CONCERTS in the West is delighted to welcome the exciting young cellist Amy Jolly, who together with pianist Gemma Beeson, will be making exhilarating music at Lower Pulworthy, Highampton on Thursday, April 21.

A recent graduate of the Halle/RNCM String Leadership Diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music, Amy Jolly won the 2014 Charles Halle Award and is currently undertaking postgraduate studies at Stavanger University of Music, Norway.

She graduated with distinction from the MA programme at the Royal Academy of Music, achieving a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital and received the Rhoda Butt Award for achievement and contribution to the Academy.

Amy was the first ever instrumentalist to win the Royal Warrant Holders Aldeburgh Bursary in 2013, leading to a performance at the Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace.

Amy performs with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Opera North. She is also a member of the award-winning Scarlet Trio and FeMusa, Britain’s only all-female string orchestra. 

Accompanying Amy in all four concerts, will be award winning pianist Gemma Beeson, who has performed around the world as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. Gemma is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she excelled in competitions, including the Michael Harding International Piano Competition, Hastings Concerto Competition and the Intercollegiate Beethoven Competition. 

Since graduating, Gemma has worked as an accompanist and music coach at a number of schools, including Wells Cathedral School and Chetham’s School of Music. She is currently a staff pianist at the Royal Northern College of Music and at Leeds College of Music.  Gemma has made several recordings and live broadcasts of contemporary music for the BBC and has recently performed at the Wigmore, Cadogan and Bridgewater Halls. 

Concerts in the West founder and director Catherine Hodgson said: ‘Amy Jolly is an astonishing young cellist, with an incredible musical presence. Her interpretations are passionate and soulful with a depth of intensity that is impressive for for someone who is after all still studying her craft.

‘She is complemented beautifully by Gemma Beeson and together they make compelling listening. I cannot recommend these performances enough.’

The musical programme will be Schubert Arpeggione Sonata in A minor D821; Janacek Pohadka for Cello and Piano; Rachmaninov  Sonata for Piano and Cello in G minor, Op 19.