Meet our 2021 Music Gold Medal Finalists

Guildhall School’s premier music prize was founded and endowed by Sir H. Dixon Kimber in 1915 and since the 1950s it has been open to singers and instrumentalists in alternate years. Previous winners include Jacqueline du Pré (1960), Tasmin Little (1986), and Bryn Terfel (1989).

The Gold Medal has never missed a year, continuing even through two world wars, and so the pandemic was not going to stop the 2020 event going ahead. To allow for social distancing, the musicians' performances took place simultaneously across three different venues, and were synced using the School's groundbreaking low latency Dante network.

This year the Gold Medal returns to Barbican Hall, and will be broadcast online for free via Guildhall School's website from 7pm on Saturday 8 May. It's the year of the singers, and the 2021 finalists are tenor Thando Mjandana, soprano Laura Lolita Perešivana, soprano Olivia Boen and baritone Tom Mole. Scroll down to find out more about these four outstanding Guildhall School vocalists.

The 2021 Gold Medal is dedicated to the memory of Adrian Thorne
 

Thando Mjandana

Tenor

Place of birth South Africa

Performing in the Gold Medal Final: Songs and arias by Bellini, Mbeki Mbali, Leoncavallo, Donizetti and Mozart.

Training University of Cape Town; Cape Town Opera; currently second year Guildhall School Opera Course studying with Adrian Thompson.

Scholarships Lesley Ferguson Scholarship; Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.

Competitions 2nd runner up and Song Prize, Voices of South Africa International Singing Competition.

Experience Haydn Creation, KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra; Mozart Requiem, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Petite messe solenelle, North London Chorus; Renzo, The Little Green Swallow, Peppe Rita, Guildhall School; Nelson Porgy and Bess, ENO; Ariodante, Royal Opera House; Porgy and Bess, Dutch National Opera; Il viaggio a Reims, La traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Carmen, Rigoletto, Mandela Trilogy, Porgy and Bess, Sibusiso Njeza’s Blood of Mine, Angelique Mouyis’s The Blue-Eyed Xhosa, University of Cape Town; Tamino Die Zaubertflöte, Cape Town Opera; Count Almaviva Il barbiere di Sivilglia, Royal Opera House (Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Performance 2019).

Future plans Nemorino L’elisir d’amore, Waterperry Opera, August 2021; Jette Parker Young Artists Programme 2021/2022.
 

Laura Lolita Perešivana

Soprano

Place of birth Riga, Latvia

Performing in the Gold Medal Final: Songs and arias by by Jake Heggie, R. Schumann, Vītols, Rachmaninov, Alyabyev, Handel and Rossini.

Training BMus (1 and 2), Royal Academy of Music; BMus (Hons) in Vocal Studies, Guildhall School; currently second year Guildhall School Opera course studying with Janice Chapman.

Scholarships Derek Butler Trust Scholarship; City of London Scholarship; Mercers’ Scholarship.

Competitions Extraordinary Prize, Tenor Viñas International Singing Competition; Very Highly Commended, London Song Festival Schubert Prize.

Experience Wigmore Hall lunchtime concert; Pushkin House Russian Music Festival; Barbarina The Little Green Swallow, Rita Rita, The Princess La bella dormente nel bosco, Guildhall School; Zerlina Don Giovanni, British Youth Opera; Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Berlin Opera Academy; Lauretta Gianni Schicchi, The Latvian National Opera House; First Knabe Die Zauberflöte, The Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre; Georg Solti Accademia 2020.

Future plans Berenice L’occasione fa il ladro, British Youth Opera.
 

Olivia Boen

Soprano

Place of birth Chicago, USA

Performing in the Gold Medal Final: Songs and arias by Messiaen, Marx, Maconchy, Rachmaninov, Leoncavallo, R. Strauss and Carlisle Floyd.

Training BMus, Oberlin Conservatory of Music; Masters in Vocal Studies, Guildhall School; currently second year Guildhall School Opera Course studying with Samantha Malk.

Scholarships Walter Hyde Memorial Prize; Innholders’ Scholarship; Tracy Chadwell Memorial Prize; The Frank Huntington Beebe Fund for Musicians grant recipient.

Competitions Winning Duo, London Song Festival British Art Song Competition 2019; Third Place, Hurn Court Opera Singing Competition 2019; Semi-finalist, International Hilde Zadek Singing Competition 2019; Winner, Musicians Club of Women 2018; Second Place, North Shore Choral Society 2018.

Experience London Song Festival, LSO at St. Luke’s, Wigmore Hall, and Preston Bradley Hall; masterclasses with Renée Fleming, Marilyn Horne, Dame Felicity Lott, Thomas Hampson, Roderick Williams  and Kate Royal; Shostakovich Symphony No 14; Rossini Petite messe solennelle; Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Handel Messiah; training at Verbier Festival (2019) and Ravinia Steans Music Institute (2018). Operatic experience: Queen Mother The Little Green Swallow, Countess Susanna Il segreto di Susanna; Attendant/Second Woman Dido and Aeneas, Peaseblossom A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Guildhall School; Erste Dame Die Zauberflöte, Die Stimme des Falken Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Verbier Festival; Alcina Alcina, Thérèse Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Oberlin Opera Theater; Lauretta Gianni Schicchi, Norina Don Pasquale, Romilda Serse, Oberlin in Italy.

Future plans Donna Anna (cover), Nevill Holt Opera Young Artist; French Song Exchange, Wigmore Hall; Samling Institute; recital with Hurn Court Opera on 28 June.
 

Tom Mole

Baritone

Place of birth England, UK

Performing in the Gold Medal Final: Songs and arias by Rachmaninov, Wolf, Finzi, Moss, Stravinsky, Verdi and Bizet.

Training BMus (1st class Hons) in Vocal Studies, Guildhall School; currently second year Guildhall School Opera Course studying with John Evans.

Scholarships Carpenters’ Company Henry Osborne Award Scholarship.

Experience King Tartaglia/Calmon The Little Green Swallow, Count Gil Il segreto di Susanna, Pimp Zanetto, Count Horn Un ballo in Maschera, Aeneas Dido and Aeneas, Snug A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Guildhall School; Opera Holland Park Young Artists 2019; Alidoro La Cenerentola, British Youth Opera.

Future plans Kligin Káťa Kabanová, chorus Luisa Miller, Glyndebourne Festival (2021 Jerwood Young Artist); Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel, Philharmonia Orchestra (opening night of Three Choirs Festival, conducted by Samuel Hudson).
 

The Gold Medal Final is available to watch on demand for free from 7pm on Saturday 8 May via Guildhall School's website.