Double Bassist Strahinja Mitrović wins Guildhall School’s Music Gold Medal 2024
Guildhall School of Music & Drama is pleased to announce double bassist Strahinja Mitrović as the winner of this year’s Gold Medal, the School’s most prestigious music prize for outstanding musicians.
The prize is awarded to instrumentalists and singers in alternate years, and this year saw Strahinja and fellow finalists harpist Heather Brooks and clarinettist Kosuke Shirai take to the Barbican Hall stage on Wednesday 1 May.
The instrumentalists each performed a concerto with Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, conducted by School alumnus Jonathan Bloxham. Strahinja’s winning performance of Nino Rota’s Divertimento Concertante for Double Bass impressed the audience as well as the judges. Finalists Heather and Kosuke gave brilliant performances of works by Ginastera and Copland, respectively.
Strahinja says: “I am really honoured to be the first double bassist to win this competition since it was founded, and to have the opportunity to share the stage with my very dear friends and fellow finalists, Heather and Kosuke. It was a wonderful evening that I’ll never forget. I am thankful to the musicians in the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and the direction of Jonathan Bloxham, all of whom provided such excellent playing and musicianship.”
This year’s distinguished panel of judges were Guildhall School’s Vice-Principal & Director of Music Armin Zanner, Chief Executive of Britten Pears Arts Roger Wright CBE, Director of Maestro Arts Emma Sweetland and Barbican’s newly appointed Head of Music Helen Wallace.
Serbian double bass player Strahinja Mitrovi is a final year undergraduate at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, studying with Luis Cabrera and Louise Hopkins. Strahinja has performed across 13 countries in renowned concert halls such as the Berliner Philharmonie, Munich’s Hercules Hall, London’s Barbican Hall, the Paris Philharmonie and Brussels’ Queen Elizabeth Hall, under the batons of conductors including András Keller, Roberto González-Monjas, Kristjan Järvi, Benjamin Haemhouts and Fuad Ibrahimov.
The Gold Medal award was founded and endowed by Sir H. Dixon Kimber in 1915, and has continued annually, uninterrupted even throughout two world wars and the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 1950 it has been open to singers and instrumentalists in alternate years. Previous winners include William Primrose (1922), Jacqueline du Pré (1960), Patricia Rozario (1979), Tasmin Little (1986) and Sir Bryn Terfel (1989).
Recent Gold Medal winners are forging impressive careers. Winner of the 2022 Gold Medal, Stephanie Tang is currently undertaking a number of engagements across the UK and enjoying collaborations as a chamber musician with Guildhall School’s award-winning Paddington Trio. Soohong Park, winner of the Gold Medal in 2020, continues to perform internationally and has begun to explore composition which has seen him earn a prize from the Jeju World Cultural Preservation Society. Winner of the 2018 Gold Medal, Yeonjoon Yoon returns to Guildhall School on Friday 17 May with a project of original works inspired by the sounds and sceneries of South Korea, fusing classical music and Korean traditional music in Um [Sprouting]. Last year’s winner, mezzo soprano Alexandra Achillea Pouta continues to explore music through improvisation and collaboration, and has been Artist in Residence at Britten Pears Arts along with composer Thomas Fournil.
The Gold Medal final is part of Guildhall School’s summer events season.