Recent alumni successes at Guildhall School (September 2026)

Music

• Nicky Spence, OBE FGS (Tenor 2009) took centre stage at the magnificent Last Night of the Proms in September, closing a 2026 season which featured performances from a host of Guildhall alumni.
• Tuulia Hero (Violin 2022) has been appointed Professor of Violin at the Royal Northern College of Music, where Anna Devin (Soprano 2009) was further made Professor of Voice, and Amarins Wierdsma (Violin 2017) was named Junior Fellow in Chamber Music.
• The Fibonacci Quartet, which formed at Guildhall School and features Luna de Mol (Violin 2025), Kryštof Kohout (Violin 2022) and Elliot Kempton (Viola 2024), has received the Goldman Sachs Gives Award at the Verbier Festival Academy 2026. The Quartet also features on the soundtrack, and will appear in, the upcoming film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility – alongside Guildhall alumna Sophie McGibbon (Acting 2025).
• Gabriel Francis-Dehqani (Cello 2025) has received the 2026 Keith Harvey Memorial Award, presented by the British Cello Society. Read more in the Strad.
• Ramon Branch Biescas (Tuba 2024) and Heather Brooks (Harp 2022) have both been named in the 2026/27 cohort for London Philharmonic Orchestra's Future Firsts Development Programme.
• Alex Stephenson (Composition 2015) was announced as the winner of the 2026 Roy Minoff Composition Competition by Kent State University, receiving a $14,000 commission to compose a new work for flute, saxophone, piano, percussion and cello, premiering in 2027.
• Ed Zanders (Composition 2016) received a nomination for Best Composer, Lyricist or Book Writer at the Stage Debut Awards for his work on Thespians.
• Leo Popplewell (Cello 2022) was announced as Joint Principal Cello of the London Mozart Players in August. Hear more from Leo on the LMP’s website.
• Yat Hei Lee (Double Bass 2022) has been appointed Sub-Principal Double Bass of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
• Clare Best (Opera Making & Writing 2020) and Ábel M.G.E. (Opera Making & Writing 2020) premiere their new audio documentary-drama Blackout at the Bloomsbury Festival in October. Read more and book tickets for the show on the festival’s website.
• The Aglica Trio – Carys Gittins (Flute 2019), Agnieszka Żyniewicz (Viola 2019) and Lise Vandersmissen (Harp 2019) – have released a new concert recording, Aglica Trio: Liva at Bozar, including works by Hilary Tann, Francisco Fontes and Claude Debussy.
• Lise will also join Oliver Wass (Harp 2017) for a concert celebrating new album releases by both harpists at the St Pancras Clocktower in September, with fellow alumna Gabriela Opacka-Boccadoro (Violin 2022) featuring on Oliver’s album.
• Antonina Suhanova (Piano 2018) released her debut album, Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Nos. 6, 7, 8, on 4 September. Listen online through Antonina’s website.
• Alaric Green (Bass-Baritone 2024), continuing as a Harewood Artist with English National Opera, will sing the part of Angelotti in Tosca, at the London Coliseum from October until December.
• Ellie Neate (Soprano 2018) has been touring with Wild Arts’ The Marriage of Figaro as Susanna across England this summer. Read an interview with the soprano titled ‘What makes me’ in OX Magazine.
• Jack Wilson (Saxophone 2021) released his debut album The Bear And The Wolf in June – read more in Jazz News.
• Sam Gale (Jazz Composition and Arrangement 2023) featured as an arranger for the BBC Proms 2026.

Drama, Production & Design

• Adrian Dunbar, FGS (Acting 1983) has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to drama with the Freedom of the City of London. 
• Kate Phillips (Acting 2014) and Levi Brown (Acting 2021) have both received nominations for Best West End Debut Performer at the Stage Debut Awards, for their roles as Valerie in The Weir and Christian in Cyrano de Bergerac respectively. Catch Levi in the forthcoming season of the BBC’s Line of Duty, which will release in 2027.
• Toheeb Jimoh (Acting 2018) will play the lead role of Marcus in the BBC TV adaption of Caleb Azumah Nelson's acclaimed novel Open Water, for which filming began this summer.
• Dominic West, FGS (Acting 1995) has been cast in an upcoming Netflix series based on Roald Dahl's short stories for adults. Hear more about the show in Deadline.
• Sophie McGibbon (Acting 2025) takes on a starring role as Aoife Molloy in the upcoming Amazon Prime series Boys of Tommen, as well as acting in the upcoming film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility – where she’s joined by her fellow alumni in the Fibonacci Quartet.
• Samuel Blenkin (Acting 2017) plays Hamlet, alongside Brandon Grace (Acting 2021) as Laertes and Romaya Weaver (Acting 2024) as Barnarda, Player Queen and understudy Ophelia, in Hamlet Hail to the Thief at the Barbican Theatre, October 2026 to January 2027.
• Jonnie Broadbent (Acting 1998), Molly Madigan (Acting 2025) and Jordan Rhys (Acting 2024) perform in the roles of Touchstone, Phoebe and Jaques De Boys respectively in As You Like It at Shakespeare’s Globe, London until October.
• The Oresteia, at the Bridge Theatre London until September, features Tom Glynn-Carney (Acting 2016) as Augie, Alyth Ross (Acting 2021) as Jenny, and Seán Donegan (Acting 2008) as understudy Christopher and Melville. The actors are joined by a fellow Guildhall alumna in the show’s crew, Deputy Stage Manager Caroline Meer (Technical Theatre 2004).
• Mariah Gale (Acting 2003) starred as both Queen Rhaella Targaryen and Lady Shella Whent in Game of Thrones: The Mad King at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, this summer.
• Jessica Mannion (Acting 2025) plays Guen in King Lear at The Royal Exchange Theatre, October to November 2026.
• Ewan McGregor, OBE, FGS (Acting 1992) will star in a stage adaptation of the 2020 film Supernova at Pitlochry Festival Theatre next year.
• Connor Finch (Acting 2020) reprised his leading role as Jack in season two of the series Bookish, which aired August to September, and will return for a two-part Christmas special in December.
• Byran Novelo (Technical Theare 2017) was Scenic and Stage Manager for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Opening Ceremony in Mexico City.
• A revival of Chewing Gum Dreams, Michaela Coel’s (Acting 2012) one-woman play first developed as her final-year show at Guildhall School, is currently being performed at Theatre503, London.
• Petrina Tan (Technical Theatre 2017) was Co-Designer in the Large Props Department of the 2026 Singapore National Day Parade, held annually on 9 August.
• Jake Broder’s (Acting 1996) play UnRavelled continues its tour of the US in October, with shows in Philadelphia and New York.
• Jake Dunn (Acting 2023) features in the new Netflix show My Brilliant Career, an adaptation of the 1901 Miles Franklin novel of the same name, which debuted in August.
• The 2025 film The Cycle of Love, starring Chirag Lobo (Acting 2020), will have screenings across London in September.
• Michael James Reed (Acting 1986) played Capt. George Brackett in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific at the Muny, St. Louis, USA in July.

Image credit City of London Corporation.