Arts & Culture
Newbury Spring Festival announces two joint winners of this year's Sheepdrive Piano Competition

By Tyler Ody

NEWBURY SPRING FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES TWO JOINT WINNERS OF 2021 SHEEPDROVE PIANO COMPETITION

After a weekend of closed and open heats, Nikita Lukinov from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Charles Tam from Guildhall School of Music and Drama shared the Kindersley Prize as winners of the 2021 Sheepdrove Piano Competition.

As part of their prize both pianists will share a lunch time recital on 20 September in Newbury Corn Exchange, the final event in the Festival’s 2021 programme.

The competition which this year had an emphasis on the works of Beethoven was judged by a distinguished panel:

Paul Lewis, Mikhail Kazakevich, Gordon Fergus-Thompson, David Whelton and Mark Eynon. 

Additional prizes were awarded to Yiyi Su and Giordano Buondonno.

Charles Tam also received the Audience Prize.

The Sheepdrove Piano Competition, now in its 12th year, is an important part of the Newbury Spring Festival and is held at the Sheepdrove Eco Centre, Lambourn.  The competition is open to piano students from all the major UK conservatories and was founded in 2009 by the Sheepdrove Trust in association with Newbury Spring Festival.

Mark Eynon, Festival Director said: “The Sheepdrove Piano Competition is central to the Newbury Spring Festival’s commitment to support and launch a new generation of young artists.  This year’s finalists are all extremely talented and it was the first time the jury decided to award a joint first prize. Congratulations to them all!”