RNCM Chopin Prize

William’s international career was launched in 1984 when he won the first prize, gold medal and Rosa Sabater prize at the Concurso Internacional de Piano in Jaén, Spain. His concerto début at St. John’s Smith Square with the Philharmonia Orchestra followed soon after.  He subsequently added successes in the Busoni, Cleveland, Iturbi, and Scottish International Competitions.

Performances in New York, Moscow and St Petersburg (under the auspices of the Sviatoslav Richter Foundation), and in Europe have drawn critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences. Invited to China, supported by Arts Council England, William has performed and given master classes in Shanghai. He has also performed in Australia at the invitation of the Chair of the Australian Piano Pedagogy Conference and was the keynote speaker, giving a recital and master classes, at the Institute of Registered Music Teachers of New Zealand conference in Auckland.

William maintains a busy schedule of recitals, master classes, teaching and lecturing both in the UK and abroad, as well as regular commitments to some of the finest international piano summer schools.

A musician of wide interests, William has performed with ensembles such as the Brodsky Quartet and members of Guildhall Strings. He has also collaborated with singers Steve Davislim and James Rutherford and has recorded some fascinating and little known repertoire in the chamber music field. His concerts have been broadcast on television and on radio in Europe and the US. William has performed at all of London’s major venues.  His concerts have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, and BBC television.

A distinguished teacher, William is in demand for master classes and adjudication in the UK and overseas. He is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music www.ram.ac.uk and Head of Keyboard at the Purcell School for Young Musicians www.purcell-school.org – one of Europe’s leading specialist schools for talented young musicians, visiting professor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Artistic Director of “Piano Star” – an educational project and festival for young pianists in Romania.

His students’ achievements have included places and scholarships to study at Curtis Institute of Music USA, Universität der Künste Berlin, Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien (MDW), the Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Trinity Laban.  His students have also won important international competitions, including Liszt International Competition (Budapest), Weimar Liszt International Competition, Jeunesses Musicales Romania, and Lagny-Sur-Marne International Piano Competition. Students have also established successful careers as recording artists.

Marc comes from Palestine and studies with Helen Krizos.

Yurij comes from a Ukrainian family and lives in Manchester where he studies with Murray McLachlan and Kathryn Page.

Edward Harris-Brown lives in Manchester and is a composer as well as a pianist. He studies piano with Murray McLachlan and Ben Powell.

Jamie Brown lives in Southport and studies with Gemma Beeson.

Emma Miao lives in China and studies with Slava Sidorenko.

Xizong Chen is a pianist from China. He showed a keen interest in music from a very early age but did not begin his formal training until he was eleven years of age.

Xizong studied with Professor Songwen Li, Head of Keyboard Studies at Xinghai Music Conservatory, for four years before commencing his studies at Changchun University, under the tutelage of Lin Li, Head of Keyboard Studies at the University.

He was awarded the university scholarship for four consecutive years, and he won the first prize in the professional class of the ‘Changjiang Piano Competition’ held at the university. He also performed with the Changchun Philharmonic Orchestra and has taken part in prestigious competitions.

In 2016 he participated in the German Wiesbaden International Piano Competition where he came 6th in the final of the Professional Youth Class. In the following year he took part in the 81st Steinway International Piano Competition where he won First Prize in Professional Class C the Northeast Division of China. In 2018 he participated in a piano performance with four teachers from Changchun University at the 5th Changchun Citizens Cultural Festival. In 2019 he was invited to perform in the New Year Concert held by the German Embassy in China.

Xizong has attended masterclasses with many international renowned pianists including Ernest So, Stephen Hough, Alexei Grynyuk, Jean Efflam Bavouzet, and so on.

Xizong is currently a second-year postgraduate student studying at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of International pianist and teacher Professor Frank Wibaut.

During his study at the RNCM, Xizong participated in four Rush-Hour Recitals and gave two Lunchtime Concerts at the RNCM. He also gave a solo recital at Buxton united reformed church on November 24/2022. The programs include:

Gershwin Three Preludes, Rachmaninoff Piano Sonata No. 2 (original edition); Brahms Piano Sonata No. 3, Debussy Pour Le Piano Suite; Liszt Transcendental Etude ‘Harmonies Du Soir’, Chopin’s Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante, Beethoven Sonata For Piano and Violin, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 109, Chopin’s Etude Op.10 No.4 + Allegro de Concert Op.46, Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7, Bach’s Sheep May Safely Graze.

He participated and went through to the final round of the Chopin Prize held by the keyboard department in 2022, and just won the intercollegiate Beethoven competition at the RNCM.

Xizong was invited to perform the Yellow River Piano Concerto with Manchester Camerata Orchestra at the National Day Concert on October 11/2022, held by the Chinese Consulate in Manchester. He was recently invited to perform in new year concerts in late January and early February 2023, held by the local Chinese Student and Scholar Association in Sheffield, Leeds, Lancaster, and Manchester

Singaporean pianist Marianne Huang Yueyin won the First Prize in the 3^rd Hong Kong Pacific Piano Open Competition 2020. She is a postgraduate student at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), studying the piano with Graham Scott, having previously done her undergraduate studies at the Royal College of Music (RCM) with Leon McCawley and Gordon Fergus-Thompson. She is grateful for the support of scholarships during her time in both colleges. Marianne is an avid performer. A memorable experience was performing Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, together with the RNCM Concert Orchestra, conducted by Sir Mark Elder. Most recently, she also performed at the Emmanuel Church, Didsbury; and at the Victoria Concert Hall atrium in Singapore as part of the Light to Night Festival 2023.

Hedong Li was born in Hong Kong China, in 2004 and started learning the piano at the age of three. He studied at Shenzhen Art School in 2014 where he began his professional piano training. In 2019, Hedong enrolled in the junior music course at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where he studied with Professor Gabriel Kwok, Head of Keyboard Studies.

Hedong has participate in many piano competitions and got several awards. For example, Third Prize in the Purcell International Competition (2019) and by that time Hedong participated in masterclasses given by William Fong, Hon ARAM PIANO, professor of piano.

In 2022, Hedong commenced his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the tutelage of the internationally renowned pianist Professor Stephen Savage.