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The pianist and master’s student delighted with a programme of Bach to Björk

Each year, Trinity Laban’s prestigious Gold Medal competition showcases the diverse talent from across the conservatoire’s Faculty of Music.

Competing for the 2021 prize were Noelia Cotuna (harp), Hannah Crocker (soprano), Tara Cunningham (electric guitar), Carolina Cury (piano), Shaohui Hao (saxophone), Jan Margolius (composition) and May Tether (musical theatre).

Across three days, the seven students and recent alumni delighted digital audiences on TL platforms with creative and intimate pre-recorded performance films spanning classical and contemporary music, jazz and musical theatre.

To judge the competition, the conservatoire’s Director of Music Havilland Willshire was joined by Head of imagine at Intermusica Artists’ Management, Kate Caro, in a unique adjudication film where pianist Carolina Cury was announced as the 2021 winner.

Filmed at Megaron Athens Concert Hall, Carolina’s performance included ‘Prelude and Fugue in F# minor’ from J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier (Book 1), György Ligeti’s Étude No. 8 ‘Fèm’ and an improvisation on Björk ‘All is Full of Love’.

Explaining what made Carolina a worthy winner Kate Caro commented –

“Across the three pieces Carolina demonstrated what a versatile and confident artist she is; how much originality she has in her voice, in her musicianship. I was just blown away.”

Havilland Willshire added –

“I was intrigued by her playing, particularly the bravery to overthrow convention in her interpretation of Bach. Her personality came through strongly in everything she did.”

Carolina, who completed her master’s at Trinity Laban in 2020, is currently studying on the Artist Diploma.

She joins an illustrious list of recent Gold Medal winners, many of whom are already enjoying budding creative careers. These include 2019 winner Elena Abad, who played with the Parallax Orchestra on the album ‘Bring Me the Horizons’ which reached no.1 in the UK, and 2015 winner soprano Nardus Williams, who is currently performing as Anne Trulove in Stravinsky’s opera The Rake’s Progress with Glyndebourne Opera.

The annual Gold Medal Showcase celebrates outstanding young Trinity Laban musicians. Competitors are nominated by the Heads of each of Departments within Trinity Laban’s Faculty of Music for their exceptional musical flair and professionalism, and all receive a Trinity Laban Director’s Prize for Achievement in recognition of this.

Congratulations to all our finalists. You can watch all seven performances on TL YouTube.

To find out more about studying music at Trinity Laban, visit our study pages