2025 Winners

Jo Cole won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music aged 16, to study with Florence Hooton and David Strange. After further private study with Ralph Kirshbaum, classes with Pierre Fournier and William Pleeth and a period as Principal Cello of the European Union Youth Orchestra she embarked on a freelance career, playing as a member of the Academy of St Martins for over twenty years and as Co Principal Cello of the City of London Sinfonia and the Orchestra of St Johns.

Jo has played regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra since 1984 and has appeared as Guest Principal at the Royal Opera House, Opera North, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She has also regularly been invited to take prominent chairs in many other major prestigious orchestras and ensembles including over twenty world premieres as cellist in both the Goldberg Ensemble, and in the chamber group Gemini, many of which have been recorded. Chamber music figures substantially in her performing experience and she has recorded English Cello Sonatas and Piano Trios for the BMS label and the Roberto Gerhard Cello Sonata and Piano Trio for Métier, as well as featuring as a soloist on several award-winning discs with the City of London Sinfonia.

After over two decades of high-level professional playing, in 2006 Jo took the position of Deputy Head of Strings at the Royal Northern College of Music, with special responsibility for orchestral training. She joined the staff at the Royal Academy of Music as Head of Strings in September 2010. Jo continues to perform as both an orchestral musician and in smaller ensembles when her teaching commitments permit.

Jo regularly receives invitations to teach in international conservatoires and on advanced level summer courses. She uses these opportunities to share her thinking not only on cello playing but her strong belief that musicians should have a broad grasp of all forms of performance and be immersed in all of the arts in order to have fulfilling careers and be communicative artists. Jo has spoken at UCAS [University and Colleges Admissions Service] conferences and Higher Education training events on conservatoire auditioning and has been an external examiner at the RCM, the RNCM, Birmingham Conservatoire, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Royal Irish Academy, the Purcell School and St Mary’s Music School. Jo has been a member of the ESTA Council and is currently a Trustee of both the Tillett Trust, which supports young professional musicians at the start of their careers and also of the Pierre Fournier Award – a competition for the promotion and support of exceptionally gifted young cellists.

Jo was appointed Visiting Professor in Cello at Shanghai University, China, in November 2015, and in March 2016 she was appointed Professor of Music by the University of London and made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.

Jo stepped down as Head of Strings at the Royal Academy of Music in July 2022 embracing the opportunity to expand her activities externally in both performing and writing but remains as Professor of Cello there with a large studio of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Many of her former students hold prominent positions in major orchestras worldwide.

Li Sheng was born in China in 1976. Currently, and is the viola professor and the Joint Head Department for Strings, Woodwind, Brass and Percussion at The Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He was a visiting viola professor at the Royal College of Music (2019-2021) and an artist in residence at Curtis Institute of Music (2019).

Mr Sheng has published his book concentrating on viola teaching in Chinese (320k words) Viola Performance and Teaching. He was also the main person in charge of the nationwide project Excellent String Players Training Program which was founded by the China National Arts Fund.

Mr Sheng has given numerous masterclasses around the world including United States, Canada, England, Germany, South Korea. He has also served on jury in many competitions such as Anton Rubinstein Viola Competition, XI International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, Vienna Classic Strings International Competition, 15th LISMA International Music Competition and Global Tchaikovsky Online Competition.

Born in Vienna in 1956, Thomas Riebl studied with S.Führlinger, Peter Schidlof and Sandor Vegh.

He won 3rd prize in Munich (ARD) in 1976, and in 1982 won first prize at the International Naumburg Competition, New York.

He has performed with leading orchestras including the Chicago, Berlin and Vienna Symphony, the Bavarian, Vienna and Finish Radio Symphony Orchestras, and with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Horst Stein, Edo de Waart, Andrew Davies and Sylvain Cambreling.

His chamber music partners have included Jessie Norman, Andras Schiff, Oleg Maisenberg, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Gidon Kremer, Natalia Gutman, Sabine Meyer, and leading string quartets.

He was a member of the Franz Schubert Quartet (1972-1979) and the Vienna String Sextet (1979 - 2004).

Since 1983, Thomas Riebl has been a professor at the University Mozarteum Salzburg. Many of his students have won international competitions, have joined leading string quartets or symphony orchestras and have become professors at music universities.

He has given numerous master classes worldwide, and has recorded for EMI, RCA, pan classics and Hyperion Records.

He is artistic director of the Internationale Sommerakademie Bad Leonfelden, Austria.

In 2011 he developed, together with luthier Bernd Hiller, a five string tenor viola, on which he performes F.Schubert´s Arpeggione Sonata, J.S.Bach´s lute version of his 5th cello suite, his 6th cello suite, Mozart´s clarinet concerto (the original basset clarinet version), as well as recently written pieces for this instrument, including the “Toccata for Thomas” by Garth Knox.

Garfield’s earliest lessons were with Beryl Morreau, she had been a viola student of Lionel Tertis and a founder member of the McNaughten String Quartet between the wars. Under her guidance Garfield made rapid progress and after eighteen months was accepted as a pupil at the then recently formed Yehudi Menuhin School. His memories of Mrs Morreau were of happy musical times, and he particularly remembers playing violin-viola duets with her and the sound of her wonderful old viola.

A scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music enabled him to study viola with Peter Schidlof and Stephen Shingles.

In 1978 he became a founding member of the Endellion String Quartet and remained with them for 42 years. The quartet toured extensively worldwide and recorded for EMI, Virgin Classics, and Warner Classics. The recording of their complete Beethoven cycle (including the viola quintets) was met with high acclaim. For over 28 years they were quartet in residence at Cambridge University where they coached chamber music as well as giving regular performances. During this time, they were presented the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award.
Garfield has also performed chamber music with many established international groups, including the Amadeus, Chillingirian, Skampa and Kuss Quartets, and the Nash Ensemble. Since 1979 he has regularly attended Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove including concerts with Sandor Vegh, Andras Schiff and Ferenc Rados. He has enjoyed collaborating with many international artists including Atar Arad, Bruno Guirana, Thomas Riebl, Tabea Zimmerman, Maxim Vengerov, Joshua Bell, Norbert Brainin, Sir Stephen Hough, and Steven Isserlis.

As a soloist, Garfield has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Centre, and has also broadcast several times for the BBC.
Garfield has held teaching positions at Cambridge University, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Northern College of Music and Chamber Studio. He has has also held visiting teaching positions at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Yale and Bloomington in the USA, and music academies in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Ásdís Valdimarsdóttir comes from Reykjavík, Iceland. She is based in the Netherlands and enjoys a varied career as a musician, violist, and teacher. Ásdís has been a member of many well-known ensembles; most notably as principal viola of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the violist of three major string quartets; The Miami, Chilingirian and Utrecht string quartets.

She has made numerous CD and radio recordings with these ensembles. More recently she has recorded with the Dutch label Zefir records. Her double CD with the title ‘The Voice of the Viola in times of oppression’ with the pianist Marcel Worms was chosen as CD of the year 2019 and given a 10 by the Dutch music magazine Luister. They include works by some less well-known Jewish composers and some better-known great masters such as Shostakovich, Weinberg and Mendelsohn.

With her string trio, the Brunsvik String Trio, she recorded the complete String Trios of Beethoven for the composer’s 250th anniversary. Her recording with the title ‘Stolen Schubert’ contains her transcriptions for viola of works by Schubert; the Arpeggione Sonata, Hirt Auf dem Felsen, Auf dem Stom and songs from the Winterreise. It is recorded with gut strings on the viola and an Erard piano from 1851, with the pianist Edward Janning and the soprano Katharine Dain. Her latest project is the publication and recording of her arrangement of the recently discovered Fantasies for Gamba by G. F. Telemann. The arrangement is published by the French Publisher Billaudot and the recording was made with the Spanish Label HR Recordings in high resolution for streaming.

Ásdís Valdimarsdóttir has previously been on the faculty of the Trinity College and the Royal College of Music in London and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She currently teaches viola and chamber music at the Royal Conservatory The Hague. Since 2015 she has been a member of the Association of Body Mapping Educators and qualified as a teacher in November 2022. Body Mapping is a method for preventing physical injuries in musicians that is informed by the Alexander Technique and is an integral part of her teaching.

Charles Matthews studied at the Royal College of Music, London, and was an organ scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge. His teachers have included Beryl Tichbon, Gwilym Isaac, David Pettit, Patricia Carroll, Nicholas Danby, Charles Spinks and Dr Richard Marlow.

He has won numerous awards, including first and second prizes in international piano and organ competitions in Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. For his most recent CD recording he joins Louise Lansdown for Mzansi Viola, a programme of South African works for viola and piano. Details of other recordings can be found on the "Listen" and "Works" pages at his website www.charlesmatthews.co.uk.

Charles has performed for productions by the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet, and recorded music used in various theatres in Spain. Schott Music publish a collection of his compositions for flute and piano.

Charles is organist of St Catharine's Church, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, and also performs as a member of the Spire organ and electronics project. He works extensively with young people, acts as piano accompanist and organ tutor at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and regularly works on music courses in the UK and internationally. He is Musical Director of the Campden Chorus and Patron of Shipston Music Society.

Charles is married, with a son and two daughters.

Jennifer Carter was born in Bristol, and won major scholarships for every stage of her studies, also appearing on BBC Wales aged 16 playing in a masterclass with Richard MacMahon.
Jennifer has enjoyed playing in the Edinburgh Festival, LSO St Luke’s, the Bristol Colston Hall, the Barbican Centre, St James Piccadilly, St John's Smith Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Royal Albert Hall and Kings Place and has also toured Norway, France and Germany with her piano trios.

She won the Queen Mary II accompanists prize at the Guildhall, and works for Guildhall, the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music.
She has also performed Britten in LSO St Luke's with the Apollo Chamber Orchestra, and premiered the Carter piece at the Barbi-can Pit Theatre devised for her by the composer Michael Picknett.
Jennifer was a Junior Fellow in Accompaniment at the Royal Col-lege of Music, and was the first person to be awarded a further ex-tension of this fellowship for an unprecedented third year.
She has played for masterclasses with internationally acclaimed performers such as Sir John Tomlinson, Tabea Zimmerman, Ivry Gitlis, Nobuko Imai, Roderick Williams, Kim Kashkashian, Rebecca Evans, David Cohen, Alina Ibragimova, Thomas Riebl, James Gilchrist and Dame Felicity Lott.
Jennifer was also awarded the rarely bestowed Leonard Hancock Bursary for her work at the RCM. Jennifer performed recently at the V&A Museum, Palazzo Doria Pamphilij in Rome, St John's Smith Square, the Royal Opera House, the Oriental Club, the National Gallery and Lady Solti's house, as well as an appearance on Radio 3’s In Tune and performances with renowned baritone Roderick Williams.

Upcoming concerts include performances in Fidenza, Italy, mas-terclasses with Dame Ann Murray and performances with conduc-tor John Alley in Issigeac, France, and St John’s Smith Square.