Martyna Jatkauskaitė in a contest for The Gold Medal – the Guildhall School's of Music and Drama most prestigious prize for musicians
5 May, 2010. The Guildhall School of Music & Drama will hold its most prestigious award for musicians on Wednesday 5 May, featuring pianists Diana Ionescu and Martyna Jatkauskaite and cellist Brian O'Kane. The prize includes a cash award donated by The Worshipful Company of Musicians and the winner will be announced after the finalists perform at a public concert at the Barbican Hall before the distinguished panel of judges on Wednesday 5 May, accompanied by the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra.
Martyna Jatkauskaitė, www.martynapiano.com
The panel will be Peter Stark, who will conduct the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra on the night, and the School's Director of Music Jonathan Vaughan, alongside journalist and broadcaster Tom Service, Nicholas Mathias of IMG Artists and conductor James Gaffigan. Diana Ionescu performs Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor; Martyna Jatkauskaitė performs Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto; and cellist Brian O'Kane performs Elgar's Cello Concerto.
The Gold Medal award was founded and endowed by Sir H Dixon Kimber in 1915. Previous winners include Jacqueline du Pré (1960), Tasmin Little (1986) and Bryn Terfel (1989). 2008 winner Sasha Grynyuk also won the inaugural Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize which saw him perform a solo recital at the Wigmore Hall in 2009. Last year's winner was baritone Gary Griffiths who has performed solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall, and will make his professional debut with Welsh National Opera in summer 2011.
Martyna Jatkauskaitė is a winner of the Jaques Samuel Intercollegiate Piano Competition, she gave a recital at the Fazioli Concert hall in Italy, followed by her critically acclaimed Wigmore Hall debut in November 2008; Martyna was also invited to perform with the London Festival Orchestra in their Virtuoso Pianists series at Cadogan Hall in March 2009. In 2008, Martyna appeared at the Barbican Hall performing Shostakovich Concerto No 1 for piano, trumpet and string orchestra, conducted by Vasily Petrenko.
Martyna Jatkauskaitė is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Philharmonia Orchestra/ Martin Musical Scholarship Fund Award, which led to her recital debuts at the Royal Festival Hall and Purcell Rooms. In 2009 Martyna was awarded Recommended Artist under Making Music's Philip & Dorothy Green Award scheme.
Martyna started her music studies at the Kaunas Naujalis Music College, where she studied with Birutė Kumpikienė, and later with Professor Veronika Vitaitė at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Drama. In 2005, she was awarded the prestigious Baltic State Scholarship to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Professor Joan Havill. Martyna received a First Class Bachelor Diploma in Music with Honours (2007) and has now completed her Masters Degree of Music in Music Performance with Distinction.
Martyna is sponsored by Noswad Charity and Vandervell Foundation.
5 May, 7pm, Barbican Hall, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Price: 15£/10£ (5£ Concessions).
