The Gold Medal

Gold Medal

The Guildhall School's premier music prize was founded and endowed by Sir H. Dixon Kimber in 1915 and since the 1950s it has been open to singers and instrumentalists in alternate years. The final traditionally takes place in May each year in a sold-out Barbican Hall.

Previous winners include Jacqueline du Pré (1960), Tasmin Little (1986), and Bryn Terfel (1989).

Read about the 2010 Gold Medal Final

In recent years, the Gold Medal has launched the careers of

Anna Stéphany
Anna Stéphany (soprano, 2005), also won the Kathleen Ferrier Award in the same week, went on to study at the National Opera Studio and now performs at an international level, including concerts with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra at both the Barbican and Carnegie Hall. In 2008 she sang Dorabella for Garsington Opera.

Anna-Liisa Bezrodny
Anna-Liisa Bezrodny (violin, 2006) has recently had solo performances with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki National Opera Orchestra and the Haydn Chamber Orchestra. Last year Anna-Liisa made her Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall debuts, and this year won awards from the Ricci Foundation and Making Music Foundation. Future plans include a debut recital in the Berlin Kontzerthaus, a concerto with the Bach Orkester of Leipzig in Cologne Philharmonie, a concerto tour with Tallinn Chamber Orchestra under maestro Eri Klas, and the release of her debut CD.

Katherine Broderick
Katherine Broderick (soprano, 2007) also won the Kathleen Ferrier Award in the same week, studied at the National Opera Studio and has appeared twice at the BBC Proms, singing Woglinde Götterdämmerung with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Donald Runnicles in 2007, and the Young Lover Il Tabarro with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda in 2008. Future projects include Erste Dame Die Zauberflöte for Glyndebourne on Tour and Bruckner Mass in F minor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jiri B₧lohlávek.

Sasha Grynyuk
Sasha Grynyuk (piano, 2008) is now a Fellow at the Guildhall School and has since won the Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize, receiving a recital at the Wigmore Hall as his award. During 2008/09 he also won the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Piano Scholarship and was the overall winner of the 2008 Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists Competition and winner of 1st Prize in the Piano section. He was recently selected as a 'Rising Star'in BBC Music Magazine and International Piano magazine.

Gold Medal Winners since 1980

  • 2009, Gary Griffiths
  • 2008, Sasha Grynyuk
  • 2007, Katherine Broderick
  • 2006, Anna-Liisa Bezrodny
  • 2005, Anna Stephany
  • 2004, Boris Brovtsyn
  • 2003, Susanna Andersson
  • 2002, David Cohen
  • 2001, Sarah Redgwick
  • 2000, Maxim Rysanov
  • 1999, Natasha Jouhl
  • 1998, Alexander Somov
  • 1997, Konrad Jarnot
  • 1996, Stephen de Pledge
  • 1995, Jane Stevenson
  • 1994, Richard Jenkinson
  • 1993, Nathan Berg
  • 1992, Katherine Gowers
  • 1991, William Dazeley
  • 1990, Eryl Lloyd-Williams
  • 1989, Bryn Terfel
  • 1998, Simon Smith
  • 1987, Juliet Booth
  • 1986, Tasmin Little
  • 1985, Peter Rose
  • 1984, Kyoko Kimura
  • 1983, Carol Smith
  • 1982, Simon Emes
  • 1981, Susan Bickley
  • 1980, Julian Tear