Making Music announce the relaunch of the PDGYA scheme

We're thrilled to announce the launch of the re-imagined Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists scheme

For over 60 years the Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists (PDGYA) (originally the Award for Young Artists) scheme has celebrated young musical talent and facilitated collaborative opportunities for Making Music members. The scheme offers its young talent performance opportunities and makes it more affordable for Making Music’s over 4,000 leisure-time music groups to book these artists.

Making Music is now relaunching PDGYA as a scheme that supports a wider range of young artists and ensembles. This year, Making Music is delighted to be starting this relaunch by partnering with the Royal Over-Seas League and Brighton Early Music Festival who champion young musicians nationally as well as globally. We hope this will help a wider range of artists gain recognition and work opportunities early in their careers, and more choice for our members when it comes to booking them. Further partnerships will be developed in the coming years. For the first time, young chamber ensembles are also included in the scheme and eligible for subsidies.

Tina Gandy, Trinity Camerata, said:

'The scheme never fails to deliver exceptionally talented delightful musicians.’

By providing up-and-coming classical musicians with performing opportunities with Making Music’s group members, the PDGYA scheme has had a helping hand in kick-starting the careers of many young musicians including, Steven Isserlis, Craig Ogden, Jeremy Huw Williams and Joo Yeon Sir.

Jennifer Johnston, mezzo, 2004 PDGYA alumni, said:

'As one of the former recipients of the Philip and Dorothy Green Award, this is heartening. At the start of my career, Making Music’s input was invaluable, laying the foundations for later on, giving me endless chances to perform all over the country.'

Booking professional musicians can be financially challenging for leisure-time groups. Making Music offers its members subsidies to make booking artists more affordable. 

Barbara Eifler, CEO of Making Music, said:

'Music groups and their audiences benefit from engaging professional music performers and emerging performers need platforms to gain experience and build their audiences – this is why this scheme has been so successful for over 60 years. It is exciting now to relaunch it, with the continued support of the Philip & Dorothy Green Music Trust, so that it can benefit more artists, and give our members a greater variety of future stars to choose from.’

Find out more information about all PDGYA artists and PDG Young Artists subsidy rates.

For more information contact press@makingmusic.org.uk

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Notes to editors

Since 1935, Making Music has championed leisure-time music groups across the UK with practical services, artistic development opportunities and by providing a collective voice for its members. We now represent over 4,000 groups of around 2280,000 musicians of all types, genres and abilities. We help them run their group so they can get on with making music! makingmusic.org.uk

Partner organisations:

The Philip and Dorothy Green Artists scheme was created in 1961 and has helped to launch the careers of dozens of young musicians. It is made possible by the generosity of the Philip and Dorothy Green Music Trust, which promotes young artists and composers.

Founded in 1910, the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) is a non-profit private members' organisation dedicated to championing international friendship and understanding. ROSL helps artists and musicians connect, collaborate and create. ROSL supports talented young artists and musicians from the UK and internationally, providing performance and exhibition opportunities which bring their work to the attention of the professional arts community, media and general public. The ROSL Annual Music Competition has celebrates young musicians from the UK and commonwealth countries for 71 years, and now also awards accompanists and chamber ensembles. rosl.org.uk

Brighton Early Music Festival runs a major festival of early music in and around Brighton during late October and early November. Established in 2007, the BREMF Live! young artists scheme seeks to support the sector by providing young artists with the skills to forge a successful career in the arts. Mainly focused on supporting young ensembles, the scheme has supported over 200 musicians in 65 ensembles since 2007, many of whom have gone on to establish extremely successful careers in the sector. bremf.org.uk

2023 PDGYA artists

Royal Over-Seas League soloists and ensemble:

Emile Souvagie – clarinet
Emile is a Belgian clarinet player. He studied at the conservatories of Brussels, Stockholm and Cologne and holds degrees in both classical and historical performance. In the 2022-2023 season, he is an academist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He will become the principal clarinet of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen from August 2023 onwards and is an active chamber musician. He has performed with conductors such as Klaus Makela, Daniel Harding, Jaap Van Zweden, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Barbara Hannigan.

Annabel Kennedy – mezzo-soprano
Annabel is a mezzo-soprano originally from Devon. She has recently completed eight years of study at the Royal College of Music, graduating from the International Opera School under the mentorship of Amanda Roocroft. She is currently a Jerwood Artist at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and is grateful to be a Britten Pears and Samling Young Artist. Alongside opera, Annabel is a passionate song recitalist. Recent awards include 1st RCM Concerto Competition, Vocal Prize in the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition and 1st Brooks Van Der Pump English Song Competition.

Bocheng Wang – piano
Bocheng Wang is a Sir Elton John scholar and the winner of the Keyboard Category Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition in 2023. He first began his career by performing a celebratory concert in honour of HM The Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday, where he made a debut with the London Mozart Players in June 2016. In the same year, he also played with the Dulwich Symphony Orchestra and Purcell Symphony Orchestra. Bocheng has graduated from his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, with First Class Honours and the highest performing award DipRAM under Professor Christopher Elton and Ian Fountain. 

Gerard Flotats – cello
Gerard is a Catalan cellist finishing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Hannah Roberts as an ABRSM scholar. He is a versatile musician who enjoys playing solo, duo and chamber music and is the winner of various prizes such as the Royal Over-Seas League Strings Competition 2023 and the Duo Prize at the RAM. Flotats has been invited to several festivals around Europe including Santander, Mendelssohn on Mull, and Schiermonnikoog, and has been the principal cello of EUYO and JONDE. He currently plays on a ‘Francesco Rugeri’ from 1689 kindly loaned from the RAM.

James Blackford – euphonium
Regarded as one of Australia’s most versatile euphonium players, James is a Besson artist, solo euphonium with the Royal Australian Airforce Band and the first-ever euphonium player to be supported by both the Australian Music Foundation and the Tait Memorial Trust. During this year’s annual music competition at the Royal Over-Seas League, James won the Lorna Viol Memorial Prize for the most Outstanding Musician from Over-Seas and the Philip Jones Memorial Prize for an Outstanding Brass Player.

The Fibonacci Quartet – string quartet
Recent winners of the Royal Over-Seas League Competition, the Fibonacci Quartet is a dynamic international ensemble bringing together Czech, Belgian, Welsh and Montenegrin culture with members Krystof Kohout (violin), Luna De Mol (violin), Elliot Kempton (viola) and Kosta Popovic (cello). The quartet regularly performs at festivals such the Arte Amanti, JAM on the Marsh and Schiermonnikoog Festival. They have appeared on BBC Radio 3 ‘In Tune’ as well as Podium Witteman (Amsterdam). Concert highlights include debuts at Wigmore Hall, Conway Hall and BBC Total Immersion concert at Milton Court.

Lumas Winds – wind quintet
Lumas Winds are a dynamic, young chamber ensemble based in London and are committed ambassadors for wind chamber music and the rich variety of repertoire that it offers. The group includes Flo Plane (bassoon), Chris Vettraino (oboe), Rennie Sutherland (clarinet), Beth Stone (flute), Benji Hartnell-Booth (French-horn). Their focus is to perform, promote and make a case for works not in the canon but deserves to be so, alongside performing classic repertoire. This is highlighted in the six hidden gems that will feature on their debut album due for release in late 2023 for Champs Hill Records.

Brighton Early Music Festival ensemble:

Flutes & Frets – instrumental duo
The Flutes & Frets duo are a unique ensemble of members Beth Stone (flute/historical flutes) and Daniel Murphy (guitars/lutes/theorbo), who are passionate about showing the versatility of the flute and plucked instruments combination. Their aim is to play all types of music on the instruments that were in use at the time of composition to bring awareness of the sounds that composers of every era would have intended their audiences to hear. They produce a special sound palette and cover a wide scope of repertoire ranging from mediaeval all the way through to contemporary.

Horizon Voices – SSATB vocal ensemble
The group comprises members; Freya Turton (soprano), Lindsey James (soprano), Sophie Timms (mezzo-soprano), James Rhodes (tenor) and Alex Pratley (bass). Their performances and projects are curated around particular themes that encourage audiences to explore, interact with and appreciate a diverse range of vocal repertoire. The group, as both soloists and an ensemble, showcase versatility in their performance of choral, oratorio, opera and vocal music from the Renaissance to contemporary commissions. They also champion both new works and the discovery of lesser-known composers. 

Liturina – early music chamber ensemble
Liturina is an exciting young chamber group composed of members: Iain Hall (recorder) Gabi Jones (violin), Samuel Ng (cello/viola da gamba) and Dominika Maszczyńska (harpsichord/chamber organ). The group is dedicated to exploring the potential of period instruments in diverse and challenging repertoire. The ensemble was founded in 2018 at the RCM and was awarded the Richard III Prize for Historical Performance. They were also selected as finalists for the York Early Music Competition 2022 and have appeared at ECOS Festival, Murcia. Liturina is a recipient of the BREMF Live! scheme 22/23 and made their debut at St John Smith Square at the start of 2023.

Tufnell Trio – string trio
Formed at the Royal Academy of Music in September 2021, the Tufnell Trio consists of members  Yaoré Talibart (violin), Thomas Kettle (viola) and Nathan Giorgetti (cello/viola da gamba). They were the winners of the 2022 Nancy Nuttall Prize at RAM and were finalists in the London International Festival of Early Music Young Ensemble Competition. They have been selected as a Brighton Early Music Festival Live! Ensemble for 2022/23 and were invited to perform at Hastings Early Music Festival.