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An evening at Fishmongers’ Hall
This November valued supporters of Young Sounds UK were invited for an evening of music and history at the magnificent Fishmongers’ Hall. This was an opportunity for young musicians supported by our Thrive programme to perform in front of a large and generous audience and a chance for our donors to witness first-hand just some of the remarkable beneficiaries from Young Sounds’ past and present.
Our Venue
Situated on the River Thames, the hall is a Grade II-listed building with a unique history and rich architectural heritage. The hall’s beautiful ceremonial rooms are home to a valuable and diverse collection of artefacts and paintings, most famously Pietro Annigoni’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Our guests were treated to an introduction from Peter Capon, Head of Collections & Projects, who shared the building’s captivating history.
Our Hosts
Our comperes for the evening were Young Sounds Alumni and former Trustees, Mahaliah Edwards and Caius Lee. They’d previously hosted our online concert in 2020 and it was great to see them together again. To our surprise this was the first time they had met in person, having previously been on the board during the pandemic! You wouldn’t have known it based on their easy-going chemistry – a wonderful pairing! They guided the audience through the festivities, generously sharing their own experiences with Young Sounds and speaking with the young performers.
Our performers
The first performance of the evening came from 18-year-old violinist Sasha. Supported by Young Sounds for the first time this year, thanks to the Robert Lewin Award, Sasha began his musical journey at just three years old. He dreamed of attending the Yehudi Menuhin School and won a place there aged 12. He currently studies violin and composition at the Royal College of Music. Sasha kicked things off with blistering performances of pieces by Bloch and Tchaikovsky.
Our second performer was 14-year-old flautist Mayukhjit . Supported by the Young Sounds/Milap Fellowship Award, Mayukhjit began his musical journey on the recorder aged five and it’s been a whirlwind of musical successes ever since! He started learning the bansuri (Indian flute) when he was seven, and after a brief interlude on the violin he now studies western flute at Junior Guildhall School of Music to diploma level. He’s currently part of one of the most prestigious Gurukul of Indian Flute Maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Mayuk will be familiar to those who watched our 2023 online concert. For this event he performed both on the bansuri and the flute, switching between the two.
His performance was the premiere of, How Does the Earth Speak, a piece commissioned by Young Sounds and composed by 19-year-old Alumna Maddy Chassar-Hesketh. It was written in response to the question and features two movements, ‘Organically’ and ‘As might be expected’. Maddy was supported by us for three years, thanks to the Robert Lewin Award, John Lewis Partnership Award for Innovation and the Matthew Rye Award for Composition. She began seriously composing using Logic and Sibelius software aged 14 and entered her first composition into the BBC Young Composers Competition lower junior category. This accelerated her journey into composition, and she has now won the competition twice, resulting in two performances and recordings by BBC orchestras and a commission performed at the BBC Proms.
We were delighted that many of our Patrons joined us too, including Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Tasmin Little and Gavin Higgins. On stage we were privileged to hear Patron Thomas Gould play alongside three young musicians. A soloist with an emphasis on contemporary repertoire, Thom’s forays into the diverse worlds of jazz improvisation, historical performance and electric violin have made him a highly sought-after collaborator working in a wide array of roles and genres.
In September Thom led a violin masterclass for several of our accomplished violinists. This followed his virtual masterclasses for us, run throughout the pandemic, which he recalled fondly in his introduction. For the evening’s performances he was joined by participants at the in-person masterclass for a performance of Grazyna Bacewicz’s Quartet for four violins: 17-year-old Teagan (The John Jackson Award) 13-year-old Zarema (The Peta Martin Award) and a returning Sasha.
Our final performance came from 15-year-old pianist Benjamin. Supported by Young Sounds for three years, he was given an incredible introduction from his mother Esther who spoke about her son’s talent, and the challenges faced by young people and their parents in fulfilling their musical potential. Ben gave a stunning and eclectic performance of Rachmaninov, Chopin and Gershwin. It was a tremendous end to a tremendous evening!
Thank you
We’d like to extend our thanks to Mahaliah Edwards and Caius Lee for hosting the evening. Peter Capon, Head of Collections & Projects at Fishmongers’ Company; Ella Hiddleston, Ella Cullinan-Hollihead and the whole Fishmongers’ events team; and the Fishmongers’ Company Charitable Trust for their support of this event. Many thanks too to Anna Tilbrook for accompaniment on piano, Richard Farnes for his photography and our wonderful Patron Thomas Gould for his performance.
Give musical talent a chance
In order to develop and expand our work we rely on the committed generosity of hundreds of supporters. Will you join them so that more young people have the chance of a musical life?