Cellist Ellen Baumring-Gledhill wins Junior Guildhall Lutine Prize 2020
Guildhall School of Music & Drama is delighted to announce that cellist Ellen Baumring-Gledhill has been awarded First Prize at the final of Junior Guildhall’s most prestigious award: the Lutine Prize. Trumpeter Sasha Canter was awarded Second Prize.
The competition took place on Saturday 3 October in Milton Court Concert Hall and was broadcast on Guildhall School’s website on Saturday 10 October. The performance is available to view online until Saturday 17 October.
A category finalist in this year’s BBC Young Musician competition, Baumring-Gledhill performed a winning recital of JS Bach’s Prelude from Cello Suite No 2 in D minor BWV1008, Chopin’s Scherzo and Largo from Cello Sonata in G minor Op 65 and Cassadó’s Intermezzo e Danza Finale from Suite for Solo Cello, accompanied by pianist Louisa Lam.
Ellen Baumring-Gledhill says “I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to have won the Lutine Prize and so proud to complete my time at Junior Guildhall in this way. It was such a pleasure to be on stage again after lockdown, albeit without an audience, but with support from the other finalists. I am so grateful to Junior Guildhall for all they have done for me; it has been like a second home for the last eight years. A special thank you must go to my teacher Dr Oliver Gledhill who has inspired and supported me since I started the cello aged five, to my new teacher, Felix Schmidt, who helped put the final touches to my programme, and to my wonderful accompanist, Louisa Lam. Finally, thanks to Rosie Whitfield and her team for making the final happen.”
Saxophonist, broadcaster and adjudication panel member YolanDa Brown says: “2020 will go down in history as one of the most challenging years we have faced globally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sitting in Milton Court for the Junior Guildhall Lutine Prize final was the first time I had been in a concert venue since March. What an experience! An emotional rollercoaster… the musicianship of the finalists was just beautiful; full of passion, personality, invention and so much technical prowess. The power of music and the importance of continuing to nurture the next generation was evident and I left the hall with the biggest smile.”
The Lutine Prize is Junior Guildhall’s equivalent of the senior school’s annual Gold Medal competition. Six students were selected from the preliminary round to perform in the final in which they presented a 20-minute solo recital. The winner of the First Prize is given the opportunity to perform a concerto with one of the Junior Guildhall ensembles in addition to a cash award.
The other finalists were:
Samuel Frith flute
Marlon Barrios Araya violin
George Smith cello
Sasha Canter trumpet (Second Prize winner)
Viviane Ghiglino flute
The adjudicators this year were YolanDa Brown, musician and broadcaster; Paul Hoskins, Director of Music at Purcell School; and Armin Zanner, Head of Vocal Studies and Deputy Director of Music at Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
The Lutine Prize was inaugurated in 1982 and Baumring-Gledhill joins a long line of winners, many of whom have enjoyed professional music careers, including Thomas Adès, Tom Poster and Annabel Thwaite.
18-year-old Baumring-Gledhill began learning the cello 13 years ago with her uncle, Dr Oliver Gledhill, and continued to study with him at Junior Guildhall from 2013, most recently as a D’Addario Strings Cello Scholar. In March 2020 she was chosen to represent Junior Guildhall at the London Cello Society’s Cello Power Event (Young Cello Talent in Concert) at the Royal Academy of Music, and in July 2020, at the end of her final year at Junior Guildhall, she was awarded the Principal’s Prize.
Baumring-Gledhill was the only cellist to reach the Strings Category Final of BBC Young Musician 2020, broadcast in May. She was a Lutine Prize Finalist in 2019 and also a finalist in Junior Guildhall’s Charlton House Young Artists Awards in 2018. In recent years she has won a string of prizes including the national Emunah Young Musician title in 2016, Most Promising String Player Awards at Hatfield and Southend Music Festivals in 2016, Senior Solo winner at the Spring Grove Music Festival (2019) and Gold Awards at the New Talent British International Youth Music Competition (2018 and 2020).
Baumring-Gledhill has recently started her studies as a Scholar at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Felix Schmidt.
The Lutine Prize final is part of Guildhall School’s online autumn season, all of which is free to view online.