Recent alumni successes at Guildhall School (December 2025)

Elisabeth Pion

We're thrilled to announce the latest news from Guildhall School’s alumni community.

Music 

  • Huge congratulations to Élisabeth Pion (Piano 2022) who was named Gold Laureate at the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition in Canada, recognised as one of the top piano competitions in the world. 

  • Oliver Leith’s (Composition 2013) opera Last Days is on at the Royal Opera House December through January. The cast features fellow Guildhall alumni Jake Dunn (Acting 2023), Patricia Auchterlonie (Soprano 2023), Mimi Doulton (Soprano 2018) and Sion Goronwy (Soprano 1998), is conducted by Jack Sheen (Composition 2016), and the production features lighting design by Prema Mehta (Technical Theatre 2004). Last Days was produced through Oliver’s studies as Doctoral Composer-in-Residence with Guildhall School and The Royal Opera.  

  • Michael Papadopoulos (Repetiteur 2017) was appointed Erste Kappellmeister at Vienna Volksoper. 
  • Johnny Pun (Piano 2021) travelled to the 10th World Harmonica Festival in Germany where two of their partners were triumphant.  
  • Alexandra Dariescu (Piano 2011) is travelling across the US and Europe with her show The Nutcracker and I.  
  • Malachy Robinson (Double Bass 1993) and his Far Flung Trio, celebrated their 10th anniversary and released a second album, which received a four star review in BBC Music Magazine.  
  • Caspar Singh (Vocal 2018) took the lead in Benjamin Britten’s comic opera Albert Herring staged by English National Opera.  
  • Claire Habbershaw (Piano 2021) featured in Opera Versum magazine, performed piano on Sonny Fodera’s song All This Time (UK #33) and has an upcoming album with tenor Charles Castronovo. Find out more on Claire’s website.  
  • Alex Groves’ (Composition 2023) recent work includes Layer Upon Layer Upon Layer at MONOM’s SPATIAL Festival in Berlin, Single Form (Dawn) performed by Ben Goldscheider, choral work Stream and Pool, and concert series SOLO at the National Gallery. Learn more here.  
  • Fibonacci Quartet featuring Luna De Mol (Violin 2025), current student Kryštof Kohout (Art Dip Violin) and Elliot Kempton (Viola 2024) recently performed at Wigmore Hall and featured in the world premiere of Fergus Hall’s Three Hours After High Water.  
  • Catch an interview with Matteo Cimatti (Violin 2025) on the Young Classical Artists Trust, whose roster he joined earlier in 2025.  
  • Violetta Suvini (Violin 2023) had been named City Music Foundation Artist 2025-26 and has upcoming performances at the Barts North Wing Concert Series and St Martin-in-the-Fields. 
  • Paula Muldoon (Violin 2012) is launching the second season of Cambridge Chamber Collective while also working as a Software Engineer at Zopa Bank. 
  • Julia Merino (Mezzo-Soprano 2025) won 2nd Prize at the 42nd International Singing Competition in Logroño and also received the Ópera de Oviedo Prize.  
  • Toby Hession (Repetiteur 2021) is the composer of A Matter of Misconduct! which was nominated for the Achievement in Opera award at UK Theatre Awards. 
  • Li Zhe (Violin 2003) was announced as Executive Director of National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing. 
  • Mark Taylor (Flute 2015) was appointed Section Leader Flute (Principal) of Ulster Orchestra.  
  • Oliver Wass (Harp 2017) was named Professor of Harp at Royal College of Music. 
  • Elin Samuel (Harp 2019), Alexander Rider (Harp 2019) and Anneke Hodnett (Harp 2011) performed at the BBC Proms as part of an all-Guildhall BBC Symphony Orchestra Principal Harp support team.  
  • Flora Yeung (Violin 2024) and Imogen Brewer (Violin 2022) completed their first year of Sinfonia Smith Square Fellowship.  
  • Carys Barnes (Viola 2025), Joana Rodrigues (Violin 2023) and Georgia Lloyd (Double Bass 2023) were all awarded the Philharmonia Instrumental Fellowship. 
  • Joan Furio Vivas (Guitar 2024) was a soloist at Festival de Guitarra de Girona in September and also participated in Villa Margarita Music Festival 2025, where performers also included Ramon Branch (Tuba 2024), Alan Branch (Piano 1988) and Pau Vendrell (Piano 2023). 
  • Michael Lafferty (Baritone/Bass 2023) and Alaric Green (Baritone/Bass 2024) made their English National Opera debuts in Dead Man Walking, having both appeared in Guildhall School’s production of the opera while students in 2023. 
  • Lara Martins (Vocal 2003) is currently touring internationally with The Phantom of the Opera.  
  • Fiona McAndrew (Opera 1995) was named Head of Vocal Studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.  
  • Claire Prewer (Vocal 1992) was a soloist in the Musical Masterpiece concert by Orchestra of St John, Bromsgrove Festival.  
  • Auric Saxophone Quartet featuring Sam Corkin (Saxophone 2011), Sally Mactaggart (Saxophone 2013) and Guildhall saxophone professor Alastair Penman performed at Victoria International Arts Festival.  
  • Pablo Drexler (Popular Music Production 2020) launched their first album, check it out on Spotify. 
  • Stephen Upshaw (Viola 2011) recently featured in The Strad, sharing life lessons and career insights. 
  • George Lee (Tuba 2018) was appointed Head of Artistic Planning & Production, for the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales. 
  • Tara Minton (Jazz 2019) has a new album being pressed and is performing soon at Hampstead Parish Church on 13 December. Check out her website here. 

  • Jixuan Li (Junior Guildhall 2024) was named winner of the 2025 BBC Young Composer Competition’s Upper Junior Category (Age 15-16) with their composition Away In A Quazar. 

Acting 

  • Ellis Howard (Acting 2018) has been named in this year’s BAFTA Breakthrough list for their performance in What it Feels Like for a Girl (BBC). 
  • Tom Glynn-Carney (Acting 2016) and Paapa Essiedu FGS (Acting 2012) are starring in All My Sons at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End alongside Bryan Cranston. 
  • Acting students were invited for a special Q&A with Nia Towle (Acting 2021) following a performance of Stereophonic at Duke of York’s Theatre where she played Holly.  
  • Jocelyn Jee Esien (Acting 1997) performed as Lady Belche (aka Sir Toby Belche) in the smash hit production of Twelfth Night/What You Will at Shakespeare’s Globe. 
  • Adrian Dunbar FGS (Acting 1983) presented The Waste Land with the Guildhall Session Orchestra in November, as part of EFG London Jazz Festival. 
  • Abdul Sessay (Acting 2023) will perform as Bukayo Saka in the upcoming television adaptation of Dear England on the BBC alongside fellow alumni Joseph Fiennes FGS (Acting 1993) and Jodie Whittaker FGS (Acting 2005). 
  • Nina Cassells (Acting 2024) played Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre. 
  • Sophie McGibbon (Acting 2025) recently wrapped shooting on Sense & Sensibility playing Miss Grey alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones. 
  • Romaya Weaver (Acting 2024) appeared in Hail to the Thief at Factory International. 
  • Annabella O’Gorman (Acting 2024) performed in Henry V at Temple Church Bristol. 
  • Imogen Eliot (Acting 2024) played Phebe in As You Like It at Theatre Royal Bath. 
  • Aisha-Mae McCormick (Acting 2025) and Molly Madigan (Acting 2025) appeared in The Crucible at Shakespeare’s Globe. 
  • Maximus Evans (Acting 2024) played Quintus/Aemilius in Titus Andronicus at Hampstead Theatre. 
  • Ruby Thompson (Acting 2024) played Leanne in Till the Stars Come Down at Theatre Royal Haymarket. 
  • Noah Weatherby (Acting 2024) played Ed Marlowe in Mary Page Marlowe at the Old Vic Theatre. 
  • Emily Fairn (Acting 2020) features in Netflix’s House of Guinness. 
  • Tessa Wood (Acting 1975) had a busy 2025 performing at the Bristol theatre, featuring in ITV series Professor T, a feature film A Royal Romance in Ibiza and has wrapped shooting on two other films due for future release.  
  • Alyth Ross (Acting 2021) picked up a Best Performance nomination at The Speakies, British Audio Awards. Bella Maclean (Acting 2020) also featured with a nomination for Best Performance: New Voice.  
  • Emma Rice’s FGS (Acting 1988) theatre company Wise Children was nominated for Excellence in Touring at UK Theatre Awards. 
  • Tyreke Leslie (Acting 2022) was nominated in the Black British Theatre Awards for their performance in Princess Essex. 
  • Matthew Spencer (Acting 2005) is performing as Paris/Menelaus in Troilus and Cressida at Shakespeare’s Globe. 
  • Lily James (Acting 2010) stars in Swiped about the CEO and founder of Bumble. 
  • Michaela Coel (Acting 2012) featured in a British Vogue interview.  

Production Arts 

  • Ros Brooke-Taylor (Technical Theatre 1992) has been appointed the new Executive Director at the Almeida Theatre. 
  • Simon Baker (Technical Theatre 1992) was the Sound Designer for the Old Vic’s production Mary Page Marlowe, featuring Susan Sarandon. 
  • Saatvika Kantamneni (Collaborative Theatre Production and Design 2016) has had a busy 2025 as Producer of Akvarious Productions in Mumbai as well as being selected for Asian Producers' Platform Camp 2025 in Taiwan & Japan and becoming an ISPA Global Fellow 2026. 
  • Devon James-Bowen (Stage Management 2022) is the ASM Book Cover on Hamlet at the Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre.  
  • Ben Hagle (Theatre Technology 2020) was promoted to Senior Exhibition Technology Specialist at Meow Wolf Houston and is Head of Sound for Disney on Ice – Magic in the Stars Tour. 
  • Prema Mehta (Technical Theatre 2004) is the Lighting Designer for Last Days at the Royal Opera House working alongside fellow Guildhall alumni in the cast (see above).