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The Guildhall School is delighted to announce the 25 year old Lithuanian born pianist Martyna Jatkauskaite is the winner of this year’s Gold Medal, the School’s most prestigious prize for outstanding soloists. The prize presents a sum of one thousand pounds with the gold medal, generously donated by The Worshipful Company of Musicians. The three Gold Medal finalists each performed a concerto with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Stark to a capacity audience in the Barbican Hall on Wednesday May 5. The other two finalists were Romanian born Diana Ionescu, pianist, who was the runner up and was presented with the Glass Trophy, generously donated by The Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers, and Irish cellist Brian O’Kane.

Martyna Jatkauskaite’s winning performance was Prokofiev Concerto No 3 in C Op 26. Martyna was awarded the prestigious Baltic State Scholarship in 2005 to study at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Joan Havill. She received a first class Bachelors Diploma in Music with Honours (2007) and completed her Masters Degree of Music in Music Performance (2009); Martyna is now a Fellow at the Guildhall School.

The final took place before a distinguished panel of judges including Jonathan Vaughan, Director of Music at the Guildhall School, conductor James Gaffigan who is Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Peter Stark who conducts a number of the world’s leading ensembles, Nicholas Mathias who is Senior Vice-President and Co-Director of the Conductors and Instrumentalists Department at IMG Artists, journalist Tom Service who writes for The Guardian and BBC Music Magazine, and is presenter of BBC Radio 3 Music Matters.

The Gold Medal award was founded and endowed by Sir H Dixon Kimber in 1915 and is awarded to singers and instrumentalists in alternate years. Previous winners include Jacqueline du Pré (1960), Tasmin Little (1986) and Bryn Terfel (1989). 2005 winner Anna Stéphany also won the Kathleen Ferrier Award and is now performing internationally, including an appearance in the 2007 BBC Proms; 2006 winner Anna-Liisa Bezrodny has a successful international solo career; 2007 winner Katherine Broderick also won first prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Award 2007; 2008 winner pianist Sasha Grynyuk won the Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize and gave a recital at the Wigmore Hall in March 2009; 2009 winner baritone Gary Griffiths makes his professional debut as Guiglielmo in Cosi fan tutte with Welsh National Opera in the 2010-2010 season and will return the following year as Masetto in Don Giovanni.

Lithuanian-born pianist Martyna Jatkauskaite leads an active concert life as a soloist in England and Europe. She has appeared as a soloist with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuania Chamber Orchestra, the Kaunas

Symphony Orchestra, the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and the London Festival Orchestra among others, under esteemed conductors such as Saulius Sondeckis, Modestas Pitrenas, Vasily Petrenko, Espen Selvik, Ovidiu Balan and Ross Pople.

As the winner of the Jacques Samuel Piano Competition, Martyna made her critically acclaimed Wigmore Hall debut in November 2008, followed by a recital at the Faziolli concert hall in Italy. She was invited to perform in the London Festival Orchestra’s Virtuoso Pianists series at Cadogan Hall in March 2009. In 2008, Martyna appeared at the Barbican Hall performing Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, conducted by Vasily Petrenko. Martyna is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Philharmonia Orchestra / Martin Musical Scholarship Fund Award, which led to debut recitals at the Royal Festival Hall and Purcell Room. In 2009 Martyna was awarded Recommended Artist under Makin Music’s Philip & Dorothy Green Award scheme.

Martyna’s musical journey started at the Kaunas J. Naujalis Music College where she studied with Birute Kumpikiene, and later with Veronika Vitaite at the Lithuanian Music and Drama Academy. In 2005 Martyna was awarded the prestigious Baltic State Scholarship to study at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Joan Havill. Martyna received a first class Bachelors Diploma in Music with Honours (2007) and completed her Masters Degree of Music in Music Performance (2009). Martyna is now a Fellow at the Guildhall School.

Martyna is grateful for the generous support of the Martin Musical Scholarship fund and Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

On Tuesday May 18 there will be a fundraising evening in honour of Martyna Jatkauskaite, the 2010 Gold Medal winner. This will take place at Apothecaries’ Hall, Black Friars Lane, London EC4V 6EJ at 7.00 pm. For further information please contact Jenny Beer, Development Administrator at jenny.beer@gsmd.ac.uk
www.gsmd.ac.uk