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Leader of the Orchestra

Michael is a 19 year old scholarship student of the Royal College of Music, learning violin with Maureen Smith. After one year’s study, he was presented with the Knights of the Round Table Award.

 Appointed leader of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for 2009, he has consequently performed in Britain’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Royal Albert Hall for a BBC Prom, and led for conductors including Marin Alsop, Semyon Bychkov, Paul Daniel and Vasily Petrenko. In September 2009, he was invited to shadow the leader of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In recent months, he has performed for Youth Music in the Houses of Parliament, given the world premiere of Ivor Bonnici’s Triple Violin Concerto, and directed a chamber orchestra from the violin in St. John’s Smith Square. Upcoming performances include chamber music at Queen Elizabeth Hall and Steinway Hall, and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Hertford Symphony Orchestra.

An RCM Joint Principal Student, Michael learns piano with Julian Jacobson. At the final of BBC Young Musician of the Year 2008 he was presented with the Tabor Award for Promising Talent. He won awards at the Ayrshire, Glasgow and Edinburgh Music Festivals, and received the Gilbert Innes Prize for Piano from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2008. More recently, he has performed for Leeds International Concert Series, the International Federation of Festivals Showcase and King’s Place Schumann Festival, and played in the masterclasses of Gergely Bogányi, Steven Osborne and David Wilde.