Piano Competition Winner

Oliver, a music scholar from GE (Year 11), has beaten off stiff competition to win the Senior Piano Repertoire Cup in the ‘15 and under’ category at the Devizes Eisteddfod festival this November.

The Devizes Eisteddfod is a five-day competitive festival of music, drama, speech, dance, writing, art and photography for people of all ages and is held in Devizes, Wiltshire, in February and November each year.

For his entry to the competition, Oliver was required to play two contrasting pieces; the first was Clair de Lune by Debussy and the second was Elegie Opus 3 by Rachmaninoff. When asked how he found the experience, Oliver said “It was pretty nerve-wracking, but I managed to block out any distractions and get into the zone”.

Oliver’s piano teacher, Mr Hartmann, commented on the competition results to say “I was delighted to hear about Oliver’s success – he is such a talented musician and works incredibly hard. A quality I really appreciate about Oliver is that when he finds something difficult, he always sticks with it with a smile.”

It’s great to see Oliver putting his music scholarship to such good use!