Yamaha Education Projects

Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarships

The 2010 YMFE UK winners and judges. Left to right: Bill Martin (Yamaha's education liaison manager), Nicholas Pendlebury (Trinity College of Music, chair of judges), Yoshika Masuda (RNCM, cello), Mikhail Nemstov (RNCM, cello), Jaifeng Chen (RCM, violin), Peter Esswood (RWCMD, judge) and Malcolm Layfield (RNCM, judge). Our fourth judge Peter Lissauer (RSAMD) was not available for the photo.

in 2009-10 Yamaha Music UK took over the management of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe (YMFE) scholarships in the Republic of Ireland, as well as the UK event which it has run for many years.

In 2010 we celebrate the 20th anniversary of YMFE with the 21st annual events in the UK and Republic of Ireland. In 25 European countries under-25s studying full-time music at HE-level competed for some 37 scholarships awards, with a total scholarship fund of £56,000, which aims to support Europe's most gifted and talented young musicians as they complete their studies and embark on professional careers.

Each year the discipline for the YMFE scholarships rotates: year 1 is piano; year 2, brass/woodwind and the year 3 discipline itself rotates between voice, percussion and strings. This year was the turn of orchestral strings and we really felt we were being given a glimpse of some of tomorrow's top professionals, who each gave spell-binding recitals at the events in the UK and Ireland, none of which would have been out of place on any international music stage.

We are fortunate enough to work with world-class judges for the YMFE events, who are usually heads of the relevant instrumental faculty at the host country's leading conservatoires and 2010 was no exception.

YMFE in the UK

In the UK John Todd (head of strings, Birmingham Conservatoire) helped us shortlist the incredibly high standard of the UK entries down to 10 finalists, who came from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), the Royal Academy of Music (RAM), the Royal College of Music (RCM) and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (GSMD). Each of the 10 finalists then gave a 30-minute recital, kindly hosted by our colleagues and friends at London's Royal Academy of Music on 1 February 2010, before our distinguished judging panel, led by chair of judges Nicholas Pendelbury (head of strings, Trinity College of Music), with Peter Esswod (head of strings, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), Malcolm Layfield (head of strings, RNCM) and Peter Lissauer (head of strings, RSAMD). The UK event provides scholarships toatlling £6,000 for three winners, of equal standing, and this year we congratulate Jiafeng Chen (RCM, violin), Yoshika Masuda (RNCM, cello) and Mikhail Nemstov (RNCM, cello) and wish them every success with their future careers.

YMFE in the Irish Republic

In the Republic of Ireland the entries came from the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) and Cork Institute of Technology's Cork School of Music (CSM). We were delighted to meet and work for the first time with our judges Elizabeth Csibi (head of strings, Royal Irish Academy of Music) and Adrian Petcu (professor of strings, Cork School of Music at Cork Institute of Technology). The finalists' event for Ireland was hosted by Pianos Plus, Dublin, on 4 February 2010. Once again the standard was very high, which is a testament to the excellent teaching at both conservatoires. All four musicians produced some wonderful performances but the judges finally chose cellist Sarah Joyce (RIAM) as the 2010 YMFE scholarship winner for Ireland, who received a cheque worth £2,000 (sterling) and who commented on her success in the competition in the video below.

Above: video Interview with the 2010 Republic of Ireland YMFE winner, cellist Sarah Joyce

Above: video Interview with the 2009 winners: L-R: Dom Childs, Hannah Morgan, Tom Poulson

For several years Yamaha has made orchestral strings, which range from student instruments to handcrafted models, as well as electric and 'Silent' strings.

More information and application forms for the UK's annual YMFE scholarship can be found on the dedicated YMFE website.

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(updated: August 2010)