Sevenoaks Young Musicians

The 2024 Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year competition was again of a very high standard. We have invited two of the competitors, pianist Yuxin Pu, and double bassist Nathan Perry, to play for us. We were influenced not just by the impressiveness of their playing (we could have chosen any one of several pianists) but particularly by their choice of repertoire.

Programme:

Yuxin Pu (piano):

• Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin;
• Mozart Sonata in B flat, K.333;
• Berio Six Encores

Nathan Perry (double bass); Tom Yang (piano)

Programme:

• Montag: Sonata in E minor for Double Bass and Piano;
• Schubert: Nacht und Träume;
• Tabakov: Motivy;
• J.C. Bach: Adagio;
• Bottesini: Fantasia on ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’

Born in London, Nathan Perry started playing the double bass aged 8. A year later he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he studied with Caroline Emery and graduated in 2023. Continuing his studies with Caroline, he is currently a second year at the Royal College of Music, supported by a full ABRSM Scholarship.

Recent awards include 1st prize at the RCM Double Bass Competition 2024, 3rd prize at the International Society of Bassists Under 30s Solo Competition 2023, String Category Winner of Gregynog Young Musician of the Year 2022, and Prizewinner at the Haslemere International String Competition 2023. Nathan has performed as a soloist with the Dorking Chamber Orchestra and Menuhin School Orchestra, along with solo appearances at the Lichfield Festival, North Norfolk Music Festival, and in London’s Kings Place. Along with fellow RCM bassist Levi Andreassen, he was featured in a duo performance on the Menuhin School’s first commercial album with Orchid Classics, ‘Around the World in 80 Minutes’.

Nathan is an avid chamber and orchestral musician, and enjoys an active freelance career. He regularly performs with outstanding ensembles such as Le Foyer des Artistes, LGT Young Soloists, Orpheus Sinfonia and Sinfonia Cymru, and has worked with many renowned conductors, including the late Sir Andrew Davies, Martyn Brabbins and Jac van Steen.

Tom Yang, currently a student at Cambridge University, began his musical journey at the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he studied from the age of 8. A versatile performer, Tom has appeared at venues across the UK, from King's Place in London to Blair Atholl in Scotland. He frequently collaborates with fellow musicians, winning the Young Accompanist Award at Gregynog Young Musician of the Year 2022. In a different capacity as a composer, Tom worked with Orchid Classics- having his own orchestral arrangement recorded for the Menuhin School’s, ‘Around the World in 80 Minutes’.