Recent alumni successes at Guildhall School (March 2026)

Acting

• Séamus McLean Ross (Acting 2022) stars in California Schemin’, the directorial debut of James McAvoy, which will close the Glasgow Film Festival in March. Alongside Levi Brown (Acting 2021) and Alyth Ross (Acting 2021), Séamus was also shortlisted for the Marc Beeby Award for Best Debut Performance 2026 BBC Audio Drama Awards, with Connor Finch (Acting 2020) announced as its winner for his performance in Life and Time. 
   
• Mukwae Siyolwe (Acting 1986) was Executive Producer of The Banjo Boys, which received the Audience Award at the London Breeze Film Festival 2025 and premiered in North America at the African Diaspora Film Festival in December. The documentary will be exhibited in a hybrid world tour alongside its stars, the Madalitso Band, across 2026 and 2027.
   
• Aaron Gill (Acting 2022) played in Indian Ink at the Hampstead Theatre.
   
• Zach Wyatt (Acting 2022) featured in All My Sons at Wyndham’s Theatre, alongside Tom Glynn-Carney (Acting 2016) and Paapa Essiedu FGS (Acting 2012).
   
• Cara Theobold (Acting 2012) and Ricky Champ (Acting 2005) appear in Netflix’s Absentia.
   
• Kishore Walker (Acting 2022), Joseph Potter (Acting 2019), Imogen Elliot (Acting 2024) and Michael Praed (Acting 1980) are currently performing in Noël Coward's Easy Virtue, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, at Cambridge Arts Theatre.
   
• Oli Higginson (Acting 2019) released his second single, Transatlantic, under the moniker Modern Oli, following his success starring in Bridgerton. Learn more here.
   
• Jenny Fennessy (Acting 2012) performed in Lovesong, in a sold-out run across Cork, Waterford and Dublin.
   
• Justice Ritchie (Acting 2021) plays Roshad in the UK premiere Chadwick Boseman’s Deep Azure at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
   
• Tara Tijani (Acting 2021) has been starring as Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe.
   
• Djibril Ramsey (Acting 2024) makes his Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) debut playing Barnardo in a national tour of Hamlet, in which Maximus Evans (Acting 2024) also stars as Marcellus.
   
• Sarah Slimani (Acting 2022) joins the cast of the RSC’s production of Henry V at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Music

• A huge congratulations to Don Lucas (Trombone/Brass 1983), who has received the ITA Award, the highest honour given by the International Trombone Association, recognising his career and impact in the field of trombone.
   
• Heather Brooks (Harp 2022) has been named Forest Philharmonic’s Young Musician of the Year 2026.
   
• Salome Jordania (Piano 2024) has signed with acclaimed French record label La Dolce Volta, with her debut album expected this year. 
   
• Aryaman Natt (Piano 2020) released a new EP Impurity, blending neoclassical piano and experimental electronics in a sound described as ‘timeless and contemporary.’ Listen here.
   
• Oli Rath (Tenor Trombone 2021) has joined the international tour of Wicked.
   
• Rosie Bergonzi (Percussion 2016) performed Kinoshi’s Handpan Concerto with Chineke! Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. 
   
• Heather Brooks (Harp 2024) has won the silver medal in the 7th International Harp Competition in Hungary (under 25s).
   
• Bridget Esler (Soprano 2023) won the Mélodie Prize, Lied Prize and Creation Prize for best commissioned work in the Concours international de chant-piano du Centre Nadia et Lili Boulanger.
   
• Kaitlin Wild (Trumpet 2017) was appointed Sub-Principal Trumpet for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
   
• Ruth Rosales (Bassoon 2010) joined the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. 
   
• Alice Coote CBE (Mezzo-Soprano 1989) and Richard Farnes CBE (Conducting 1987) have been appointed Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to music. 
   
• Andrew Power (Cello 2015) was awarded the Pelle Prize 2025.
   
• Andrew Rogers (Violin 2023) has been appointed to the violin section of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
   
• Gabriela Opacka-Boccadoro (Violin 2015) performed on the soundtrack for A Friend of Dorothy, nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the Academy Awards, as well as two new chamber music albums, Marimba Experiment and Bucoliques. She will also join the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship Mentoring Program in 2027.
   
• The Fibonacci Quartet, which was formed at Guildhall School and features alumni Luna De Mol (Violin 2023), Kryštof Kohout (Violin 2022) and Elliot Kempton (Viola 2024) received a 2026 Borletti-Buitoni Trust fellowship, worth £20,000, and were announced as Music at Paxton festival’s associate ensemble for 2027-29. The quartet also performed in the series L’après-midi du Quatuor at the 12th Biennale de Quatuors, which also featured fellow Guildhall alumni in the Barbican Quartet, featuring Amarins Wierdsma (Violin 2015), Christoph Slenczka (Viola 2016) and Yoanna Prodanova (Cello 2016); and the Magenta Quartet, led by Ida Derbesse (Violin 2019).
   
• Luna De Mol (Violin 2023) was also recently included in Front View Magazine’s list of ten emerging young classical musicians of 2026, which you can read here.
   
• Ionel Manciu (Violin 2016) was appointed concertmaster of the Netherlands Philharmonic and will perform Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben in a three-concert series in March. Hannah Strijbos (Viola 2014) was also appointed principal viola, while Gabriel Abad Varela (Double Bass 2021) and Mario Torres Valdivieso (Double Bass 2018) were both named as associate principal double bass.
   
• Yente Lottman (Violin 2025) won the Oscar Back second prize at the Netherlands National Violin Competition. 
   
• Sophia Prodanova (Violin 2021) has been performing with the Ensemble Pygmalion, including an upcoming seven-concert tour of Bach’s St Matthew Passion across four countries. 
   
• Francesca Gilbert (Viola 2016) was appointed sub-principal viola of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
   
• The Consone Quartet, featuring Elitsa Bogdanova (Viola 2011), celebrated their 10th anniversary with the second volume of their Mendelssohn cycle and a concert tour of Canada and the US, as well as completing their three-year residency at Paxton House, and continuing their residencies as Frost Trust Visiting Quartet at Sheffield's Music in the Round and at Saxon Shore Early Music Kenardington.
   
• Fabio Fernandes (Guitar 2018) featured alongside Guildhall professor Toby Carr in the Milton Court concert in celebration of the life and work of Historical Performance tutor David Miller, and will be publishing two new solo albums later in 2026.

Production Arts

• Neil Austin FGS (Technical Theatre 1992) received two nominations for the White Light Best Lighting Design Award for Born With Teeth and Paddington The Musical.
   
• Judy Craymer CBE (Technical Theatre 1978) featured in The Stage 100 2026.
   
• Kash Bennett FGS (Production Arts 1990) and executive director at Sonia Friedman has had one of her productions nominated for the Cunard Best New Musical Award at the Olivier Awards – Paddington the Musical.