Guildhall School Gold Medal 2022 – Barbican Hall
12th May 2022The Gold Medal, is the Guildhall School’s most prestigious award for musicians, and was originally endowed in 1915. The competition for the Medal alternates each year between singers and musicians, and this year it was the turn of the musicians. There were three finalists – two pianists (William Bracken and Stephanie Tang) and a violinist, Krystof Kohout. I confess to a complete lack of appreciation of classical music, but I was fortunate to be guided in these things by the Mistress, the Master-Elect, and his wife Sharon, and by PM Charles Miller. All three musicians, and the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra which supported them, were outstanding. It was clear that the violin concerto by Alban Berg was especially challenging, but (to my untrained ears) the Brahms Piano Concerto played by Stephanie Tang was the most enjoyable, and it was Stephanie to whom the judges awarded the Gold Medal. Congratulations to all of the musicians, and many thanks to the Acting Principal of GSMD, Jonathan Vaughan, for hosting us.