On 30 January, the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) hosted a special event at the Serpentine Gallery celebrating the recently founded LSO Conservatoire Scholarship and highlighting the urgent need to support musicians from lower income backgrounds.
LSO Conservatoire Scholars with LSO Managing Director Dame Kathryn McDowell © Kevin Leighton
The event brought together leading figures from the music and higher education sectors to hear the Scholars’ first ever public recital. 13 of the programme’s 20 Scholars performed in a dynamic ‘Dances and Duos’ programme, displaying exceptional musicianship in works by Mozart, Piazzolla, Bacewicz and others, playing alongside LSO members and Scholarship mentors including orchestra leader Benjamin Marquise Gilmore.
The Scholars include Classic FM 2024 Rising Star Deniz Sensoy (violin), BBC Young Musician of the Year finalist Rob Burton (saxophone) and Elliot Kempton (viola), member of the prolific prize-winning Fibonacci Quartet. A global cohort, the Scholars hail from Turkey, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Portugal, Lithuania, Ukraine and the UK, and are each undertaking postgraduate studies at one of the Top 10 conservatoires as listed in the QS World University Rankings. All 20 are from lower-income backgrounds.
The recital was followed by a panel discussion, chaired by LSO Managing Director Dame Kathryn McDowell, on the increasingly critical need to support outstanding musicians from lower-income families and ensure the music profession remains socio-economically diverse. Still reeling from recent news of Cardiff University’s proposed closure of its music department, guests heard from one Wales-based Scholar who recalls being made to teach GCSE students at his state school while undertaking his own A-Levels, as no music teacher was available. Optimism however was the watchword of the evening, as guests swapped notes and re-affirmed their commitment to working together to counter the perfect storm of declining music education in schools and the cost-of-living crisis.
Dame Kathryn McDowell, LSO Managing Director said:
‘This Scholarship is a lifeline for these students – many tell us how they were on the cusp of giving up their studies as the pressure of earning money to pay their living costs was impeding their ability to focus on their studies. While we are very proud of what this scheme has achieved so far, we want to work with colleagues across the music industry to ensure every promising young musician gets the opportunity to realise their potential.’
Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood CBE, Principal of Royal Academy of Music added:
‘It was lovely to see all the conservatoires together tonight, and the community and the friendship. The sense of belonging that this LSO scholarship has offered [the Scholars] is something that will give them a huge amount of confidence as they move forward. To have encouragement, mentorship opportunities, chances to think creatively and collaboratively in new ways, is exactly what this type of initiative can allow.’
The LSO is now looking for its next cohort of Scholars for the 2025/26 academic year, with applications closing on 10 March 2025. To find out more about the Scholarship and apply online visit lso.co.uk/scholarships.
Media Enquiries
Christopher Millard, London Symphony Orchestra
chris.millard@lso.co.uk | +44 (0)7545 502226
Notes to Editors
The LSO Conservatoire Scholarships programmes, launched in 2023 and generously supported by Alex and Elena Gerko, is open to postgraduate instrumentalists of any age or nationality who are facing financial barriers, have been awarded a scholarship place for a postgraduate course at one of the leading 10 conservatoires in the world focused on classical study of an orchestra instrument, and have previously studied at undergraduate level at a UK conservatoire or university. Recipients receive up to £15,000 per academic year to enable them to focus fully on their studies, whilst benefiting from support and mentoring from the LSO’s renowned musicians.
