2005 Awardee: Genna Spinks

The standard of playing [at Juilliard] is phenomenal. Having the chance to be around so many gifted people is very inspiring.

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 22
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

While Genna was still an undergraduate at the RSAMD and playing in a concert, a visiting music professor in the audience leant forward and remarked on the wonderful playing of the bassist.
According to her nominator, Genna is one of the finest young string players ever to graduate from the RSAMD. She was showered with prizes before she graduated and has worked with the leading Scottish orchestras and ensembles.

Not only did Genna, from Stonehaven, win a coveted place at the world-renowned Juilliard School in New York but she was offered a generous scholarship as well. However, she would have been unable to take up this offer without the Dewar Award which filled the vital financial gap for her.

In her first year at Juilliard, Genna was invited to attend Jeff Bradetich’s elite soloists programme in Texas, as one of only five bassists to be invited. Bradetich is regarded as one of the leading performers and teachers of the double bass in the US today.

How the Award Helped

Genna received a Dewar Arts Award towards her studies at Juilliard School in New York.

Since the Award

Genna writes that “The standard of playing [at Juilliard School] all round is phenomenal… all I had to do was step outside my [practice] room and listen.”

Timothy Cobb, Genna’s tutor at Juilliard School, says of her that she “is among the very best of talent at Juilliard – a wonderful young bassist, a dedicated and diligent worker, and truly one of the kindest and most pleasant students I have ever had.”  Genna has won a full scholarship to continue her studies with Timothy Cobb at Lynn University in Florida.

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The standard of playing [at Juilliard] is phenomenal. Having the chance to be around so many gifted people is very inspiring.

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2005 Awardee: Fraser Stone

buy a performance-standard marimba. Since the Award Of the New Voices piece, Fraser writes that the project 'gave me a chance to compose technical pieces for an eight piece band. It was a huge learning curve and I grew so much from this experience.' He adds that the Dewar Awards 'are a fantastic way to celebrate the Scottish talent out there and help promote our culture worldwide. Without these awards many musicians would not be able to fulfill their dreams and potential.' We couldn't agree more, Fraser! ‹ Back to List Most of us can only dream of doing a job we love, but end up living a hum-drum nine-to-five existence

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 22
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

If the gigs ever dry up, Fraser could develop a lucrative sideline in musical instrument making. Preparing to go on tour with Scottish Folk Band ‘Old Blind Dogs’, he stunned the band by arriving at the airport with a handmade Djembe drum he had designed and made for the trip.

From Grantown on Spey, Fraser started playing drums on a plastic drumkit when he was six. By the age of twelve he was regularly performing with bands.

By seventeen, he had developed into a gifted and well-respected musician, playing on a number of albums, being principal percussionist at a performance of Scottish Music in the Millennium Dome, London, and acting as musical director of a number of Highland festivals.

In 2006, Fraser and fellow percussionist, Paul Jennings, were commissioned to compose a New Voices piece to be performed at Celtic Connections. For this project, Fraser desperately needed a new marimba.

He wrote at the time, “I see this year as being one of great musical growth. I’m looking to branch out and experiment with new sounds in different genres to fulfil my potential.”

How the Award Helped

Fraser received a Daughter of Dewar Award to buy a performance-standard marimba.

Since the Award

Of the New Voices piece, Fraser writes that the project ‘gave me a chance to compose technical pieces for an eight piece band. It was a huge learning curve and I grew so much from this experience.’ He adds that the Dewar Awards ‘are a fantastic way to celebrate the Scottish talent out there and help promote our culture worldwide. Without these awards many musicians would not be able to fulfill their dreams and potential.’

We couldn’t agree more, Fraser!

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buy a performance-standard marimba. Since the Award Of the New Voices piece, Fraser writes that the project 'gave me a chance to compose technical pieces for an eight piece band. It was a huge learning curve and I grew so much from this experience.' He adds that the Dewar Awards 'are a fantastic way to celebrate the Scottish talent out there and help promote our culture worldwide. Without these awards many musicians would not be able to fulfill their dreams and potential.' We couldn't agree more, Fraser! ‹ Back to List Most of us can only dream of doing a job we love, but end up living a hum-drum nine-to-five existence

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2005 Awardee: Fraser Gordon

I was delighted… this will enable me to purchase the instrument of my ultimate choice, which makes me especially excited

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 23
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

Born and brought up in Edinburgh, Fraser is, according to all who have taught him, a natural musician with the innate musicality and talent to become a professional musician.

Currently studying bassoon at the RSAMD in Glasgow, Fraser is expected to progress onto a successful career in chamber and orchestral music. However, the other side of the coin to musical talent is having an instrument to match.

Like many Daughter of Dewar recipients, Fraser had outgrown his student model of bassoon. It was all the more remarkable that he continued to produce a “beautiful and well-projected sound” from an instrument that had seen far better days.

As Fraser said himself, his old bassoon had been “useful for me to achieve the standard I have reached, but it no longer will be able to cater for my musical and technical needs if I am to fulfil my ambitions.”

How the Award Helped

Fraser received a Daughter of Dewar Award towards a new high-quality bassoon. In 2007, Fraser received a second award to buy a contrabassoon

Since the Award

After graduating from RSAMD with a first class honours and later with a postgraduate diploma in performance with distinction, and carrying off the Peter Morrison prize for overall excellence, Fraser was invited to join the ‘Emergent Leader’ Programme at RSAMD, newly-established by principal, John Wallace. During his time on the programme, he established a senior wind ensemble, called the RSAMD Stevenson Winds, to perform chamber works at the highest level outside the Academy.

In 2011, Fraser was appointed to the position of Principal Contrabassoon with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

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I was delighted… this will enable me to purchase the instrument of my ultimate choice, which makes me especially excited

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2005 Awardee: Fraser Campbell

I really feel like I'm getting the best out of Berklee at the moment and am sure that it can only get better! I'd like to thank the trustees for helping me to experience this great opportunity

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 18
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

Perth-born Fraser started to play saxophone at the relatively late age of 14. His natural-born talent soon got him noticed and he gained a coveted place in Tommy Smith’s Youth Jazz Orchestra and in the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.

Fraser is the second Dewar Arts Award recipient to go to Berklee. According to Tommy Smith, Fraser was light years ahead of players his age before he went to Berklee College of Music. Since he’s been there, Fraser has continued to impress, making the Dean’s list (an American college honour for scoring consistently top marks across the board) in consecutive semesters.

Fraser wanted to study at Berklee because he believed that was where he would best develop musically as a jazz composer and performer. After his first year there, Tommy Smith said that he “definitely has all the tools at his disposal to become a truly great musician and ambassador for Scotland. Through his ever growing talents … I can see him go far.”

How the Award Helped

Fraser received a Dewar Arts Award to support his studies at Berklee College of Music, Boston.

Since the Award

Fraser graduated from Berklee with a dual major degree in Performance and Jazz Composition summa cum laude.  He also won the Quincy Jones Award, for excellence in Harmony and Performance.  At his graduation ceremony Fraser played one of his compositions.  Currently Fraser is getting himself established in the Scottish jazz scene.

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I really feel like I'm getting the best out of Berklee at the moment and am sure that it can only get better! I'd like to thank the trustees for helping me to experience this great opportunity

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2005 Awardee: David Gargaro

[My first year at Eastman] has been an exciting one. I have been happy, sad, amazed, disappointed and at all times overwhelmed with the whole experience.

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 18
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

A graduate of St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, David, from northern Scotland, is a trumpeter of enormous potential. Born in Munster, Germany, he was first introduced to music through the Kirkintilloch Silver Brass Band at the age of 9. He decided that he wanted to become a world-class trumpeter.

Throughout his early career, David has been a member of a variety of orchestras including the Edinburgh Symphony Baroque Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, the Scottish School’s Orchestra, the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra and Eastman Wind Orchestra. He is also a keen chamber musician.

David has won a number of music prizes including, in 2005, the Scottish Concerto competition playing the Shostakovich trumpet and piano concerto with fellow Dewar Arts Awardee, Chris Guild.

David gained an undergraduate place at a number of music colleges in the UK and in the US and decided to accept Eastman School of Music, Rochester in order to study with the renowned trumpeter, James Thompson.  He has also attended masterclasses and had lessons with Robert Early, Angela Whelan, Patrick Addinall and Mark Gould.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award is funding David to study at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester for four years.

Since the Award

David successfully graduated with a degree in trumpet performance.  During his studies at Eastman, David discovered a love and aptitude for conducting.  He continues to live in the States where he is pursuing a career in conducting.

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[My first year at Eastman] has been an exciting one. I have been happy, sad, amazed, disappointed and at all times overwhelmed with the whole experience.

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2005 Awardee: Craig MacDonald

The horn I bought from [the award] was paramount to the success I had last year and I firmly believe it will lead me through a successful professional career.

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 17
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

Hailing from Moray, Craig was nominated for an Award after he had been accepted to study music at RSAMD in Glasgow. He had been playing on an instrument that had seen better days, yet he had gained a place in the National Youth Orchestra, an exceptional achievement for a brass player who was still at school.

Considered by his tutor to be the most talented brass player to have come out of Moray, Craig won the Senior Solo Instrumental Recital class at the 2004 Moray Music Festival and was awarded an ‘Outstanding Certificate’, which is the highest accolade.

Now in his second year at RSAMD, Craig is principal of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.

How the Award Helped

Craig received a Daughter of Dewar Award to buy a professional standard French horn.

Since the Award

Craig writes that since buying a new horn ‘my career as a musician has taken off’ and attributes all his achievements to the new French horn.

Craig joined the successful brass quintet Alba Brass, which became the ensemble in residence for the ‘Young Composer of Dyfed’ competition in Wales. Later the quintet was invited to accompany the First Minister of Scotland to San Francisco to promote Scottish culture.

Craig also joined the newly-formed brass dectet, Phase X, composed of professional and college players, and became part of the wind quintet, Quintet Zambra. Zambra was runner up in the Governors Chamber Competition and winner of the Mary D Adams award for chamber music. The quintet performed the world premiere of John Maxwell Geddes’s wind quintet ‘Quango’.

Craig has played with a number of orchestras, which remains his final ambition, and writes that  having a new French horn has “really transformed my career and has given me the confidence to pursue my dreams.”

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The horn I bought from [the award] was paramount to the success I had last year and I firmly believe it will lead me through a successful professional career.

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2005 Awardee: Christopher Guild

I have laid myself excellent foundations for a most exciting and fruitful time in the... years to come

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 18
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

‘Spectacular’, ‘exquisite’ and ‘breathtaking’ are words used to describe Christopher’s prodigious talent as a pianist.  Born in Morayshire, of Scottish/Northumbrian descent, he has been hailed as one of Scotland’s most promising young musical talents.

Christopher started his musical education aged seven and entered St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh six years later.  Christopher’s former teacher at the school is in no doubt that he is an outstanding musician and pianist with unlimited potential.  Amongst his many achievements in piano performance are as Gold Medallist in the Chopin Society of Edinburgh’s competition class at the 2001 Perform Festival, and outright winner of the Moray Piano Competition in the same year, in which he was, and still is, the youngest ever winner.  At the St Mary’s Music School Director’s Recital Prize final, he was outright winner for his performance of Kenneth Leightons’ Five Studies for Piano.

More recently, Christopher performed at the Malcolm Arnold festival in Northampton where he gave the World Premier of Arnold’s Flamenco for solo piano.

Christopher was offered scholarships to all the major conservatoires, but chose the Royal College of Music, London where he is a Foundation Scholar of the piano, studying with the renowned pianist, Andrew Ball.

In his first year, Christopher won the Frankck Merrick Prize for the Best Performance of a Work by a Significant British Composer, adjudicated by Rolf Hind, at the College’s 20th Century Piano Competition.

How the Award Helped

Christopher received a Dewar Arts Award to support his studies at the Royal College of Music in London for four years.

Since the Award

After four intensive years of study at the Royal College of Music, Christopher graduated in 2009 with an outstanding first class honours. Included in the repertoire of his Final Recital was Elliott Carter’s Piano Sonata which Christopher now refers to as his ‘trademark’ piece. He will remain at the College for a further year to complete a Master of Music degree.

Christopher writes, “Thank you for all your generous support over the last few years.  It has not gone unappreciated as, without your help, what I have done and the great things I have achieved would have been impossible.”

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I have laid myself excellent foundations for a most exciting and fruitful time in the... years to come

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2005 Awardee: Chris MacDonald

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 16
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

Teenage piper, Chris MacDonald, started playing the bagpipes at 10 and is now one of the top young solo pipers in Scotland.

He is the first piper from Inverness to become a member of the National Youth Pipe Band. To achieve that honour he had to undergo a three-day audition and face competition from 200 other young hopefuls.

Chris has played in the world championships as a member of the Inverness Pipe Band and has won a number of solo competitions including the Inverness Music Festival and the Inverness Mod. At the age of 15 he opened the Inverness Highland Games.

His aim is to study traditional music at the RSAMD, Glasgow.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award enabled Chris to upgrade his bagpipes to a set of McCallum Bagpipes, which will help him continue to play at the level he is required.

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2005 Awardee: Catriona Hetherington

I am tremendously grateful for the Dewar Arts Award... every day I am thankful! Aside from practising really hard to get to grips with the Caprices myself, the documentation of the techniques is the hardest thing. In addition my brain is being forced to think more expansively than before… I'm relishing new challenges even if they're hard!

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 28
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

Cellist, Catriona Hetherington, loves extremely challenging repertoire. A specialist in unaccompanied solo cello performance, she has given solo recitals throughout the UK including a performance of all six Bach Suites over two consecutive nights at the RSAMD, Glasgow.

In 2002, she won a Young Soloists Award which led to performances in the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C as well as live on Fox Television. Since November 2002 Catriona has been part of Live Music Now!, which was founded by the late Yehudi Menuhin.

A graduate with distinction of RSAMD, Catrìona won various prizes including the Governor’s Recital Prize (Strings), the Violoncello Challenge Prize and the Hilda Anderson Deane Prize.  Since graduating, she has studied with Robert Cohen in Lugano, Maria Kliegel and Anner Bylsma and has performed for Mstislav Rostropovich.

Catriona is now undertaking an equally challenging practice-based PhD at the RSAMD into violinistic technique on the cello and the performance on the cello of the 24 Paganini Violin Caprices.

As part of her final submission, she will produce a DVD of demonstrations of violinistic techniques and performances of Paganini Violin Caprices Opus 1 for the cello together with written editions of the Caprices.

Early in 2006, as part of her research, Catriona went to the US to view the biggest cello archive in the world and to consult with 87-year-old cellist George Neikrug. Mr Neikrug was very enthusiastic and encouraging about her research and her own cello playing. In turn, Catriona was thrilled to meet one of the last living links to cellist Emanuel Feuermann, who lived in the first half of the 20th century, and was famous for playing the cello with the ease of a violinist.

How the Award Helped

Catriona received a Dewar Arts Award to support her doctoral research.

Since the Award

The original intention was for Catriona to submit for a PhD, however, because of the scope of her research, it was decided that submission for an MPhil was more appropriate.  In 2008 Catriona was successful in gaining an MPhil. It was written of her that “one of the most pleasing aspects of Catriona’s work over the past three years is the intellectual and artistic journey she has made and the maturity of thought she has gained.”

Catriona writes that she hopes that “given that this was research into very advanced cello playing, some cellists may take an interest and use my ideas to further their playing.”

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I am tremendously grateful for the Dewar Arts Award... every day I am thankful! Aside from practising really hard to get to grips with the Caprices myself, the documentation of the techniques is the hardest thing. In addition my brain is being forced to think more expansively than before… I'm relishing new challenges even if they're hard!

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2005 Awardee: Carla Caramujo

It is with enormous gratitude and honour that I accept the Award

YEAR OF AWARD: 2005
AGE AT AWARD: 27
ARTFORMS: , ,
 
 
 

Biography

The Dewar Arts Awards are not just for exceptionally talented young Scots. They can also support exceptionally talented young artists from all over the world, who are currently living and working in Scotland.

Carla Caramujo is one of two Portuguese opera students to receive an Award while she studied at the RSAMD, Glasgow. Carla came to Glasgow after studying with Laura Sarti at the Guildhall School in London. She is ‘an exciting young lyric coloratura soprano with a voice of outstanding quality’ and possesses a voice with instinctive musicianship, impressive range and great potential.

Already a winner of a number of competitions, including first prize in the Musikförderpreis for voice and piano at the Hans-Sachs-Loge in Nuremberg, Germany (with Maki Yoneta on piano), Carla is a vibrant and focused performer with great dramatic potential.

How the Award Helped

Carla received a Dewar Arts Award to assist her in her operatic studies at the RSAMD, Glasgow

Since the Award

Carla gained a Master of Opera degree with Distinction from the RSAMD. Since graduation, Carla has worked in the UK, Portugal and Mexico. She sang the role of Madame Herz in Mozart’s The Impresario in the Teatro das Figuras, Faro. She was invited to audition for La Scala, Milan.

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It is with enormous gratitude and honour that I accept the Award

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