Head of Strings at Junior Guildhall awarded 2020 European String Teachers Association Award

Head of Strings at Junior Guildhall, Guildhall School’s specialist Saturday School offering advanced training to under 18s, William Bruce has been awarded the 2020 European String Teachers Association (ESTA) Award in recognition of distinguished services to string teaching.

William Bruce says: “I’m thrilled and humbled to have won this award from ESTA. In these difficult times I’m even more convinced of the value of music education.  Music is our birth right, the soundtrack to a lifelong journey and the soundscape of our very existence, coordinating our mind, body and spirit towards harmony on a never-ending learning process.     

It is a privilege working with so many young people at Junior Guildhall watching them blossom through such a powerful, joyous and transforming life force.

Thank you so much to ESTA, a supportive and guiding light right from the start of my career, providing shared experiences through so many inspiring platforms.”

William Bruce studied with Christopher Bunting and took part in classes with Jacqueline du Pré and William Pleeth, whilst attending chamber music courses at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies with the Amadeus Quartet.

His playing career has taken him as far as the USA and Australia, his Carnegie Hall debut was in 2005 and he was a member of the orchestra of English National Opera from 1982 until his recent retirement. The Royal Academy of Music awarded him an Honorary ARAM in 2017.

At the heart of Bruce’s career has been his teaching. As well as continuous private teaching, he is now Head of Strings at Junior Guildhall. He is the founder and director of Cello Club, the junior part of the London Cello Society, which brings together young cellists from all over the country and beyond. He has given countless masterclasses and summer schools, and he ran a residential summer school for cellists each year at Hindhead Music Centre for 20 years. He is currently involved in bringing Chinese students to study on his music summer schools.

In addition to many years’ experience as an adjudicator, for over 30 years Bruce has been involved in many aspects of the work of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM), training and moderating of examiners, syllabus development, presentations and tours. This work has taken him across the globe to places like Hong Kong, the West Indies South America, Africa, Sri Lanka and Iceland. He has also recently worked in Soweto on a teaching project with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and worked with Magyar children on music projects in Transylvania.

Publication collaborations include a cello tutor with Mary Cohen for Faber Music, the Fiddler Playalong Cello Collection for Boosey & Hawkes and More Time Pieces for ABRSM Publishing.  He has also been Commissioning Editor for Fingerprints for Cello and Spectrum for Cello, a volume of contemporary pieces which has received worldwide acclaim.

Throughout his career, Bruce has been involved with ESTA, sitting on the Management Committee for many years, and is now a member of Council. 

Applications for Junior Guildhall September 2021 entry open on 7 January and close on 1 March 2021. For further information, visit

gsmd.ac.uk/juniors