Pamela Cook to be made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music
Pamela is to be made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. There are only 300
Fellows allowed at any one time and holders of the honour include Sir Simon
Rattle, Richard Rodney-Bennett, Sir John Dankworth, Evelyn Glennie and formerly
Sir Henry Wood, founder of the London Promenade concerts.
She will receive it on 30 June at the graduation ceremony at the Royal Academy
from HRH The Duchess of Gloucester and the citation will be read by John Suchet.
Singers from Cantamus win both John Ogdon competition prizes
Adjudicator Gareth Green spoke of the amazingly high standard of performance
from the young musicians who entered this year’s competition, held at the
Crescent Centre, Mansfield, organised by Andrew Tucker on behalf of Mansfield
District Council. After the performances he gave a detailed critique of every
one, giving useful advice in a delightfully humorous way, at the same time
praising the excellent technique and presentations of the entrants.
The junior section - prize £225 - was won by mezzo-soprano Laura Hocking, a
pupil at Worksop College who is a member of the
Cantamus Girls Choir.
Lucy Allen, soprano, was the winner of the senior section – prize £450 - a
student at Ashfield Comprehensive School and also in
Cantamus – one of its main soloists, in fact. Lucy has recently returned from
Spain where, along with seven other Cantamus girls, gave two concerts in
Asturias, and as a consequence of the acclaim received, is now considering an
invitation for the group to return to sing in another Festival there. Highly
commended in this section were Sally Dodds, a mezzo-soprano in her first year at
Guildhall School of Music, and Katie Stevenson, also from Cantamus.
Gareth Green remarked that he travels all over Britain and abroad but never
hears singing of such a high quality as in Mansfield, and he paid tribute to the
teaching and to the dedication of the young people concerned. He will be one of
the adjudicators in the Mansfield Music and Drama Festival in April.
Updated 5 January 2010