A series of concerts showcasing the talents of students from the Royal Academy of Music.
Nicola Mutton, Director of Artistic Planning, Royal Academy of Music, says:
“It is my great pleasure to bring some of the Academy’s exceptional student performers to this new lunchtime concert series in Tetbury. Over the course of a year, eight carefully curated concerts will showcase the diverse talents of our students, who represent a wide range of nationalities and cultural backgrounds.
“Our first concert featured an all-French programme by the virtuosic young pianist Milda Daunoraite. At this concert, we will bring you an inspiring performance by young clarinettist Raj Baumik, accompanied by Qden Blaauw on piano.”
Programme
Claude Debussy Premiere Rhapsodie
Marie Elizabeth von Sachsen Meiningen Romanze
John Ireland Fantasy – Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
Germaine Tailleferre Arabesque
Johannes Brahms Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in E-Flat Major, op.120 no2
The performers
Having started the clarinet at the age of eight, Raj Bhaumik studied at Glasgow at the Music School of Douglas Academy and the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he learned with Lawrence Gill, Alison Waller and Timothy Orpen. In September 2023 he began undergraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music on an ABRSM Scholarship. There he learns clarinet with Christopher Richards and Sonia Sielaff, E-Flat clarinet with Chi-Yu Mo, and historical clarinets with Katherine Spencer.
Raj was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for five years, including a year as principal, with multiple performances at the BBC proms. Through the NYO he gained valuable experience introducing orchestral music into schools and had a live solo performance slot on BBC Radio 3’s “In Tune,” He has also appeared on BBC Radio Scotland’s “Classics Unwrapped.”
In 2023 Raj won first prize in the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain Young Soloist Competition, and the overall performance prize at Glasgow Music Festival. He has performed as a concerto soloist with the Junior RCS Symphony Orchestra, the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, and in the final of the Edinburgh Music Competition Festival concerto class.
Qden Blaauw showed an interest in classical music from an early age and began playing piano at the age of eight and composing soon thereafter. He has performed some of his compositions in concerts and on television interviews. He has experience teaching and has given lessons at various schools as well as volunteer work at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre.
Recognition through competitions began early but probably one of Qden’s personal highlights was in November 2016, when he was one of ten children, and the first from Africa, selected from more than 500 applicants worldwide to attend the prestigious Allianz Music Camp in Warsaw, Poland, where he received a master class from acclaimed pianist, Lang Lang.
He has also received master classes from other international pianists, including Valentina Lisitsa, Gloria Campaner, Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy Martina Bauer, Motoki Hirai, Spencer Myer, Luis Magalhães, Liezl-Maret Jacobs and Jan Hugo. Since 2014 until present, Qden has been taught by Cape Town pianist and teacher, Shane Goodall.
He has been featured on national television, radio as well as newspapers and magazines.
Concert starts at 1pm
Please note: on the door tickets will cost £13
On Friday 21 November, for the final concert in this year’s series, we will be joined by the winners of the Academy’s Duo Prize 2024, Takanori Okamoto and Lily Petrova playing you wonderful sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven for violin and piano.