| Samantha Ward began playing the piano at the age of eight before
gaining a full scholarship to Chetham’s School of Music five years
later. She is currently studying for a Masters degree at the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama in London, where she won scholarships
to study at both undergraduate and postgraduate level with the
Senior Professor, Joan Havill. Since making her concerto debut
in 2000 as a result of winning the Chetham’s concerto auditions,
Samantha has been offered concerto appearances with several orchestras
around the UK. She has given recitals, both solo and chamber music
in such venues as Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, St David’s Hall,
Cardiff, St James Church Piccadilly and St Martin in the Fields,
London, as well as around Europe. She has taken part in international
master classes with leading professors such as Jacques Rouvier,
Piotr Paleczny, Dominique Merlet and Boris Berman. |
| Whilst still
at Chetham’s, Samantha appeared on HTV Wales, S4C and Granada
television, as well as on Classic FM Radio and in the Classical
Music Magazine in January 2003. She was a prize winner in the
finals of the Texaco Young Musician of Wales Competition, the
Oxford Music Festival, and the Guildhall Beethoven and Romantic
Piano Prizes.
<p>More recently, Samantha won both the John Ireland Piano Award
at the Guildhall and the Making Music Award for Young Concert
Artists, giving Samantha concert promotion round the UK and a
concert in the Wigmore Hall and St Martin-in-the-Fields. Samantha
has also been invited to give a recital in the Leeds International
Concert Season 2005. She has recently won scholarships from the
Musicians’ Benevolent Fund, the Lake District International Summer
Music Festival and the Chamber Music International Summer Course.
Samantha has received bursaries from the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama, the City of Mitchell Trust, the Worshipful Company
of Tobacco Pipemakers, the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers
and the Leverhulme Trust, to further her studies at postgraduate
level. |
Samantha Ward