Guilhermina Suggia

JACQUELINE DU PRÉ AND THE SUGGIA GIFT

[…] In the meantime, Pleeth was so impressed by Jackie’s remarkable progress on the cello that after a year of study with him he suggested she should compete for the Suggia Gift award, open to cellists up to the age of twenty-one. By winning the award when she was only eleven Jackie's talents were publicly recognised, implying a full-scale commitment to music. Jackie’s general education was now officially regarded as subordinate to music and this in itself set her yet further apart her contemporaries at school.
Apart from recognition, the award of the Suggia Gift provided the means to pay for Jackie's cello lessons over the next six years. It was eminently suitable that her musical education should be financed by the posthumous generosity of Guilhermina Suggia. The Portuguese cellist became one of the first women to achieve international recognition in a previously male-dominated profession. Her haughty and dramatic image has been immortalised for us in Augustus John’s portrait, which now hangs in the Tate Gallery. Draped in the luxuriant folds of her wine-coloured dress, the cellist sits with head thrown back, chin jutting defiantly. Her right arm stretches out regally, if not quite in accordance with the rules of good bowing technique. As Robert Baldock comments in his biography of Casals, '[the painting] dealt conclusively with the suggestion that the cello was not an elegant instrument for women. In view of the growing number of female virtuosi of the instrument today it is extraordinary to think that until relatively recently women were discouraged from playing the cello at all because of the unladylike posture it required. At best, they were allowed to play 'side-saddle', with their legs squeezed together at the left of the instrument, a pose guaranteed to make the player uncomfortable and tense. In recent history Paul Tortelier recorded that his first (female) teacher adopted this position.
Born of Portuguese-Italian parentage, Suggia made her début aged seven in her native town of Porto. She was ten years old when she first played for Casals in 1898, but her close association with him came eight years later when, after a brief period of study with Klengel she arrived on his doorstep in Paris and became not only his favourite student, but his companion and lover. For five years their domestic and musical lives were inextricably linked. Eugene Goossens claimed that the two cellists were near equals, and remembered an occasion when Casals and Suggia took their cellos behind screens at a party in a private London house and asked the assembled company to guess which of them was playing - a task in which most people failed. Gerald Moore, who accompanied Suggia on many occasions, recalled that she “... gave an impression of boldness, romance and colour. She persuaded you her playing was passionate and intense, but the reverse was the case: it was calculated, correct and classical.”
Casals and Suggia performed concerts together and premièred the Hungarian composer Emanuel Moór's Concerto for Two Cellos, written specially for them. Donald Tovey, another composer whom Casals promoted and admired, proved to be the unwitting cause of the final split between the couple at Casals' Spanish retreat at San Salvador. After the break-up of their relationship Suggia moved to London, which remained her principal base until before the Second World War. She was to perform more in England than in any other country.
From: “Jacqueline du Pré – Her Life, Her Music, Her Legend” – of ELIZABETH WILSON –Arcade Publishing – New York

DEREK SIMPSON - 1º PRÉMIO SUGGIA- LONDRES (1952) MORREU AOS 79 ANOS

Cellist and pedagogue Derek Simpson has died at the age of 79. He was a member of the Aeolian Quartet for 25 years, and his playing can be heard on The Beatles'song 'Eleanor Rigby'.
Born in Nottinghamshire in 1928, Simpson won a music scholarship to Worksop College and from 1948. He studied at London's Royal Academy of Music.

In 1952 he was the first to win the Suggia Prize, which took him to Paris to study for a year with Pierre Fournier.

In June 1956 he joined the Aeolian Quartet, recording Mozart’s “Dissonance” Quartet among other works. In the 1970s in its final formation - with Emanuel Hurwitz, Raymond Keenlyside and Margaret Major - the Aeolian was the first group to record all the Haydn quartets. Simpson was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music for 40 years.
THE STRAD (OCTOBER 2007)

FAYE CLINTON - LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD

Faye Clinton trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where under the guidance of Stefan Popov, she won several prizes, including the Suggia Gift and the Lillian Davis Award. Her development as a soloist and chamber musician has been influenced by William Pleeth, Raphael Wallfisch, Andre Navarra, Reszo Pertorini and Janos Devitch.

In 1989, Faye was awarded a Leverhulme Trust fellowship to study the unaccompanied Hungarian Contemporary Cello Repertoire with Istvan Lang and Karoly Botvay at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. Apart from her lunchtime recital at St John's Smith Square, this highly successful period stimulated her interest in the music of contemporary composers which in turn has led to premieres of a number of new works especially written for her, including pieces by Andrew McBirnie and the late Charles Proctor.

While in London, Faye participated in a Prince's Trust concert in 2000, and the following year, performed with a string ensemble at a festival at the South Bank. In April 2003, she shared a platform with Indian violinist, Sanjoy Ghosh, in a cross-cultural concert at Friendship House in Southsea.
Some summer recitals in 'Lees Court' in Kent and 'All Saints' Church in West London prompted an invitation to play at the Queen's Hall in Trinidad last year.
The surprise of the evening was 'Banraku' by Japanese composer Toshiro Mayuzumi. This piece is an experiment in composition, composed in 1960 and a unique adaptation for the cello in which the performer is called upon to exploit all the resources of the instrument. This Faye Clinton did with grace, producing some extraordinary tonal effects and providing the highlight of the evening. The Trinidad Newsday
Forthcoming engagements include recitals in Cyprus and at Portsmouth's Menuhin Theatre with pianist Enrique Ali and tenor, Ronald Samm.
Faye has recently recorded with pianist, Enrique Ali, a CD featuring works by Grieg, Mayuzumi, Piazzolla and Leighton. Extracts from this CD are posted below - click on the link to listen to a Real Audio file.
Faye is a member of the Performers and Composers Section of the ISM.

ANUP KUMAR BISWAS - LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA GIFT (3 SUCCESSIVE YEARS)

Solo Cellist, Composer, Conductor & Lecturer,
was born in West Bengal, India. He has chosen to make his home in the musical capital, London since 1974. He has given concerts throughout Great Britain, including The Royal Albert Hall, St James' Palace, Lambeth Palace, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, St John's Smith Square, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, House of Commons, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Riverside Studios and Grays Inn (where, in addition to a Vivaldi concerto, he played an Indian raga at the personal request of HRH the Prince of Wales).
He has appeared as a soloist playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to a capacity audience.

In celebration of the 300th Anniversary of J. S. Bach in 1985, Anup Biswas undertook a tour of cathedrals, churches, and the Purcell Room, London playing the complete cycle of Bach solo cello suites. The tour also included India and Sri Lanka, sponsored, by the, Goethe Institute. He has successfully repeated a similar tour entitled 'BACH 2000' in the Autumn and Spring 2000/1 season.

In 1994 Biswas established a unique music school for poor and deprived children in Calcutta. The Mathieson Music School is named after Biswas' guru, the late Rev. Theodore Mathieson who ran an orphanage in Calcutta for fifty years. Biswas arranged, as part of a cultural exchange programme, a major tour for the Mathieson Music School in the UK and India in 1996 and 2000.

The Guadagnini Piano Trio, which Biswas formed, toured Asia under the aus-pices of the Goethe Institute. The Hinckley Music Club and Anup Kumar Biswas commissioned a piano trio from Naresh Sohal in celebration of his 50th birthday, with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain and East Midlands which toured the UK in March/April 1990. The trio performed in Asia under the auspices of the Goethe Institute, New Delhi.

The Theatre Taliesin Wales commissioned Biswas to compose music for their production of Tristan and Essylt in March 1986. The two and a half hour work was his first composition and was highly praised by critics in both the local and national press. It was recorded for Kaleidoscope by BBC Radio 4 the World Ser-vice, Harlech Television and BBC Television, and has already been broadcast twice by BBC Radio Wales. He also arranged the music for Hedda in India, a production of Hedda Gabler featuring Jenny Seagrove.

He was commissioned on two occasions to write music for the Royal Gala Performance of the Commonwealth Institute in 1987 and during the Centenary year in May 1993 in which he also performed in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II and the HRH Duke of Edinburgh. In February 1999 he performed again for Her Majesty the Queen and HRH Duke of Edinburgh at the Commonwealth Institute, London. He has performed his own compositions in Germany, Finland, Norway, India and the UK . In 1992 Biswas appeared at the Royal Albert Hall performing his own composition 'The Celebration' from the ballet "Ten Guineas Under the Banyan Tree." He was commissioned to compose, perform and direct for a music theatre production of 'At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers' by Salman Rushdie, which was on tour in the UK in the Autumn of 1999. Recently he had a further commission to compose and perform music for a documentary 'The Twins,' both these compositions have been praised highly by the critics.

At the age of six he went to a mission school in Calcutta where his musical talent was recognised and encouraged by the Rev. Theodore Mathieson. He started playing the cello at the age of ten, and at sixteen made his concerto debut and recorded for All-India Radio and Television.

It was Canon Eric James, with the help of many Trusts in the UK which enabled Anup Biswas to come to London in 1974 to study with Thomas Igloi at the, Royal Academy of Music and Amaryllis Fleming at the Royal College of Music; he also studied with Pierre Fournier in Geneva and with Jacqueline du Pre in London. Anup Biswas has won many awards, including the Suggia Gift for Cello in three successive years, and a Countess of Munster Scholarship.

He attended master classes with Lynn Harrell in London, with Ebarhart Finke in Berlin and with Pierre Fournier in Geneva and with Einor Holms in Calcutta.
Biswas, regularly broadcasts on BBC TV, ITV, Channel 4 and various BBC Radio stations, performs in London at the South Bank Centre, tours, all over the UK and in Europe. Every year he returns to India to give Master classes for the children at the Mathieson Music School. He has performed in all the major cities in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan under the auspices of many organisations including the British Council and the Max Mueller Bhavan and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

Biswas's various festival appearances have included concerts at the Cleveland, Teesdale, Belfast, Greenwich and Hereford Three Choirs Festivals, and he, has taken Masterclasses at Dartington International Summer School.
In 1989 he formed the Dante Alighieri Orchestra, of which he is the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor.
In 1993 Anup Biswas toured Ireland performing Bach cello suites and also toured Poland where he recorded for Polish Radio and TV. M Biswas was invited to perform at a Gala concert at the House of Commons, London in December 1993.

He regularly tours the USA including performances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York and Smithsonian Art Gallery, Washington DC. He is booked to perform there again in the Autumn 2003. Biswas has recently returned from an extensive tour of the USA, South Africa, Romania, Germany and Spain, performing with well known orchestras as soloist and as a recitalist.

In 1997 Biswas formed a duo partnership with Romania's Premeiere violinist Cristina Anghelescu performing a specially devised programme for violin and cello in recitals and appearing with major orchestras playing the magnificeient Double Concerto by Brahms around various parts of the world.
Anup Biswas is the only solo cellist in the world who is equally at home performing both European and Indian classical music. He studied Indian Classical both Hindusthani system (North Indian classical) and the Carnatic system (South Indian classical) music from Samir Dutta, Ustad Imrat Khan and various other teachers in India. He has collaborated with many reputed classical Indian musicians and dancers.

JOHN MYERSCOUGH- 2002 LONDON SUGGIA AWARD

JOHN MYERSCOUGH was born in 1982 and began the cello at the age of 6 with Wendy Max and subsequently studied with Margaret Moncrieff, Steven Doane and David Waterman. He has also studied with the late William Pleeth, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Valentin Erben and is now a postgraduate student of Louise Hopkins at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

As a soloist John has performed concertos at the RCM Junior Department (where he won all the soloist prizes) and with the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra in the Purcell Room and St John's, Smith Square. He has also given many concerts in Cambridge including a Beethoven Sonata cycle at Kettle's Yard. His postgraduate studies have been supported by the MBF who have awarded him a prestigious Ian Fleming Charitable Trust award and a Myra Hess Trust award. John graduated from Selwyn College, Cambridge in 2003 where he read music.

John is the cellist of the Doric String Quartet which regularly gives concerts across Britain and Europe. They have appeared to wide critical acclaim in most of the major British chamber music venues including five times at the Wigmore Hall and four times at the Purcell Room. They are the quartet in residence at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford upon Avon and this season will perform in, among others, Bristol, Oxford, Paris and twice at the Wigmore Hall. They have studied with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis, Amadeus, Belcea, Hagen and LaSalle quartets.

OLIVER GLEDHILL - LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA GIFT

Oliver Gledhill was born in 1966, a descendent of the famous Spivakowsky family of musicians. His distinguished academic education was marked by a Scholarship to University College School, and reading Classics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He is now a member of MENSA.
A Scholar at the Guildhall School of Music, he won the Guildhall's Concerto Prize, the Suggia Gift twice, and First Prize in the 1989 ISTEL/Redditch Music Society Young Musicians Awards Strings Competition.
He studied with William Pleeth, Edmund Kurtz, André Navarra, Paul Tortelier and Janos Starker.
He has given highly acclaimed performances at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room (in the Kirckman Concert Society Series), St. Johns, Smith Square, Fairfield Halls, Croydon and, in January 1997, in the Conway Hall Series where he gave a recital with the pianist Boris Berezovsky.
Festival appearances in England include Norfolk and Norwich, Cambridge and Devizes, in Italy he has appeared at the Festival Pontino and in the Czech Republic at the Humana Festival.
In April 1997 he gave three recitals in Mallorca.
He broadcasts regularly on Classic FM, and has recorded his first CD Cello Serenade for Rhinosaurus Records.

DAVID COHEN- 1996 & 1999 LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD

• At 11, he received in the same year the 1st prize at the«Jeunes Solistes» and « Crédit Communal » National Competitions (B).
• 1st prize with "grande distinction" for the International Competition of Music in Wathrelos junior category in 1993 and Senior in 1995 (F).
• 1st prize of the " Royale Conservatoire de Bruxelles" in Edmond Baert's class at 12.
• 1er Grand Finalist at the Audi International Competition in 1995 (GB).
• 1st Grand Finalist at the International Cello Competition in Douai (F), Manuel Rosenthal president in 1995.
• 1st Grand Prix - "’Tenuto’ National Competition" (B).
• Award «Guilherminia Suggia Gift for Cello » Donation in 1996 & 1999 (GB).
• Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Award for "extremely talented musicians" 1999 (GB).
• Award "Fondation pour la Vocation" 1999 (B).
• Award from the « Hattory Foundation for young musicians » Donation 1999 (GB).
• Award from the City of Tournai in 1999.(B)
• Award from the " Fondation SPES" in 1999.(B)
• Award winner of the KPMG/Martin Musical Scholarship Fund in 2000 and 2001.(GB)
• Geneva international Cello Competition Special Prize “Patrick F.Liechti” from the Fondation SUISA pour la musique . 2000 (CH)
• Nominated “Rising Star” for the season 2002-2003 by the “Royal Philharmonic Society of Belgium” and the “Concert Gebouw”.
• Awarded the CRPLF “Young soloist of the year” by the Community of French speaking Radios of the World ( RTBF, Radio Canda, Radio France, Radio Suisse Romande
• Gold Medal Winner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 2002 (GB)
• 1srt award « Hattory Foundation » 2003- GB
• 1srt award « Solti Foundation » 2003 – GB
• Award « fellowship – award » of foundation Buitoni-Berlotti trust 2004-GB

David Cohen was born in Tournai, Belgium, in 1980, into a family of musicians. He started to play the cello when he was 7 years old, and success soon followed.

In 1991 he won First Prize in the Young Soloist Competition and First Prize with Distinction in the Senior and the Junior International Competition in Wathrelos, France.
He then went to the "Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles" In 1994 David joins the Yehudi Menuhin School (London) during 4 years thanks to a grant from the Menuhin Foundation.
He has also studied at Guidhall School of Music & Drama with Oleg Kogan (London) where he was awarded a four year scholarship.
He has had lessons and master-classes with: Edmond Baert, Wiliam Pleeth, Melissa Pheleps, Christophe Henkel, Lynn Harrel, Daniil Schafran, Nathalia Gutman, Gary Hofman, Bernard Greenhouse, Steven Isserlis, Boris Pergamenschikow, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich and now, Oleg Kogan.
As soon as he was 11, David begun an International career as a soloist :
With the Flemish Orchestra of Brussels, the Orchestra from Grenoble & the Polish Philharmonic Orchestra under Lord Y. Menuhin's Direction.
In 1996, tour in England and Scotland with the Symphonia of Varsaw.

Côte d’Ivoire & Belgium tour for the "Jeunesses Musicales".
He also participates at several International cello festivals like Kronberg (Germany), Manchester, Cambridge (U.K.), Beauvais (France) and the Gstaad Festival (Suisse) .
Mr Cohen teaches at the Royal Conservatoire de Musique de Mons in Belgium.

“David Cohen, one of the most talented young cellists I know. He was a student at my School for some years, and is alltogether a remarkable young man, a remarkable performer and already an outstanding cellist"
Lord Yehudi Menuhin (déc. 98)
In the finals at the Barbican, DAVID COHEN, won the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s prestigious award, the Gold Medal, and joins the list of previous winners such as Jacqueline du Pré, Bryn Terfel and Tasmin Little. He performed the Barber Cello Concerto Opus 22 with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Takuo Yuasa.

David Has been appointed Principle cello of the Philharmonia Orchestra since March 2002, ( the youngest cello principle ever!).

PENELOPE LYNEX- 1958 LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD

Penelope was a pupil of Paul Tortelier in Paris, having graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she won all the cello prizes and was awarded the Suggia Scholarship. She also studied twice in Pablo Casals' masterclasses in Switzerland. Her Wigmore Hall debut in London was headlined "Brilliant Cello Recital" in The Times, and other reviews consistently mention her radiant tone, bowing technique, bravura and musicality. Penelope is a dedicated teacher whose wide teaching experience includes may years as a professor at the Junior Academy, Royal Academy of Music, London. She also gives masterclasses, adjudicates and directs courses.

SERGEI SUVOROV - 2000 and 2001 LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD

It was standing-room only in the Wigmore Hall for one of those concerts that will remain the stuff of legend. The indefatigable Violoncello Society of London was behind one of the most extraordinary displays of cello playing. The cause was a sad one: the death of the great Russian cellist Boris Pergamenschikow last year at the age of 55. It might have been mistaken for a competition, as one cellist after the other dazzled with their playing, but there were no prizes, only a heartfelt tribute from six cellists, all Russian.

First off was Natalia Gutman. (Is there a greater woman cellist alive - and why is she not playing concertos in London?) She has the longest, slowest bow in the business while reaping the largest sound imaginable. With her accompanist, the cellist Alexander Rudin (later to take his place in the gang of six), in Prokofiev's C major Sonata, all the ironic bitter-sweetness of its sophisticated simplicity was delightfully caught.
Leonid Gorokhov brought Schnittke's Suite in the Old Style, a cod-baroque piece drawn from film music - so out of the eye of the censor. Only its chilling ending gave the game away, Gorokhov's dead-pan elegance with fast, light bow belying the message. And in Tchaikovsky's Melodie, lyricism in the thin-air zone of the fingerboard was effortlessly demonstrated.
David Geringas, unaccompanied, in Peteris Vasks' demanding Das Buch created the sort of hush where breathing itself seemed inappropriate. It's almost a contemporary compendium of what a cello can do (including singing with himself) - but how many cellists are capable of doing it?

The baby of the bunch, at 21, was Sergei Suvorov, who knocked the socks off the audience in Rimsky-Korsakov's Le coq d'Or' Fantasy with his effortless, unbridled virtuosity.

Ivan Monighetti followed in Penderecki's unaccompanied Divertimento, a work dedicated to Pergamenschikow, and played with touching awareness. And finally, Alexander Rudin in Arensky's Danse Capricieuse played with effortless control, followed by Andrei Golovin's sorrowfully flowing lament Elegy. A rare tribute of outstanding performance and musicianship.

London
Review by Annette Morreau
Published: 10 November 2005

ROBERT COHEN- LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD

"As a matter of interest, Mr Cohen was 5 times the recipient of the Suggia Award for potential soloists under the age of 21 in London from the age of 8-12. This gave him financial assistance towards his cello studies. It is of course many year since then, but his gratitude and admiration of Guilhermina Suggia in this and many other forms remains. Mr Cohen is very interested to hear of the activities and development of the Guilhermina Suggia Association and looks forward to hearing from you again.

With many thanks and kind regards

Carmen Pecqueur"

Following his Royal Festival Hall debut at the age of 12, Robert Cohen subsequently achieved international recognition whilst still a teenager with a recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto which earned a silver disc and placed him at the forefront of his musical generation. He has gone on to consolidate an impressive discography ranging from solo Bach (and the Schubert Quintet with the Amadeus on Deutsche Grammophon) to a recent release of the HK Gruber Cello Concerto under the direction of the composer.

The creative give-and-take of the concert hall remains Cohen’s first love however. As a busy performing artist his career takes him to the USA, Europe, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, Japan and the UK. He has performed with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Maris Jansons, Riccardo Muti and Sir Simon Rattle, and he retains a lively enthusiasm for chamber music (which provides the bedrock of the Charleston Manor Festival which he has directed since 1989).
Cohen’s passionate and articulate views on the art of learning, performing and communicating music have stimulated illuminating masterclasses, and have been widely broadcast and published. Since 1999 he has been a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music. Robert Cohen is also Professor of Advanced Cello at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano.
As soloist, conductor and teacher Robert Cohen’s music-making takes him all over the world; holding, as ‘The Guardian’ observed, audiences “in the palm of his hand”.
He plays the ‘Ex Roser’ cello by David Tecchler. Rome 1723.

REINOUD FORD - GUILHERMINA SUGGIA GIFT 2003

Reinoud Ford started to play the cello at the age of eight as a student of Marina Logie in Sussex. In 1998 he was awarded a Scholarship to the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he studied with concert cellist Louise Hopkins. Reinoud received master-classes from Bernard Greenhouse, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gary Hoffmann and Johannes Goritzki, amongst others. Reinoud is an experienced chamber musician, most recently playing at the Fairfield Halls and the Wigmore Hall.

As a soloist, Reinoud has played at the Dorking Halls and the Wigmore Hall and has held several recitals, amongst others for The Guardian. He performed Haydn’s C Major Concerto with a Sussex orchestra at the age of sixteen, and, in the summer of 2003, played the concerto by C. P. E. Bach at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland with the Menuhin School orchestra.
Reinoud has won the Guilhermina Suggia Gift 2003 and the Gwyneth George Prize (with Christoph Schuringa) from the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe in April 2004. He was runner-up in the Suggia competition in 2004. Reinoud continues his cello studies as a third-year student with Louise Hopkins at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
He is scheduled to play Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the Jupiter Chamber Orchestra in November.

PAU CODINA - 2004 LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD

Pau Codina neix a Barcelona l’any 1988. Va iniciar els seus estudis de violoncel als 5 anys, amb la professora Eulàlia Subirà, a l’Escola Municipal de Música de Manlleu.

Han estat els seus mestres: Ivan Chiffoleau, Daniel Grosgurin, Peter Thiemann i, en l’actualitat, treballa amb Louise Hopkins a la Escola Yehudi Menuhin. També ha rebut consells de Lluís Claret, Anner Bylsma, Franz Helmerson, Steven Isserlis i Mstislav Rostropovich.

Ha participat en nombrosos festivals internacionals, com ara el Machester Cello Festival, el Manchester Chamber Music Festival i el Kronberg Cello Festival.

Ha tocat arreu de Catalunya i Anglaterra, així com a Alemanya, en sales tant importants com el Royal Festival Hall, el Wigmore Hall, i l’Auditori Pau Casals del Vendrell (en motiu del Festival Internacional Pau Casals) i amb orquestres com l’Orquestra de Cambra d’Andorra, la Barcelona Sinfonietta, l’Orquestra de Cambra de l’Empordà, la Orquestra de Cambra de la Yehudi Menuhin School, la Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim i l’Orquestra de Cambra Franz Liszt de Budapest.

Entre els premis obtinguts cal destacar el 1er premi del Concurs Guilhermina Suggia de Londres, i el premi “Bad Homburg Schloz-konzert” del Kronberg Cello Festival.

Ha estat becat per la Fundació Pau Casals l’any 2002, i per la Generalitat de Catalunya en tres ocasions.

ALEXANDER CHAUSHIAN- LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD

Alexander Chaushian started to play the cello at the age of seven, studying with his grandfather and Zare Sarkisian. From 1992 to 1995, he studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Melissa Phelps and from 1995 to 1999 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London as a student of Oleg Kogan. From 1999 to 2001, Chaushian performed extensively as part of the Kempf Trio, holding a fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Since 2003 he had been pursuing advanced studies at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with the late Boris Pergamenschikow and later David Geringas, graduating with distinction in 2005.
Alexander Chaushian won First Prize in the 1990 Premio Mozart Competition in Verona, Italy and in 1992, First Prize in the International Music Competition in Holland. He received the Guilhermina Suggia Gift in London, a grant awarded to outstanding string players, on three occasions. In 1997, he was awarded the Orchestra of New England Soloist Prize, as well as the first Summis Auspiciis Prize of Young Concert Artists in New York. In 1999, he was the recipient of the Anna Instone Memorial Award sponsored by Capital Radio. In 2001, he was the joint recipient of the Pierre Fournier Award and in 2002 was awarded third prize in the 12th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Alex Chaushian has won the 3rd prize and the special prize given by the Munich Chamber Orchestra at the Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD in Germany in September 2005.

As a soloist with orchestra, Alexander Chaushian has performed in many countries worldwide, including appearances with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra at Vienna’s Konzerthaus and at the Bruchnerhaus in Linz, as well as with the London Mozart Players and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Royal National Orchestra of Belgium, Les Solistes Européens de Luxembourg in a gala concert conducted by Yehudi Menuhin, the Boston Pops Orchestra at Boston Symphony Hall, and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Chaushian has performed recitals at the Harrogate Festival in England, the Kuhmo International Festival in Finland, La Jolla Festival in the USA, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and in Montpellier as recipient of the Beracasa Foundation Prize of the Radio-France and in Montpellier Festival. From 2002 until the present he has acted as the artistic director of the Orpheus & Bacchus Festival in Bordeaux, France and the Pharos Trust Music Festival in Cyprus.

STEVEN ISSERLIS - LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD 1970

“As far as I remember, I received the Suggia award for a few years from 1970 onwards. It was exciting, because it was the first time I had received any sort of high-level award (and I was very conscious that one of the previous recipients had been Jacqueline du Pré); and it was also very helpful, because it enabled me to continue lessons with my wonderful teacher Jane Cowan." (Steven Isserlis- 13 de Março de 2007)

“This was one of the great concerts of the season – of any season during my 10 years in Washington…and it was cellist Isserlis who was the guiding spirit behind the evening. Everything was right:…the fervency, delight and wildness with which the music was played…one had that rare and thrilling sense that the music, although obviously meticulously rehearsed, was being discovered, explored, caressed and exalted as though it were all brand-new.”The Washington Post, 18 December 2006

Steven Isserlis is a remarkable cellist whose commitment to and obvious pleasure in music making is an inspiration to audiences and fellow-musicians. His artistic profile is characterised by a uniquely beautiful sound, a diverse choice of repertoire, a passion for finding neglected works, and above all, empathy with the music he plays.

Steeped in music from birth  his grandfather was the Russian pianist and composer Julius Isserlis, while older branches of his family tree have a direct line to Felix Mendelssohn  Steven Isserlis has communicated through music from an early age. In his 11th year as Artistic Director of IMS Prussia Cove in Cornwall - a role he inherited from founder Sándor Végh - this energy and passion for communicating and educating is evident in the annual master classes and chamber music sessions that he leads each April and September. In 2000 Steven commissioned Unbeaten Tracks, a collection of eight contemporary miniatures for the cello aimed at children and amateur cellists, and in the following year wrote Why Beethoven Threw the Stew, biographical stories of six composers aimed at a young audience. The book has since been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Serbian, Russian, German and underwent 4th printing in English earlier in 2005. A second instalment, entitled Why Handel Waggled His Wig, was published in May 2006, coinciding with his latest record release, Children’s Cello, an album of music for young cellists.

Steven’s consuming interest in music extends through performance and teaching to a fascination with musicological research. Performances of rarely heard works pepper his schedule and he frequently brings his knowledge of the repertoire to bear in devising festivals and concert series for which he gathers around him musical friends such as Joshua Bell, Stephen Hough, Olli Mustonen, Tabea Zimmermann, as well as actors Barry Humphries and Simon Callow. His festivals surrounding the music of Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Frühling, Taneyev, and Saint-Saëns in Europe, North America, and the Far East have earned him a unique following and respect amongst colleagues. As an unofficial leader figure for British instrumentalists, Steven’s appearances on BBC Newsnight, BBC Radio 4 and letters in the Times and the Evening Standard in September 2006 played a pivotal role in reversing British Airport Authority’s stance towards forbidding musicians to bring instruments onboard.

As a soloist, Steven has travelled the world and performed with leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. His interest in period ensembles is reflected in appearances with the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, La Stagione Frankfurt, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Academy of Ancient Music. Steven collaborates with a wide range of conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Mikko Franck, John Eliot Gardiner, Christopher Eschenbach, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Lorin Maazel, Roger Norrington, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, and Sakari Oramo, with whom he made his debut with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 2002.

Isserlis brings his musicological enthusiasm into the recording studio with CD’s such as Forgotten Romance, Cello World, a disc of trios by Brahms, Schumann and Frühling and a recording of Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto No. 2. Steven’s recordings of Tavener's The Protecting Veil (which won a Gramophone Award) and Svyati were separately nominated for the Mercury Music Prize; his recording of the Haydn Concerti won a Classic CD Award and, in common with Cello World and Forgotten Romance, was nominated for Gramophone Award. The Schumann Cello Concerto with Christopher Eschenbach and Steven’s CD of works by Janacek, Prokofiev and Shostakovich with Olli Mustonen were awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis. His performance of the Elegie from the complete cello and piano works of Gabriel Fauré was featured in the 2004 remake of the classic Hollywood thriller, Manchurian Candidate. In October 2005, Steven re-recorded the Brahms Cello Sonatas as well as works for cello and piano by Dvořák and Suk for Hyperion Records. The disc rapidly garnered acclaim and was voted the Listeners’ Disc of Year on the popular BBC Radio 3 “CD Review” programme. In May 2007, Steven will release the complete Solo Cello Suites of Bach on Hyperion.

In 1998 Steven’s passion for all things musical was recognised by a CBE in the Birthday Honours list. He is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music, and in 1993 received both the Piatigorsky Award in the US and the Royal Philharmonic Society Award. Steven was awarded the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau (Schumann's birthplace) in 2000, a Classic FM Red f Award (2001) for his contribution to making classical music more popular, and the 2002 Time Out Classical Music Award. His performance of Carl Vine’s new cello concerto at the Sydney Opera House in 2004 was awarded the ‘Best Performance of an Australian Composition’ in the 2005 ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.) Awards.

Extra-musical enthusiasms include the novels of Wilkie Collins and R C Hutchinson, the films of the Marx Brothers and Indian food!

The Nippon Music Foundation of Japan has kindly loaned the Feuermann Stradivarius of 1730 to Steven Isserlis.

For more information: www.stevenisserlis.com

GUY JOHNSTON - LONDON GUILHERMINA SUGGIA GIFT

Named BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2000, cellist Guy Johnston “has already forged a place as one of the country's most promising and distinctive cellists” (The Strad 2004). During Guy’s early musical development, he won a number of awards, including the Shell/LSO Gerald Macdonald Prize, the Musicians Benevolent Fund Award and the Suggia Gift. In 2001 (at the age of 20), he became the youngest artist ever to open the Proms season at the Royal Albert Hall, performing Elgar's Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin. In 2002, he was voted winner of the BRIT Award for Best British Newcomer (for his recording of Karl Jenkins’ Armed Man - Mass of Peace on Virgin Classics).

Guy made his London debut in February 2001 at the Barbican Hall, performing the Schumann Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra and has since appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra/Foster, BBC Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Gatti. Guy has also steadily been building his international reputation, recently performing with the Orchester der Hessischer Rundfunk/Ticciati, Lithuanian National Philharmonic and the Musikkollegium Winterthur/Burbayev, as well as touring to Japan and the Far East. Upcoming invitations include a UK tour with the St. Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra and engagements with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the Gavle Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsches Sinfonie Orchester, Berlin/Deutschland Radio.

A committed recitalist and chamber musician, Guy is a member of the Aronowitz Ensemble, which has recently been invited onto the prestigious BBC New Generation Artists Scheme. Alongside collaborations with the Endellion and Szymanowski Quartets, Guy performs at many festivals throughout the UK and abroad, including the Moritzburg, Delft, and Cheltenham Festivals and the City of London Festival, and he can regularly be heard on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. As a recitalist, upcoming and recent engagements include performances at Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall and the Louvre in Paris. Guy will also give a recital at the 2007 Manchester Cello Festival.

Born in 1981, Guy began cello lessons at the age of five. He trained with Steven Doane at the Eastman College of Music in Rochester, New York, where he won the concerto prize (performing with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra) and also gained the performance certificate He subesquently continued his studies with Ralph Kirshbaum.

Guy plays on a rare cello made by Pellizon dated 1820.

JACQUELINE DU PRÉ - 1955(1956?) GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD

When Jackie was eight, her mother decided she needed a more advanced teacher and chose William Pleeth. Then thirty-eight, Pleeth taught at the Guildhall School and had been a child prodigy himself. With his powerful, deep voice and what Easton calls a "thoroughly un-English lack of inhibition", Bill Pleeth quickly became an important presence in Jackie's life. She called him "my Cello Daddy". Pleeth later explained that teaching Jackie was "like hitting a ball against a wall. The harder you hit it, the harder it would return. I could see the potential quite strongly on the first day. As the next few lessons went on, it just sort of unfolded itself like a flower, so that you knew that everything was possible."
In 1956 Pleeth recommended Jackie for the Suggia Gift, established by the great Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia and one of music's most prestigious scholarships. That year's panel of judges was chaired by legendary conductor Sir John Barbirolli, who was very impressed by Pleeth's recommendation. On the day of her audition for the panel, he even helped Jackie tune her cello before taking a seat at the back of the hall. A few minutes into her recital, Sir John leaned over to another famous member of the committee, Lionel Tertis, and whispered, "This it! This is it!" One of the conditions of the Suggia was that the winner practise four hours a day. At age eleven, Jackie virtually left school and was cut off from normal school activities and relationships. This, says Easton, "put Jackie irrevocably out of sync with her peers and ended any semblance of a normal childhood."

JONATHAN BLOXHAM- 2006 GUILHERMINA SUGGIA AWARD

Jonathan Bloxham Biography
Born in 1988 in Newcastle, Jonathan first studied 'cello with John Finnon and then with James Craig. Following various successes such as a prize at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, he moved to The Yehudi Menuhin School in 2004, where he currently studies with Thomas Carroll.
He has taken part in master classes or has had lessons from many acclaimed musicians including Melissa Phelps, Pierre Doumenge, Colin Carr, Ferenc Rados, Johannes Goritzki, Julian Lloyd Weber, Mark Churchill, David Strange and Emma Ferrand. As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed across the United Kingdom, in venues such as the Wigmore Hall, and also in France, Germany, Austria, Holland and the Czech Republic, including a performance of Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante under Scott Stromann in Spain.
In March he performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra and in April he traveled to Japan to give a recital in Hiroshima City. Last year he was awarded a Pierre Fournier Award Grant and the 2006 Guilhermina Suggia Award.
He plays an Lorenzo Ventapane 'cello on loan to him.

My impression about the gift is that it is a privilege to follow in the footsteps of many great cellists such as Jacqueline du Pre, and the award itself will help me continue studying where I want to next year. (JONATHAN BLOXHAM - 2007/02/05)

MBF MUSIC EDUCATION AWARDS- GUILHERMINA SUGGIA GIFT FOR THE CELLO

Royal Philharmonic Society Emily Anderson Prize - Prize of £2,500 available to exceptionally talented violinists under the age of 21 - no restrictions on its use.

Manoug Parikian Award - Prize of £3,000 available to exceptionally talented violinists with potential qualities of first-class performer under the age of 21 - must be used for study costs or instrument purchase.

Guilhermina Suggia Gift for the Cello – Award of £3,000 for exceptionally talented students of any nationality under the age of 21 - to be used towards study costs.

MBF String Awards - for under 18's - awards of up to £1,000 are made to outstandingly talented instrumentalists of school age. Applicants may be of any nationality but non-British/Irish applicants may not apply for funding for study outside the UK. Awards are made towards instrument purchase, the cost of private music lessons, or fees and occasionally travel expenses for the junior departments fo the principal music colleges in the UK.
In all cases, there is no entry fee but a charge is made to those applicants offered an audition.
Details: The Awards Administrator, 16 Ogle Street, London, W1P 8JB.
Tel: 020 7636 4481 Fax: 020 7637 4307
Email: education@mbf.org.uk Website: www.mbf.org.uk

ALEXANDER CHAUSHIAN- PRÉMIO SUGGIA 1993, EM LONDRES

La presentazione:
"Alexander Chaushian: uno dei più grandi talenti." (Steven Isserlis)

Il curriculum:
ALEXANDER CHAUSHIAN
“...ha dimostrato il livello e la ricchezza del suo talento... straziante eppure nobile nel suono... ha suonato in modo eccellente.” (New York Times)

“... i bis arrivavano uno dopo l’altro. Forse stanno arrivando ancora.” (Los Angeles Times)

Nato ad Erevan in Armenia nel 1977, Alexander Chaushian ha iniziato lo studio del violoncello all’età di sette anni, prima sotto la guida di suo nonno e poi con Zare Sarkishian. Dal 1992 al 1995 ha studiato presso la Yehudi Menuhin School con Melissa Phelps e alla Guildhall School of Music and Drama di Londra con Oleg Kogan.

Ha vinto nel 1990 il primo premio al Concorso “Premio Mozart” di Verona, nel 1992 il primo premio al Concorso Internazionale d’Olanda ed è stato Vincitore Junior al Concorso Ciaikowski di Mosca. Ha ricevuto il “Guilhermina Suggia Gift” a Londra nel 1993 e in due successive occasioni - un premio attribuito solo ai più straordinari strumentisti ad arco.

Nel 1997 è stato insignito del “Soloist Prize” dell’Orchestra New England come anche del primo “Summis Auspiciis Prize” dell’Associazione Young Concert Artists di New York. Nel 1999 ha ricevuto il premio “Anna Instone Memorial Award”, sponsorizzato da Capital Radio.

Come solista con orchestra, Alexander Chaushian si è esibito con la Vienna Chamber Orchestra nella Konzerthaus. di Vienna e nella Bruchnerhaus a Linz, come con la Philharmonia Orchestra e The London Mozart Players a Londra, l’Orchestra della Suisse Romande a Ginevra, la Royal National Orchestra del Belgio e con Les Solistes Européens de Luxenbourg in un concerto di gala diretto da Sir Yehudi Menhuin.

Ha effettuato lunghe tournées come solista con diverse orchestre, suonando in Armenia, Francia, Germania, Austria, Italia, Olanda, Finlandia, Svizzera, Belgio, Israele, Venezuela, Canada e Stati Uniti d’America, dove ha suonato il Concerto di Saint-Säens alla Carnegie Hall di New York. Alexander Chaushian ha tenuto recitals all’Harrogate Festival in Inghilterra, al Kuhmo International Festival in Finlandia, all’Usedom Festival in Germania, al La Jolla Festival negli USA, allo Chatelet a Parigi e a Montpellier quale vincitore del Premio della Fondazione Beracasa del Festival di Radio-France e Montpellier.

Recenti impegni hanno incluso il Concerto di Haydn per violoncello e orchestra con la London Philharmonia Orchestra, il Concerto di Elgar con la Finland’s Oulu Symphony e le Variazioni su un Tema Rococò di Ciaikowski con la Vienna Chamber Orchestra, così come acclamati recitals alla Wigmore Hall di Londra.

DEPOIMENTO DA 1ª GALARDOADA COM O PRÉMIO SUGGIA DO CONSERVATÓRIO DO PORTO-1953

Em Junho de 1953, quando estava prestes a terminar o curso de violoncelo no Conservatório de Música do Porto, fui convidada a concorrer ao prémio “Guilhermina Suggia”. Fiquei surpreendida pois era a primeira vez, depois da sua instituição, que esse concurso se realizava.

Eu tinha uma grande admiração por aquela tão grande violoncelista e francamente achava-me um pouco imatura. No entanto tudo correu bem e o prémio foi-me atribuído por unanimidade.

Maria José Ribas Gonçalves de Azevedo Santos

1 de Maio de 2004

PRÉMIO GUILHERMINA SUGGIA do CONSERVATÓRIO DE MÚSICA DO PORTO-1ª GALARDOADA

MARIA JOSÉ RIBAS GONÇALVES DE AZEVEDO SANTOS

Frequentou o Conservatório de Música do Porto, na classe de violoncelo da Profª Madalena Sá e Costa, de 1944 a 1953, ano em que obteve o “Prémio Guilhermina Suggia do Conservatório de Música do Porto” em prova pública e perante um júri constituído por: Profª Maria Adelaide de Freitas Gonçalves (presidente do júri), maestro Frederico de Freitas, Prof Fernando Correia de Oliveira (presidente da Juventude Musical), Prof Henri Mouton, do Conservatório de Música do Porto e Profª Madalena Sá e Costa.

Estava presente, convidado de honra o grande violoncelista espanhol Gaspar Cassadó, que no final da prova dirigiu palavras de muito apreço à jovem violoncelista premiada. A prova constou das seguintes obras: Saint –Säens (Concerto em la menor), Bach (Suite em dó Maior) e Fauré (Elegia).

O prémio foi entregue à noite no Salão Árabe do Palácio da Bolsa pelo presidente da Câmara Municipal Engº José Albino Machado Vaz, durante o concerto de homenagem a Guilhermina Suggia em que tocou com a Orquestra Sinfónica do Conservatório de Músico do Porto o célebre violoncelista Gaspar Cassadó.

“Prémios GUILHERMINA SUGGIA do Conservatório de Música do Porto” de Profª Madalena Sá e Costa

PRÉMIO GUILHERMINA SUGGIA DO CONSERVATÓRIO DE MÚSICA DO PORTO

A genial violoncelista Guilhermina Suggia nasceu no Porto em 1885 e faleceu na mesma cidade em 1950. Deixou no seu testamento o seu famoso violoncelo Montagnani para ser vendido e com o seu produto se instituir um prémio anual com o seu nome para o melhor aluno de violoncelo do Conservatório de Música do Porto.

Este valioso prémio foi assim atribuído:

• 1953 a Maria José Ribas Gonçalves de Azevedo
• 1955 a Maria da Conceição Ferreira de Macedo
. 1963 a Isabel Delerue
. 1979 a Paulo Gaio Lima
• 1979 a Gisela Neves (menção honrosa)
• 1986 a José Augusto Peneira de Sousa.

Interessa salientar a maneira como foram premiados.

Maria José Ribas Gonçalves de Azevedo tocou o Concerto de Saint-Saëns, Suite em dó de Bach e Elegia de Fauré em prova, na presença do júri e do grande violoncelista espanhol Gaspar Casadó, convidado de honra, que no final dirigiu palavras de muito apreço à jovem premiada. O prémio foi-lhe entregue pelo presidente da Câmara Municipal do Porto, Eng.° José Albino Machado Vaz, no salão do Palácio da Bolsa, durante o concerto de homenagem a Guilhermina Suggia em que tocou o violoncelista espanhol Gaspar Cassadó com a Orquestra Sinfónica do Conservatório de Música do Porto.

Maria da Conceição Ferreira de Macedo tocou em prova uma Suite de Bach, uma peça e com a Orquestra Sinfónica do Conservatório de Música do Porto, dirigida pelo Maestro italiano Ino Savini o Concerto de Elgar no Teatro S. João.

Isabel Delerue tocou na prova uma Suite de Bach, uma peça e com a Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, dirigida pelo Maestro Silva Pereira, as Variações Sinfónicas de Böelmann, no Teatro Nun’ Álvares.

Paulo Gaio Lima tocou em prova uma Suite de Bach, uma peça e com a Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, dirigida pelo Prof. Costa Santos, o Concerto em si bemol de Boccherini, no Salão Nobre da Câmara Municipal do Porto.

Gisela Neves, menção honrosa, tocou em prova uma Suite de Bach, o Kol Nidrei de Max Bruch e o Concerto de Elgar. Com a Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, dirigida peto Prof. Costa Santos tocou o Kol Nidrei de Max Bruch no Salão Nobre da Câmara Municipal do Porto.

José Augusto Pereira de Sousa tocou em prova uma Suite de Bach, uma peça e o Concerto de Lalo com a Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto, dirigida pelo Prof. Costa Santos no Teatro Carlos Alberto.

Estes seis premiados, cinco dos quais meus discípulos, e o ultimo discípulo da Profª Isabel Delerue, deram provas valiosas de talento e de sério trabalho ao longo dos anos em que frequentaram o Conservatório de Música do Porto.

Honraram com verdadeiro espírito profissional o Prémio Guilhermina Suggia do Conservatório de Música do Porto e cumpriram as suas carinhosas palavras deixadas em testamento.
Trabalharam com elevado ideal. Porto Janeiro, 2004

MADALENA SÁ E COSTA (Violoncelista/Professora)

PRÉMIOS SUGGIA- PORTO e LONDRES

Note-se a diferença.
Suggia deixou por testamento o seu violoncelo Montagnana à CMPorto de quem dependia o Conservatório de Música do Porto, para ser vendido e com o produto dessa venda ser instituído anualmente um prémio ao melhor aluno de violoncelo. A CMPorto fez uma compra que não pagou, atribuíu ao violoncelo um valor de 550 contos e atribuíu 5 - CINCO - prémios! O Montagnana está fechado no Museu Soares dos Reis. Ninguém o vê. Ninguém o toca.

Suggia deixou à Royal Academy of Music de Londres o seu violoncelo Stradivarius ( Note-se que os preços de um Montagnana e de um Stradivarius são iguais. Não há diferença rigorosamente nenhuma). Este foi vendido. Nunca deixou de ser tocado. Neste momento é tocado pela violoncelista do AMAR QUARTETT, e apesar de não termos consegido saber o nome dos galardoados nos anos 1953, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1988 e 1991, o prémio começou a ser atribuído em 1952 - um ano antes do que aconteceu no Porto - foram atribuídos 58 - CINQUENTA E OITO- prémios.

Que diferença!

PRÉMIOS "SUGGIA", de Londres

“PRÉMIO GUILHERMINA SUGGIA”, na Royal Academy of Music, de Londres

REGULAMENTO:

1 – O valor da Bolsa será aproximadamente de 275 libras esterlinas anuais (isentas de impostos) e será atribuído a um estudante de violoncelo que se tenha distinguido

2 – A duração da Bolsa será de um ano, com a possibilidade de ser renovada.

3 – A Bolsa destinar-se-á a actuais estudantes da Real Academia de Música que sejam cidadãos ingleses ou portugueses por nascimento.

4 – A Bolsa será concedida pelo Director, sob a autoridade da comissão de Gestão. Fica reservado o direito de reter ou cancelar a atribuição de uma bolsa em qualquer altura.

5 – Na ausência de candidatos que preencham as condições descritas no parágrafo 3, o Director poderá atribuir a Bolsa em condições que a Comissão de Gestão então determinará.

Instituído em 1951, este prémio tem como principal objectivo auxiliar aqueles que tenham perfil de intérpretes a solo a dedicarem-se a um período especial de pós-graduação sem problemas financeiros, ajudando-os, deste modo, na difícil fase inicial das suas carreiras.
Apresentando-se sob a forma de uma bolsa de estudo, este prémio foi atribuído anualmente. Refere-se em seguida a lista dos nomes dos vários contemplados que foi possível constituir:

1952 – Derek Simpson

1954 – Bernard Vocadlo

1955 – Jacqueline du Pré

1958 – Penélope Lynex

1959 – Keith Harvey

1960 – Peter Willison

1962 – Gregory Baron

1963 – Beverly Chester

1964 – Naomi Butterworth

1965 – Gillian Thomas

- Caroline Dale

1966 – Haflidi Hallgrimsson

1967 – Peter Worrall

1968 – Christopher van Kampen

1969 – Robert Glenton

- Richard May

1970 – Ângela East
Steven Isserlis

1971 – Fiona Stewart

1972 – Christina Shllito

1973 – Raphael Wallfisch

1974 – Roderick McGrath

1975 – John Senter

1976 – Nicholas Gethin

1977 – Sebastian Comberti

- Christopher Gough

1978 – Susan Dorey

1979 – Martin Loveday

1980 – Júlia Desbruslais

1981 – Elizabeth Parker

1982 – David Daniels

1983 – Joanne Cole

1984 – Timothy Folkard

1985 – Paul Marleyn

1986 – Robert Max

1987 - Timothy Gill

- Judith Mitchell

1989 – Sian Bell

1990 – Paul Kellett

1992 – Andrew Gunn

1993 – William Lighgow

1994 – Aidan Eardley
Alexsander Chaushian

1995 – Verónica Freeman

1996 – Ivo Cortes Montero
David Cohen

1997 – Aleksander Chaushian

1998 – Aleksander Chaushian
Marie Macleod
Emily Francis

1999 – David Cohen
Guy Johnston
Marie Macleod
Richard Harwood

2000 – Sergei Suvorov

2001 – Sergei Suvorov

2002 – Bartholomeu LaFolette
John Myerscough

2003 – Reinoud Ford

2004 - Pau Codina

2005 - não atribuído

2006 - Jonathan Bloxham

FUNDO PARA O VIOLONCELO

“FUNDO PARA O VIOLONCELO
EM MEMÓRIA DE GUILHERMINA SUGGIA”

O Fundo foi criado para dar cumprimento a um último desejo expresso por Guilhermina Suggia, quando esta se encontrava em Inglaterra pouco antes da sua morte.
O Fundo é composto por uma bolsa de capitais de cerca de 10.000 libras esterlinas e engloba os bens que Guilhermina Suggia possuía em Inglaterra.
Destinado a ser utilizado em benefício dos estudantes de violoncelo e, particularmente, dos jovens músicos que pretendam vir a ser artistas a solo.

O Fundo foi colocado sob a responsabilidade do Conselho Artístico da Grã-Bretanha, que foi nomeado ser Administrador juntamente com outras instituições e individualidades. Os Administradores podem atribuir bolsas aos estudantes de violoncelo, destinadas a cobrir as suas despesas com os estudos e a formação técnica.

REGULAMENTO do “Fundo para o Violoncelo em memória de GUILHERMINA SUGGIA”

1 – Só serão consideradas candidaturas de estudantes excepcionalmente talentosos, susceptíveis de serem considerados detentores de qualidades potenciais de um músico a solo de primeira classe.

2 – São elegíveis estudantes de qualquer nacionalidade, desde que tenham idade inferior a 21 anos. Os Administradores considerarão as candidaturas de estudantes muito jovens que ainda se encontrem a receber educação geral, em instituições privadas ou particulares, desde que correspondam ao preceituado em 1.

3 – O estudo ou formação para os quais o auxílio financeiro seja oferecido podem ser levados a cabo em qualquer instituição de educação musical reconhecida, ou com um professor particular, no Reino Unido ou no estrangeiro, mediante a aprovação dos Administradores.

4 – Serão concedidas audições somente aos candidatos cujas credenciais escritas satisfaçam os Administradores.

5 – As audições terão lugar em Londres, sendo os candidatos responsáveis pelas despesas resultantes da sua participação nas mesmas.

6 – As candidaturas deverão ser apresentadas em formulário próprio e acompanhadas de duas cartas de recomendação subscritas por músicos profissionais, um dos quais deverá ser professor de violoncelo.
Todas as candidaturas deverão ser remetidas para: The Music Director, The Arts Council of Great Britain, 4, St James’s Square, London, S.W.I.

Prémio SUGGIA-Conservatório de Música do Porto

REGULAMENTO DO CONCURSO PARA O “PRÉMIO GUILHERMINA SUGGIA” NO CONSERVATÓRIO DE MÚSICA DO PORTO

Artigo 1º - É instituído, em cumprimento de disposição testamentária da eminente violoncelista GUILHERMINA SUGGIA, e sob a designação de “PRÉMIO GUILHERMINA SUGGIA”, um prémio anual destinado a galardoar o melhor aluno do Curso Superior de Violoncelo do Conservatório de Música do Porto

Artigo 2º - O prémio será inicialmente da importância de 16.500$00, correspondente ao juro a 3%, do valor de 550 contos atribuído ao violoncelo Montagnana que foi objecto da citada disposição testamentária
§ único – O montante dos prémios anuais não atribuídos acresce ao valor inicial de 550 contos a que se refere o corpo deste artigo.

Artigo 3º - Este prémio será concedido mediante concurso de provas práticas e públicas.

Artigo 4º - As provas iniciar-se-ão normalmente no dia 20 de Junho.
§ único – Na hipótese de os concursos não poderem ser iniciados em 20 de Junho, o Director do Conservatório reunirá o Conselho Escolar, que apreciará as razões dessa impossibilidade e proporá as novas datas a fixar, as quais, em última análise, dependerão do despacho da Presidência da Câmara Municipal do Porto.

Artigo 5º - Os concursos serão anunciados por meio de avisos afixados no Conservatório, em lugar bem visível, com antecedência de dois meses em relação à data do início das provas.

Artigo 6º - Um mês antes do início das provas será afixado o aviso com o programa a que se refere o artº 12º.

Artigo 7º - Só serão admitidos ao concurso os alunos do Conservatório de Música do Porto que frequentem o Curso Superior de Violoncelo no ano lectivo em que for aberto o mesmo concurso.
§ Único –Não poderão concorrer ao prémio alunos premiados anteriormente nestes concursos.

Artigo 8º - A inscrição dos candidatos far-se-á mediante requerimento, escrito pelos próprios, com a assinatura reconhecida por notário, e endereçado ao Director do Conservatório.
§ único - O candidato fará acompanhar o seu requerimento de documento comprovativo da qualidade de aluno do Conservatório de Música do Porto e mencionará o Concerto e a Peça que deseja executar no Concurso.

Artigo 9º - Os requerimentos deverão ser entregues na Secretaria do Conservatório de Música, nas horas de expediente, até ao dia 20 de Maio de cada ano ou, quando as provas não possam iniciar-se no dia 20 de Junho, até um mês antes do início das provas.

Artigo 10º- Findo o prazo de apresentação dos requerimentos, a Direcção do Conservatório elaborará por ordem alfabética a lista dos candidatos admitidos, que será afixada no mesmo Conservatório, indicando-se logo o dia em que se realizam as provas do concurso e os concorrentes que deverão executar em cada dia.
§ único – As provas realizar-se-ão no Salão do Conservatório.

Artigo 11º - Os júris destes concursos, que deverão ser nomeados pela Câmara, depois de ouvido o Conselho Directivo do Conservatório e com antecipação nunca inferior a dois meses em relação ao início das provas, serão constituídos por um representante da Câmara, que presidirá, pelo presidente do Conselho Directivo do Conservatório de Música do Porto, pelo professor ou professores de violoncelo do mesmo Conservatório, e por mais três vogais escolhidos entre os críticos ou artistas musicais de reconhecida competência, residentes nesta cidade, sendo um deles preferentemente, o Maestro-Regente da Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto.
§ único – No caso de empate o Presidente do júri terá voto de qualidade.

Artigo 12º - Os concursos constarão do seguinte programa:
a) Uma suite de Bach, à escolha do júri, dada a conhecer com um mês de antecedência;
b) Um concerto, à escolha do candidato;
c) Uma Peça, à escolha do candidato.
§ único – o Concerto e a Peça serão executados com acompanhamento ao Piano.

Artigo 13º - Os candidatos que, por motivo de força maior, devidamente comprovado, não compareçam a prestar provas no dia e hora que lhes tiverem sido designados, poderão ser admitidos a prestá-las no prazo máximo de 15 dias a contar do último dia marcado para as provas do concurso.

Artigo 14º - A votação, nas reuniões do júri, será feita verbalmente, lavrando-se actas dessas reuniões, que ficarão fazendo parte do processo do concurso, a remeter à Presidência da Câmara.
§ único – o prémio só poderá ser atribuído a candidato que tenha merecido aprovação em mérito absoluto.

Artigo 15º - Além do prémio será concedido ao candidato premiado um diploma assinado pelo Presidente da Câmara e por todos os membros do Júri.
§ único – O júri poderá conceder diplomas de menção honrosa aos candidatos que considerar merecedores dessa distinção.

Artigo 16º - O prémio será entregue em acto solene presidido pelo Presidente da Câmara Municipal do Porto, durante o qual o aluno premiado poderá executar uma ou mais peças à escolha do mesmo aluno, de acordo com o júri.

Artigo 17º - As dúvidas que se suscitarem na interpretação deste Regulamento serão resolvidas por despacho da Presidência da Câmara sob proposta fundamentada do Director dos Serviços Centrais e Culturais.

Este prémio foi atribuído pela primeira vez em 1953. Por unanimidade, o júri concedeu-o a Maria José Ribas Gonçalves de Azevedo, neta de Nicolau Ribas e aluna de Madalena Moreira de Sá e Costa.
Apesar das pesquisas, não foi possível apurar o nome de todos os premiados, de então para cá. Apresenta-se por isso, em seguida, o elenco possível dos violoncelistas contemplados com este prémio:

1953 – Maria José Ribas Gonçalves de Azevedo

1954 – Maria da Conceição Macedo

1963 – Maria Isabel Martins Delerue

1979 – Paulo Gaio Lima

1986 – José Augusto Nunes Pereira de Sousa

do livro "GUILHERMINA SUGGIA- A Sonata de Sempre" de Fátima Pombo