The Prince’s Prize Winner 2017 Announced: Jamal Aliyev

Jamal Aliyev and The Master, Sir Roger Gifford

Jamal Aliyev and The Master, Sir Roger Gifford

Jamal Aliyev, cello has been announced as the winner of The Musicians’ Company Prince’s Prize Competition which was held on Friday at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. Jamal Aliyev was awarded the £10,000 first prize and a prestigious Musicians’ Company silver medal. The audience prize of £500 was won by another cellist, Abel Selaocoe. The panel of adjudicators included the renowned cellist, Mats Lidström, Helen Sprott (Managing Director of the Philharmonia Orchestra) and David Syrus (Head of Music at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden).

The Prince’s Prize was established to mark the installation of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales as an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2003 and has been generously endowed by The Eranda Rothschild Foundation and Rothschilds Bank, in memory of Leopold de Rothschild, a member of the Musicians’ Company for over fifty years.

Each year the Musicians’ Company, one of the oldest and most respected charitable companies in the City of London, donates over £220,000 in scholarships and awards in support of young musicians at the start of the careers across all musical disciplines. The Prince’s Prize is to recognise ‘the most promising young instrumentalist or singer from the Company’s award winners’ in the current year.

Jamal Aliyev is a BBC Introducing Classical Artist and is currently studying at the Royal College of Music with Thomas Carroll. His debut album Russian Masters, recorded with Anna Fedorova, was recently released by Champs Hill Records. Jamal has appeared on BBC Radio 3, including In Tune and his Radio 3 live broadcast solo debut with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Performance at festivals include: the Menuhin Festival in Switzerland, Enescu Festival in Romania and Kronberg Festival in Germany. Jamal is the winner of several international competitions: Muriel Taylor Cello Competition (2014), Croydon Concerto Competition (2015), Bromsgrove International Competition (2015) Eastbourne Concerto Competition (2016), and Sir Karl Jenkins Music Competition (2017); and as winner of the RCM Concerto Competition Jamal will be playing the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the RCM Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jac van Steen in June Jamal’s recent performances include: Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Reims Cathedral and he will; be jointly giving a Wigmore Recital as part of the Musicians’ Company Concerts Series with the Concordia Foundation Artists’ Fund on 22nd May. Jamal plays on a Giovanni Battista Gabrielli 1756, on loan from a patron of the Beares International Violin Society.

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  • For over 500 years the Worshipful Company of Musicians has supported the music profession in all its forms.
  • Every year the Company gives a range of awards, scholarships and medals, which make a real difference to the lives of outstanding young singers, composers and instrumentalists as they make the transition from study to a professional career in music.
  • The Prince’s Prize is the Company’s award of awards, competed for by those who have won the Company’s awards. Other awards range from Classical Music to Jazz, Music Theatre, Popular Music, Brass Bands and the Military Schools of Music.
  • In addition to their specific award, our winners are invited to become Yeomen for the next five years. This entitles them to be considered for a range of performance opportunities, which the Company arranges – probably their top priority as they seek to become known. This year our Yeomen will give over 100 performances at venues ranging from the Wigmore Hall, where the Company organises its own concerts every year, to major music festivals across the country.
  • Our Yeomen also take part in an extensive Outreach Programme, taking music into primary schools mainly in the more deprived inner London boroughs that have little or no music provision. In 2016, 49 of our award winners made 155 visits to 55 schools, reaching 8,122 children.
  • If you would like to learn more about the Company, join us at our events or support our Yeomen, please visit our website, www.wcom.org.uk or contact Hugh Lloyd, at clerk@wcom.org.uk.