Home News KCYO musicians head for bright futures this year
Posted on: 18 March, 2021

KCYO musicians head for bright futures this year

At Kent Music, we’re proud of the accomplishments of all our students.

From beginners picking up an instrument for the first time, to seasoned players joining our top-level County Ensembles, we love to watch young musicians grow and develop their talents with us!

That’s why we were so delighted to hear from long-time members of the Kent Music family and Kent County Youth Orchestra as they take their studies to the next level in September this year.

Hannah Runting

The past year has seen harpist Hannah really excel with her music! Further to auditions and interviews, she was offered places and scholarships at celebrated conservatoires including Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Northern College of Music. However, Hannah has told us that she’s now decided to accept an offer from none other than the Royal Academy of Music, and will be starting her studies there later this year.

Not content with landing such prestigious academic offers, Hannah has had great success with extracurricular activities and competitions over the past 12 months. She won two composition categories and placed second in the Advanced Recital Class for the Maidstone Music Festival, and was subsequently named Maidstone Young Musician of the Year! She also placed in the North London Harp Competition – read our interview with her about it here – and was awarded the 2020 Kent Try Angle Award for Music.

Adam Zadi

Adam is a talented brass player, a long-time member of the Kent County Youth Orchestra as well as an in-demand player for many other groups! His continual hard work and interest in music and particularly the tuba, a sadly under-played instrument amongst young musicians, has produced some outstanding results.

He has continued to support both local music and County level music as much as possible during the last year of COVID restrictions. Adam, further to auditions and interviews was offered (with an impressive scholarship) a place at Trinity Laban College of Music as well as the Royal College of Music.

Arwen Withy-Harrison

We have been lucky enough to have welcomed accomplished harpist Arwen to the Kent County Youth Orchestra for the past several years now. We were thrilled to hear that this year she has been offered no less than four scholarships to study music from a variety of conservatoires! Arwen tells us she has decided to accept a place at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, starting in September 2021.

Conor Woodbridge

Violist Conor has come a long way form his first visit to Summer School aged 10! For the next eight years Kent Music was lucky enough to welcome him to KCYO and Kent Youth Choir, as well as attending Summer School every year as he grew more experienced playing the viola.

Beyond Kent Music, Conor studied A Level Music, and in 2019 started a three year degree at Leeds Conservatoire. However, like many people, the COVID-19 pandemic changed things for Conor! Inspired by experiences at KMSS, he’s now begun training for a career in the Corps of Army Music and as a violist in the Countess of Wessex string orchestra. He will be undertaking this alongside his degree.

It sounds like Conor will have a busy but exciting few years ahead of him! We can’t wait to hear what he gets up to next.

We are so proud of these young players, and excited to hear all about their musical progression in the years to come. We hope they’ll come back to tell us all the details!

These musicians are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our students here at Kent Music. We can’t wait to hear the music, stories and songs coming next.

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