Berkeley Guitar Award 2015

The class for the Lennox Berkeley Society Award for Guitar was held on 1 February 2015 at Headington School, as part of the Oxford Music Festival. It was the final class of a whole day of guitar classes adjudicated by Helen Sanderson, founder and director of the World Youth Guitar Festival – just one of the activities of this accomplished recitalist, teacher and adjudicator.

The Berkeley trophy and cheque were awarded to Oliver Chandler, making him our 2015 and sixth winner. Oliver was the only entrant this year, but it was a joy to hear him give a lovely, confident account of the first two movements of the Guitar Concerto op. 88, very well supported by his pianist, Matthew Stanley.

Oliver was an instrumental scholar at Royal Holloway, University of London, and is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Next year he will be studying for a Ph.D. in musicology under J.P.E. Harper-Scott. He will be exploring definitions of musical modernism in relation to composers such as Elgar and Berkeley (including studies of the Horn Trio op. 44 and Symphony No. 2 op. 51) and Luciano Berio.

Having benefited from the advice of some fine teachers and masters of the guitar, Oliver is at present studying with the distinguished recitalist Graham Devine.