torrin holds a DipABRSM in classical piano and has performed jazz piano at Ronnie Scotts and Vortex Jazz Club in London while attending Junior Guildhall School of Music.
He studied A’Levels at Purcell School for Young Musicians from 2016-2018, while studying guitar with Graham Anthony Devine. He was supported by a scholarship from the UK Government’s Music and Dance Scheme.
Torrin plays a classical guitar made in 2013 by Oren Myers.
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Hannah was awarded a Master of Music with Distinction in Instrumental Performance (with a focus on chamber music) from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2018. She studied under the tuition of Mark Ashford and Mark Eden and also graduated with a First Class Honours degree from the same institution. [show_more more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]
Originally from Devon, Hannah started learning the guitar with Des Miles and successfully participated in many music festivals and concerts across the county, as well as travelling abroad with the North Devon Guitar Ensemble. Hannah has performed in masterclasses with Xuefei Yang, Marcin Dylla and Lorenzo Micheli among many other distinguished guitarists and in 2015, she was a finalist in the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Guitar Prize.
Hannah has performed in a variety of ensembles and worked with many different instrumentalists. She is a founding member of Alma Guitar Trio who performed at the London Guitar Festival as part of IGF’s Aspire Platform 2017 and were finalists in the Sylvia Cleaver Chamber Music Prize in 2018. Hannah gained a place on the CBSO Learning and Participation Programme and was awarded the Postgraduate Pedagogy Prize from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2017.
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Write to us
By email: Info@guitarcircus.org.uk
By Post: Guitar Circus, 7 The Maples, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 1TQ
