Sweet sounds from Joshua and Bruce
02 Nov 2020
The judge was looking for stage presence, interpretation and audience involvement and violinist Joshua Hooker and pianist Bruce Chen turned it all on to win their sections of the Sedley Wells 2020 Music Competition.
An audience of around 60 turned out in the Assembly Hall on 27 October to hear the 16 entries, 10 seniors and six juniors, with Joshua impressing adjudicator Alex Goodwin with his performance of Violin Concerto No 1, 1st movement by Niccolo Paganini. Pianist Bruce Chen’s performance of Rhapsody in B minor, No. 1 by Johannes Brahms swept away the opposition in the senior section. Others to catch the judge’s eye with highly commended placings were James Drury and Edward Nye in the junior section, and Ollie Jones, John-Paul Lay and Justin Hodges in the senior section.
The evening’s contest opened with performances by the Combined Orchestra.