Recent alumni successes at Guildhall School

Sarah Lancashire

At Guildhall School we watch the work of all our alumni with immense pride. Here are just a few highlights from 2024 so far.

 

From the Acting department:

  • Sarah Lancashire OBE FGS (Acting 1986) won the BAFTA Television Award for Leading Actress for her role in Happy Valley, and Paapa Essiedu FGS (Acting 2012) and Dominic West FGS (Acting 1995) were nominated for Leading Actor in The Lazarus Project and The Crown respectively. 
  • Toheeb Jimoh (Acting 2018), Tyreke Leslie (2022) and Amber James (Acting 2015) have all been nominated for the Ian Charleson Awards 2024. 
  • Joseph Fiennes FGS (Acting 1993) was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actor for Dear England and Zubin Varla (Acting 1992) received a nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for A Little Life. 
  • Samantha Béart (Acting 2009) won Best Voice Performance in this year’s G.A.N.G. Awards for their portrayal of Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3, they also picked up a BAFTA Games nomination for Performer in a Leading Role.

 

From the Music department:

  • Alan Williams (Piano 2002) was the winner of the Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Contribution for their Musical Supervision and Musical Direction of Sunset Boulevard. Steve Sidwell (trumpet, piano, composition and orchestration 1982) was nominated in the same category for their Orchestrations for Operation Mincemeat, which won Best New Musical.
  • Adiescar Chase (Composition 2017) was nominated for the BAFTA Television Award for Original Music: Fiction for Netflix hit Heartstopper.
  • Junior Guildhall alumnus Rob Burton (Saxophone 2017) was named in Classic FM's 2024 Rising Stars.
  • Dr Raymond Yiu (Composition 2014) premiered his new Violin Concerto at the Barbican in March, performed by Esther Yoo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. 
  • Lila Palmer (Opera Making & Writing 2016) has been appointed General & Artistic Director at New Orleans Opera.
  • Alexandra Lowe (Opera 2019) and Patrick Milne (Piano 2017) received a BBC Music Magazine Newcomer Award for their album Le Voyage.
  • Guildhall alumni were recognised at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards: Nicky Spence OBE (Vocal 2009) won the Singer award, Laurence Osborn (Composition 2015) won the Chamber-Scale Composition award for their work TOMB!, Sara Lee FGS (Clarinet 1985) received the Gamechanger award for their work with the Irene Taylor Trust and Nilufar Habibian (Composition 2019) was nominated for the Chamber-Scale Composition award for their work Az nahāyate tāriki (From the deep end of darkness). 
  • Ensemble Aglica Trio made up of Agnieszka Zyniewicz (Viola 2019), Lise Vandersmissen (Harp 2019) and Carys Gittins (Flute 2019) won the Supernova competition in Antwerp, Belgium.
  • A recording of Thomas Adès' (Piano, Opera and Percussion 1988) piece Dante won in the Best Orchestral Performance category at the 2024 Grammy Awards.
  • George Curnow (Vocal 2022) and Michael Lafferty (Vocal 2021) were both announced as Glyndebourne Opera Jerwood Young Artists for 2024.
  • Alex Groves (Composition 2023) and Eden Lonsdale (Composition 2021) have been named 24/25 Magnum Opus composers with Britten Sinfonia.
  • Antonio Oyarzabal (Piano 2017) gave their debut recital at Wigmore Hall.
  • Rosalind Ventris (Viola 2012) was nominated for the BBC Music Magazine Award for Sola, an album of music for viola by women composers.
  • Shabaka Hutchings FGS (Clarinet 2007) released a new flute-led album to rave reviews.
  • Jonathan Bloxham (Cello 2014) is joining the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie as their new Chief Conductor for the beginning of the 2024/2025 season. 
  • Teresa Wrann (Recorders 2021) and Thomas Pickering (Recorders 2022) won the Royal Overseas League’s Mixed Ensembles Prize with their innovative and brilliant early music group Apollo’s Cabinet. They have also received much acclaim for their debut album Musical Wanderlust, which features narration by Alexander Armstrong.

 

From the Production Arts Department:

 

We are always keen to hear and share news of our alumni so please get in touch at alumni@gsmd.ac.uk or call 0203 834 1592.